Truman's Tales
Fansided

Missouri Football: Tigers’ backfield is better than most of the SEC

By Eric Quackenbush

Oct 3, 2015; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers running back Ish Witter (21) carries the ball against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the second half at Faurot Field. The Tigers won 24-10. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 3, 2015; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers running back Ish Witter (21) carries the ball against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the second half at Faurot Field. The Tigers won 24-10. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Over the last two seasons, Missouri football doesn’t have much to brag about, but having one of the SEC’s top backfields does not come as a surprise.

On Monday, ESPN’s Edward Aschoff released his top 5 backfield duos and trios in the SEC. Unsurprisingly, Missouri made the cut. Had they not, I would have been quite surprised.

In 2016, running backs Damerea Crockett and Ish Witter combined for 1,812 yards on the ground, while quarterback Drew Lock contributed 123 rushing yards and placed second in the SEC with 3,399 passing yards.

Fans are expecting big accomplishments from Mizzou this fall, and that success will depend largely on Lock’s arm and Crockett and Witter’s legs.

More from Truman's Tales

Gabe DeArmond of PowerMizzou.com has compiled a series, “30 years, 30 games, 30 Days.” In this series DeArmond takes us back in time to some of Missouri’s most memorable games, leading to the Tigers’ press preview of the 2017 season on July 13. Check out No. 23.

Former Tigers defensive end Charles Harris continues to impress the Miami Dolphins, and recently drew compliments from teammate Ndamukong Suh.

Suh, a notorious “dirty” player in the NFL, gave a glowing review of Harris’ efforts on the field. Initially, I wasn’t sure if the positive review was a good thing or a bad thing, considering the reviewer’s questionable past.

"Charles, in my opinion, is a very focused kid. I’m very excited about his approach to the game. Very detail-oriented. Obviously takes coaching very, very well. Implements it very quickly, as you coach him up, in games.Obviously, he’s been running with the ones and getting a lot of play time in our package that we like run, in regards to pass rush. He’s had a lot of good things, in my opinion, but everybody’s got a lot of work to do. We’ve got a long way ahead of ourselves."

Missouri’s hopes of landing the “Tiger 10” are, more likely than not, a loss. But does it really matter? While we would like the Tigers to be able to recruit top talent in their own back yard, if Mizzou can pluck talent from others’ back yards, then what does it really matter?

Over the years, Missouri missed on some high-end talent, but its success otherwise thwarted the mutiny that was all but guaranteed to follow, since the team continued to win and appear in bowl games.

Mizzou’s wide receiver core looks healthier again. Somewhere around the 2015 season, the depth of talent at the position was fairly depleted, but has gradually improved over the last couple years.

To give a stark contrast, the Tigers went from a loaded receiving core in 2013, to premiering two sophomores who rarely started, and a number of walk-ons and freshmen in 2015.

"Mizzou boasted one of the deepest, biggest receiving corps in the country in 2013, and Josh Henson, offensive coordinator at the time, knew exactly how to deploy it effectively. When all three starters — Dorial Green-Beckham, L’Damian Washington, and Marcus Lucas — all departed, there was a pretty harsh reset.Mizzou’s 2015 receiving corps consisted of two little-used sophomores (J’Mon Moore and Nate Brown), a very little-used senior (Wes Leftwich) and a grab bag of walk-ons and freshmen."

Missouri avoided bad news until Monday afternoon, when it was reported that 4 star commit, Jeremiah Tilmon was cited for underage drinking.

While it’s not the crime of the century – it happens more often than it’s reported – it came at a time following football’s Nate Howard’s arrest for possession of controlled substance and mushrooms.

While many of the Illini faithful were celebrating the belief that they “were right about him,” Missouri still has a far better recruiting class than Illinois, and an underage citation probably won’t have any major repercussions for Tilmon. See you in November, Illinois.

Next: Tigers land coveted receiver

Finally, for one of my favorite sports, Missouri’s soccer schedule is highlighted by eight NCAA Tournament foes. I’ll spare the details, but if you haven’t given soccer a second thought, maybe checking out Mizzou’s program will give you pause.

Home/Missouri Tigers