Missouri Football: Drew Lock, Eric Beisel among 2017 team captains

The Missouri Tigers announced who will lead the team during the 2017 season. Among them are quarterback Drew Lock and linebacker Eric Beisel.

In 2016, the Missouri Tigers had more than four team captains throughout the season. In fact, head coach Barry Odom has a philosophy when it comes to team leadership: A team should have more than four leaders.

Last year, the Tigers had a weekly rotation of captains, and unless Odom’s philosophy has changed, we should expect to see the same style of rotation again, this year.

However, allowing four new senior players the privilege of serving as a team captain each week, allows the team to experience a variety of leadership styles, and reduces the amount of expectations born on the same four people for an entire season.

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"Whoever deserves it that week, whoever we need from the leadership role will be the captain that week. You can take 70 (players) on a trip. I want 70 leaders. It’s growing within our team. And that’s what we need."

I can see both perspectives on the term for captains. Teams enjoy continuity, and retaining the same four-to-six (depending on the team and league) captains all season long gives a team that familiarity in leadership.

However, allowing four new senior players the privilege of serving as a team captain each week, allows the team to experience a variety of leadership styles, and reduces the amount of expectations born on the same four people for an entire season.

Another excellent reason to allow each senior players a chance to also be a leader, is that the senior class shares the responsibility of leading the underclassmen as a collective unit.

At least for this week, or until the season gets underway, the team captains to start the 2017 season are Lock, Beisel, offensive lineman Paul Adams, and defensive lineman Jordan Harold.

Next: Hard work pays off for Tigers

Missouri has experienced its share of turmoil in recent years, and this offseason also had its share of disappointments, so starting off the season with four proven leaders will do the Tigers a world of good.