Missouri notes: Tigers add former KU kicker Nick Bartolotta to roster

Former Kansas kicker Nick Bartolotta is with the enemy now.

Bartolotta — a graduate of Fox High in Arnold, Mo., in suburban St. Louis — appeared Monday on the roster for the Missouri football team.

“I’ll be careful with our comments on the kicker from Kansas,” Tigers coach Barry Odom said with a smile, a nod to the defunct Border War with the Jayhawks. “But he got a lot of work in today and we’re glad that he’s here.”

Bartolotta served as KU’s field-goal kicker on short tries and extra points in nine games last season. He was 4 of 7 for the season with a long of 40 yards Oct. 24 against Oklahoma State on field goals and 17 of 18 on point-after tries.

Since he wasn’t on scholarship last season, Mizzou hopes Bartolotta — a 5-foot-6, 185-pound junior — will be eligible this season.

“He was a non-recruited walk-on (at Kansas),” Odom said. “There are certain rules for those guys, so we’re going through a waiver process with him. He’s obviously able to participate in practice, but he’s not cleared yet for competition.”

Junior safety Cameron Rivers (6-2, 200) also was added to the roster Monday as a walk-on. He’s a McCluer North graduate and Missouri Valley transfer.

Meanwhile, Memphis graduate-student transfer Michael Stannard remains in a holding pattern.

“He’s got everything done and the grade was posted,” Odom said. “Now, we’re waiting on it to be read. He’s frustrated. He’s done everything right and he’s got to be patient in some of these things. He’s a college graduate, so congratulations to him. He’s ready to get out there, and we’re ready for him to get there.”

Stannard is 6-foot-2, 290-pound Columbia-Rock Bridge graduate.

Finally, 2016 signee Jerod Alton of Kirkwood (Mo.) High has a week remaining in a summer school class before he’s able to enroll and join the team, according to Odom.

House crasher

Missouri senior linebacker Michael Scherer can’t move into his new house until Aug. 15.

Instead, he dragged his mattress into sophomore quarterback Drew Lock’s living room and is resting his head there as the Tigers plow through the early days of camp.

Scherer’s also doing his part to help Lock — who is still listed at 6-feet-4 and 205 pounds, but said Sunday he weighed 221 pounds — continue packing on a few pounds.

“(Friday) night, I whipped up a nice little protein shake for him, because (new offensive coordinator Josh) Heupel’s been getting on him about gaining weight …,” Scherer said. “I was just trying to do what I can.”

When Lock bought Vitamin D milk, however, he heard about it from Scherer and Heupel, who not-so-subtly suggested the Lee’s Summit graduate should consider the skim variety to help reduce body fat.

“I definitely heard about the Vitamin D milk,” Lock said with a laugh.

Injury report

Four Missouri players — senior wide receiver and Alabama graduate-student transfer Chris Black, redshirt freshman cornerback T.J. Warren, redshirt running back and Lee’s Summit West graduate Ryan Williams and sophomore wide receiver Emanuel Hall — missed Monday’s practice with hamstring injuries.

It’s an unfortunate byproduct of fall camp, when teams ramp up for the season with morning walk-throughs and strenuous afternoon practices.

“We’re banged up a little bit, but so is everybody else in the country right now,” Odom said. “That’s the way fall camp is.”

Warren dealt with a hamstring injury earlier in the summer and this was a recurrence of the injury.

“I’d like to think, if this was game week, that he would be ready to go play,” Odom said. “With the stress that we’re putting on those guys right now, we’re a little bit probably more cautious than we would be during the season.”

Sophomore linebacker Brandon Lee (right shoulder sprain) didn’t participate in contact drills and also is day-to-day.

Blue Valley graduate and redshirt freshman offensive lineman A.J. Harris (left wrist surgery) and freshman linebacker Trey Baldwin (head) also practiced on a limited basis.

Finally, redshirt freshman left tackle Tanner Owen, a Kearney graduate, remains out indefinitely with an undisclosed medical condition.

This story was originally published August 8, 2016 at 9:26 PM with the headline "Missouri notes: Tigers add former KU kicker Nick Bartolotta to roster."