Morning Zou: 6-21-2011

Because midday in the summer for an 18-year-old is totally morning.

First thing is first, send a few prayers over to the family of Mizzou swimmer Sasha Menu Courey, who passed away last Friday.

Missouri Football

• Awww: Gabbert, Ponder yucking it up on Twitter [ESPN]
• Rankings: Big 12 position rankings: Quarterbacks [ESPN Big 12 Blog]

"6. Missouri The Tigers depth took a hit after Tyler Gabbert’s transfer following spring practice, but expectations are high for sophomore James Franklin, who got a bit of experience in 2010 behind Blaine Gabbert. Senior Jimmy Costello quit the team after last season to focus on an impending fall enlistment in the Army, but rejoined after the Gabbert brothers’ departures from Columbia. He’s likely to be the backup, with Ashton Glaser and walk-on Ryan Howerton filling out the rest of the quarterback spots. Corbin Berkstresser, a 6-foot-3, 218-pound quarterback from Kansas City that ESPN ranked No. 43 at his position, will arrive in the fall, too."

[Fun fact: I went to school (Lee’s Summit High School) with Berkstresser and had a few classes with him. He even knows my name! Anyways, the dude’s pretty huge (but everyone is huge compared to my 5-7, 120 lbs body), and he definitely showed improvement on the football field when comparing his junior and senior seasons. That’s about all the analysis you’ll get from me.]

Missouri is ahead of Texas, Kansas State, Iowa Sate, and Kansas. It’s about as fair a ranking as you would expect from team going into the season with a starter who hasn’t played that many downs of college football.

• Hey, I’m There!: Border War tickets for sale to Jackson County taxpayers [KC Star]

Missouri Basketball

• The New Contract: Here are your various links for Frank Haith’s new contract, the buyout clause, et cetera [Tribune] [Missourian] [KC Star] [Post-Dispatch]
• New Faces: New Big 12 hoops coaches come with experience [KC Star]

More Mizzou News

• Twitter: Mizzou Volleyball Offers Twitter Promotion [MUTigers.com]
• China: A Look at Lisa Henning’s Tour of China [MUTigers.com]
• Baseball: Baseball Summer Update [MUTigers.com]

Other/ Fun Stuff

• #Lolz: Humblebrag Hall of Fame [Grantland]
• RIP: A Lowbrow Tribute to Ryan Dunn [Warming Glow]
• Anderson Problems: Arkansas’ Rotnei Clarke granted release from scholarship [SI.com]

Anderson has now seen three players transfer away, including last season’s leading scorer in three-point specialist Clarke. Granted, apparently Clarke had a history of threatening to transfer from Arkansas. Now that the man who recruited him, John Pelphrey, is gone and replaced by CMA, who would force Clarke to run a LOT more and play more aggressive defense, Clarke seemed to have no reason to stay.

While Mizzou fans may be laughing at the misfortunes of the “backstabber” in Anderson now, they may want to hold their breath. Early rumors suggest that Clarke could wind up in Kansas, where his faux hawk would totally be embraced, bro. Combine that with Bill Self’s possibly unethical/ douche bag stealing recruitment of Kevin Young, and suddenly the Jayhawks look more and more like a shoe-in for their next Big 12 Championship season….. *Gag*