April 28, 2003
Columbia, Mo. -
Are you ready for some football? Despite the fact that the calendar reads only April, the folks at Athlon Magazine certainly are, and the publication thinks the upcoming 2003 season stands to be a good one for the Missouri Tigers.
Athlon today on its website (athlonsports.com) began releasing a sneak peek at its pre-season top-25, and Mizzou opened the countdown at number 25. The pre-season magazine hits newsstands June 6th, and can be pre-ordered on the Athlon website.
In addition to the national team ranking, Athlon predicts that the Tigers will finish second in the Big 12 Conference's north division.
The magazine gave high marks for several Tiger individual standouts, as well. Sophomore quarterback Brad Smith was tabbed as a second-team pre-season All-American, with senior offensive tackle Rob Droege earning third-team All-American mention. Smith and Droege were also named to Athlon's first-team All-Big 12 team, and were joined on that squad by senior center A.J. Ricker and junior linebacker James Kinney.
Smith will be featured on the cover of the magazine in the Midwest region, and a feature story on the talented signal caller will be inside the publication.
