Before we flip to 2021, let’s wrap up Mizzou’s 2020 football season and bestow awards
The Missouri Tigers and MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz weren’t supposed to be able to compete in the SEC East. Not this season, anyway.
Surprise.
There were clear top teams in Florida and Georgia, and the Tigers lagged behind them. But they beat almost everyone else in the division, setting them up comfortably at third in the division.
Mizzou finished 5-5. There was no encore due to a canceled Music City Bowl, but the Tigers smashed some preseason projections (The Star didn’t do so bad in that area, either).
Now they enter the new year with renewed momentum on the field as well as the recruiting trail. The university has emphasized and invested in infrastructure improvement, including an indoor football facility.
Before flipping the page completely to 2021, let’s revisit the 2020 Tigers one last time with some awards.
Play of the year: Joshuah Bledsoe’s fourth-down stop vs. LSU.
Drinkwitz has told his players all season: The play doesn’t care who makes it; it’s there for the taking. A safety, Bledsoe took that to heart. After LSU got to the 1-yard line with about a minute remaining, it seemed Mizzou was about to be dealt another heartwrenching loss.
But the Tigers stood strong on the first three downs. And then Bledsoe’s sprawling pass breakup on fourth down preserved a 45-41 victory. He and his teammates sprinted downfield in jubilation — one of many highlights from a season that saw its share.
Offensive player of the year: Larry Rountree III.
Rountree wrote himself into the history books as the most prolific MU running back ever. He finished his Tiger career with 3,720 rushing yards, second only to mobile quarterback Brad Smith (4,289).
Rountree was crucial for Drinkwitz’s offense. Every Rountree rush came with the guarantee he was going to run as hard as he could. The captain earned his teammates’ trust and ran like it. Rountree finished 2020 with 972 yards and 14 touchdowns, just a few carries from the 1,000-yard mark.
Defensive player of the year: Nick Bolton.
There’s not much else that can be said of this star linebacker. It seems like a long time ago that Bolton was pushed into action against Alabama because Terez Hall was ejected for targeting. He’s been an imposing force ever since.
Bolton was a preseason All-SEC and All-America candidate after a stellar 2019. And he lived up to the hype, posting a team-high 95 tackles. He was named to numerous All-SEC and All-America lists and is headed to the NFL as a projected first-round pick.
Most improved: Connor Bazelak.
This quarterback was a relative unknown coming into the season. But once he saw some action, all he did was pick up first downs. As announcers noted throughout the year, Bazelak played in a run-heavy wishbone offense in high school, meaning he was still learning the intricacies of the position as a passer.
Bazelak made his name better known on a banner day against LSU. He threw for 406 yards and four touchdowns, and finished the season with 2,366 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions. There were some mistakes along the way, but this was a successful first year as the starter for Bazelak.
Oh, and Bazelak still has four more years of eligibility in CoMo. The future looks bright.
Biggest surprise of the year: Trajan Jeffcoat.
A defensive end, Jeffcoat wasn’t on the team to open preseason camp. But once he was reinstated, he was easily the most disruptive player on the line.
He was chosen first-team All-SEC by the coaches, pacing the Tigers with six sacks. Jeffcoat often lined up at the BUCK linebacker spot, a hybrid pass-rush role from which he created chaos.
Jeffcoat went from off the team to all-conference in just a matter of months and will have a chance to follow up that performance in 2021.
True freshmen of the year: Harrison Mevis and Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
The obvious choice would be Bazelak, if we included all Mizzou freshmen — Bazelak earned co-SEC freshman of the year this fall. But Bazelak already earned some accolades here, so let’s showcase some other guys.
Kicker Harrison Mevis was near-automatic as a freshman. The obvious highlight was his game-winner against Arkansas as time expired. Mevis finished 17 of 20 on field goals, including a perfect 28 for 28 on point-after attempts.
But we can’t forget about cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr., who started from Day 1 just months into his collegiate career. Rakestraw was Drinkwitz’s first major recruiting win from the 2020 class, and he made an immediate impact.
There were some growing pains along the way, but Rakestraw earned snaps from the beginning.
Teammate of the year: Shawn Robinson.
It would’ve been so easy for Robinson to transfer again in this day and age. It happens at just about every program: Once a quarterback loses the starting gig, he transfers elsewhere. Look at guys like LSU’s Joe Burrow and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, who were both successful after jumping ship.
It wasn’t like that for Robinson, who had already transferred to Columbia from TCU. Robinson was relegated to backup duty after Bazelak emerged in the Tennessee game, but he took it in stride.
After a few weeks of backup duty for Robinson, Drinkwitz pitched him the idea of playing safety. Robinson admitted he wasn’t too sure about the position switch; he had played quarterback nearly his entire life. But he didn’t want to transfer again and loved Mizzou, so he gave it a shot.
Good thing he did. He picked off a pass in the season finale at Mississippi State and looked good at his new position. Next season, he’ll continue working in the secondary.