Mizzou Fans Get First Look at Barry Odom's Football Team at Annual Spring Game
4/16/2016 8:21:00 PM | Football
Nearly 25,000 fans file into Memorial Stadium
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The first spring camp of the Barry Odom era for Mizzou Football came to a close with the Black & Gold Spring Game Saturday evening at Faurot Field/Memorial Stadium. Gorgeous weather welcomed the 24,437 fans in attendance and they were treated to a situational scrimmage that saw the offense score three touchdowns in a 21-0 final score.
Junior WR J'Mon Moore got behind coverage for a 64-yard touchdown reception from sophomore QB Drew Lock at the 10:36 mark of the third quarter that made it 14-0. It was Lock's second scoring toss of the day, as he earlier connected with redshirt freshman WR Richaud Floyd on a four-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Lock ended the scrimmage 9-of-13 passing for 134 yards, and he also ran three times for 11 yards.
Sophomore QB Marvin Zanders completed 8-of-13 passes for 83 yards, including a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to redshirt freshman WR Justin Smith that covered 19 yards with 5:24 left to play. Smith used every inch of his 6-foot-7 frame to leap high in the endzone to outfight a pair of defenders for the score.
Junior TB Ish Witter carried a scrimmage-high 13 times Saturday for 43 yards, and he also was a nice weapon out of the backfield in the passing game, as he caught three passes for 33 yards, including a nifty 23-yard catch-and-run to move the chains on a third-and-long. Senior WR Eric Laurent caught a scrimmage-best four passes for 42 yards, while sophomore WR Keyon Dilosa added three receptions for 30 yards. Floyd ended with two catches for 27 yards, including his four-yard score.
The Tiger defense was stingy for most of the day, and was led by senior LB Michael Scherer, who had a game-best six tackles, including 2.0 tackles for loss. Fellow senior DT Rickey Hatley had two tackles, with both going for a loss, including one sack. Sophomore DL Rocel McWilliams had the other sack on the day.
Video and quotes from Odom and Mizzou players and coordinators are below.
Head Coach Barry Odom
On the outstanding fan support…
"First off, I need to say thank you to the fans. I'm so impressed with them. They did a great job on coming out and supporting our team. This program needs our fans. We are going to work extremely hard and do everything we can to represent them the right way. I was excited, and so were the players, to come running out of the tunnel and see all the people who came out to support us today, it was awesome."
Overall impression of the game…
"We've got a long way to go and a lot of work to do. I'm excited about where we can take both sides of the football, offensively, defensively, and you throw kicking in there. The skill set we have in a few spots are really exciting. To get to where we want to go, we need to coach to our fullest extent to get the best out of each individual."
On the approach from both sides of the ball…
"In practice, we were going at each other pretty good from both sides of the ball. Competitively, that's what I want in our program. Both sides had maybe page one of the playbook today. I wanted them to line up and play hard, smart, and tough. There were also some sloppy things in there too you don't want, but we will get better in the coming weeks."
On the quarterback play…
"Drew did some really good things today; Marvin did some really good things as well. Then Jack, he's played a bit better than some of the throws you saw today. But, you have to realize, he's a freshman and all of these kids are going to be a whole lot better in September than they are today."
Offensive Coordinator Josh Heupel
Thoughts on the game…
"Some good, too much bad. We were a little bit vanilla on what we were doing. If you get a chance to go back and watch the tape I think you will see some kids making one on one plays and that is really what we were after today. Find out how they were going to compete in a competitive environment."
Progress from day one to now…
"Really excited about the way our kids have continued to develop. We have gotten better every single day from day one to day 15. Some days were bigger jumps than others, but I like where we are headed. We have a long ways to go, but they are giving themselves a chance at this point in our preparation heading into the beginning of the season. We have gotten better physically. They completely changed their bodies in January and February. We have started to develop some toughness that Coach Odom keeps preaching. We have gotten better fundamentally throughout the 15 days of spring ball. The one thing we have really preached on the offensive side of the ball is compete, and we are starting to play snap to whistle at a much higher level. If we continue to do that here the next couple weeks before kids finish up with finals and then come back in June and July and have a great sense of urgency and continue to develop physically and fundamentally while understanding our schemes, we will head into training camp where we need to be."
On completions to the receivers…
"We were forcing the ball outside in some of those one on one situations to see if they would come down with the ball. I think we have made a lot of strides on the perimeter and in one-on-one situations, we are going up and competing and attacking the football and making more competitive plays. We were a long ways off at the beginning of spring ball, but we have gotten better since we came back from spring break. It was great to see some of our guys make some of those plays today."
On Drew Lock progressing…
"He is more decisive with the football, better fundamentally and giving himself a chance once he makes a decision to be accurate with the football. He still has a long way to go I think in understanding defenses and alignments, but I like the way that he has continued to compete day in and day out and he is taking care of the football in a great way."
Defensive Coordinator DeMontie Cross
Opening statement…
"We just wanted to make sure we allowed the kids to play fast, keep it simple, and really just see who can make plays."
On progression from day one to now…
"I feel the knowledge has improved. We tried to change up a few things from what has been done, but keep it the same to a large degree. The guys really adapted terminology wise, but really just still teaching them base football. We are just trying to make sure we improve their football IQ."
On DB TJ Warren...
"Competition, he competes. I've made sure that everybody on this roster understands every job is open. When you have a guy who hasn't played at all and starts with the ones, that is proof enough. We want to make sure everyone comes to practice and earns their job each and every day."
On the process of depth chart changes…
"We all evaluate them and watch the same tape. We all give feedback. Ultimately, I always ask the position coach what he thinks, but I am also evaluating too."
On offense providing a challenge…
"I don't know what it was but I think our offense has definitely made us show up to work everyday. Our defensive line had to work. They couldn't just roll out the helmets. I think as a team we grew overall, but offensively I really feel good about the pictures we got and things they are doing, it is going to prepare us for the season as well."
On what the plan is going forward…
"We are getting them prepared for the summer, just having a game plan on what we are going to do, how we are going to do it, and continue to enhance the knowledge of the defense."
Quarterback Drew Lock
On his performance…
"I liked it. I am comfortable. Let's say I am more comfortable in the offense now than I was last year."
On head coach Barry Odom…
"He's verbal. He is definitely a little bit louder than Coach Pinkel was in practice, and he will get into your face when he needs to. We all appreciate that."
On his own improvement…
"I preached last year about all of the little things we needed to get done last year, and I think as far as me as an individual, like how I need to set my feet, things like that, are what we are talking about a lot. The one thing we will do is watch my film from the back and watch my feet. It might have been the best ball you've thrown all day, but if you're feet are bad, you'll only make the throw one time out of ten."
Linebacker Michael Scherer
On his last spring game…
"It was good to just go out there and be competitive and be able to put on a good show for the fans. We scored a couple of touchdowns which is nice, got a little excitement going. And we made out healthy, which is good. We kept it basic, and the ones played well."
On the progression of the defense…
"I feel great. It was a struggle at first, and the guys had to put in a little more time than they were used to. Once they bought into the system, things really started to turn around for us."
On competitiveness of spring ball with new coaches…
"With the new coaches, everything is off the table. Everyone, including me, had to prove they could play. With a new coaching staff, everyone is trying to prove themselves. It has been competitive for sure."
On the improvement of QB Drew Lock…
"He is just more confident in himself. He came in last year, and he could absolutely wing it. He could hit whoever he wanted to hit. When he started to get into games last year, and had more pressure, he lost his confidence, and stopped believing in himself. Now he really believes in himself, and he is really good. I thought he was good last year in fall camp last year, because he was dicing us up. And now that he has his confidence back, he is going to be someone to mess with, I can tell you that."
Wide Receiver J'Mon Moore
On how he felt today…
"I felt good. I know we have more to work on, but I think we had a productive day."
On his touchdown catch…
"I liked it. Drew put some touch on it, enough touch for me to get it, and I did the rest."
On putting up three touchdowns…
"Yeah, it's definitely a relief for people who are concerned about the offense. But, I tell those people not to have any concerns. We are definitely going to score some points this year.
On QB Drew Lock…
"I think Drew did pretty well. But that is what I expect from him. Drew isn't a young guy any more in my eyes. He has to be a leader and he's been playing like a leader."
From @Coach_Odom, we want to extend a sincere thank you to #Mizzou fans for a great Spring Game#MIZ #ToughnessWins pic.twitter.com/MvWhrFuy6k
— Mizzou Football (@MizzouFootball) April 17, 2016
