Citrus Bowl: How Do Tigers Replace Hunt?
By Ron Davis
It’s been a week since The Missouri Tigers announced that second leading receiver Jimmie Hunt will be unable to play in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day against Minnesota. But the team is still grappling with just how to fill the void for its offense.
Hunt apparently suffered a torn labrum in a joint in his left shoulder and underwent surgery December 17. This is not the first time the Tigers will be without the services of Hunt (40 catches, 698 yards, 7 touchdowns) as the senior missed the game against South Carolina in September.
The Cahokia, Illinois native was Maty Mauk’s favorite target in Mizzou’s last outing in the SEC Championship where he hauled in six catches for 169 yards and caught several deep passes from Mauk.
With Hunt out, the Tigers will start senior Gavin Otte at Hunt’s “H” inside/slot receiver spot. Otte started the South Carolina game and recorded one catch for negative three yards. He will be backed up by true freshman Nate Brown, who had been exclusively rotating at the “X” and “Z” on the outside, but has moved inside since Citrus Bowl practices began.
Jimmie Hunt will not be available for the Missouri Tigers in the Citrus Bowl.
Losing Hunt is a big blow to Missouri because when he and fellow seniors Bud Sasser and Darius White were healthy, the offense had much more success moving the ball (249.6 average passing yards with all three in the lineup; 110.8 without).
Outside of those three, the leading receiver is Brown (four catches, 31 yards). It would make sense that Coach Pinkel would put a heavy emphasis on the run game with Russell Hansbrough and Marcus Murphy.
The duo combined for 1737 yards and 13 touchdowns this season, despite being largely ineffective against Alabama on 20 carries for only 41 yards.
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Minnesota’s defense isn’t the Tide’s but has done a good job the past three weeks, holding ranked teams like Ohio State, Nebraska, and Wisconsin all to 24 points. However, Ohio State and Wisconsin both gashed the Gophers for over 230 yards on the ground.
The strategy should be to run until Minnesota stops them. Hansbrough and Murphy will do a lot of the heavy ground-and-pound work, and it would be wise for Pinkel to have Mauk do some running himself.Some read options and draws for Mauk will really keep the Gopher defense honest.
Hunt’s absence might be significant if the gameplan is to throw 40 times, but with the running game the Tigers have, coupled with reliable receivers like Sasser and White, the offense should move the ball just fine.