Aug. 10, 2009
COLUMBIA, Mo. –The Missouri Football team continued on-field preparations for its Sept. 5th season opener against Illinois with a single practice Wednesday morning at Faurot Field. Weather conditions were sunny, but pleasant with temperatures in the low-to-mid 80s, as the team had another good overall effort in full pads. The practice, which lasted for around 2½ hours, was one that Head Coach Gary Pinkel said was "intense and physical with some great competition the entire practice."
Here were some highlights from the day when things turned to 11-on-11 scrimmaging…
- With the #1 offense and #1 defense squaring off, the units traded blows back and forth. TB Derrick Washington had a quick hitter up the middle for close to 10 yards, and on the next play the defense snuffed out an attempted reverse run by WR Jared Perry for a loss on the play. Gabbert had three straight completions on 3rd-down snaps to TE Andrew Jones, TB De'Vion Moore and WR Wes Kemp, but DB Kevin Rutland came free for a sack on the next play. Moore ended the series with a burst up the middle on a short-yardage situation for a 1st down…
- TB Gilbert Moye had a good day that saw him get around the right edge on one run in red zone work against the #1 defense for a touchdown that covered around 5 yards…
- In redzone work, the #1 offense scored against the #2 defense when Gabbert found WR Danario Alexander in the back of the endzone for a 3-yard TD pass on a 3rd-and-goal situation. On the very next play, that duo hooked up again from 2 yards out. The defense stopped Gabbert for no gain on a keeper on the next play, and forced an incomplete pass next after good coverage left him without any viable options. On the last play of the period, with the score tied between the offense and defense, SDel Howard and LB Luke Lambert got penetration in the backfield to string out a run by TB Derrick Washington that was stopped for no gain…
- Back out in the middle of the field, with the #2 offense and #2 defense taking center stage, a couple of defensive plays stood out. First it was LB Will Ebner, clearly one of the hardest hitters on the team, who blew up a reverse run attempt by WR Rolandis Woodland for about a 5-yard loss. DE Aldon Smith was also a big part of the play, as he stayed home and strung the run out, allowing Ebner to pursue the play. On the next snap, Smith used a nice move to get into the backfield for a QB sack. Lastly, QB Jimmy Costello had a nice gain on a scramble after finding nothing open downfield on a passing attempt…
- Practice closed with the #1 offense and #1 defense going at it near midfield, and the defense had the edge early on, as Ricks stopped an attempted end around for no gain, and DBKevin Rutland stopped a screen pass to Washington for no gain, before it held Gabbert to little gain on a keeper. But Gabbert and his offense rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the drill to win four straight plays and claim a 6-5 win for the offense, which broke a tie in the overall standings for the day, giving the offense a win. The rally started when Gabbert hit Alexander for 10 yards, and continued on the next play with a completion to Perry for a gain of 15 yards on the left side. Gabbert took it himself on a keeper that went for 5-6 yards to tie the score, and he completed the comeback when he found Kemp for a gain of around 10 yards, with Kemp securing the ball by making a nice sliding catch for the win…
On the injury front, sophomore FS Kenji Jackson was held out of practice today, in order to heal his strained calf muscle he suffered Tuesday morning. Freshman WR T.J. Moe was held out of contact drills, but was able to do more running in various individual drills, and Coach Pinkel declared his status as day-to-day. Freshman LB Zaviar Gooden who was unable to practice in Tuesday afternoon's session due to a sore foot, was also held out Wednesday as a precautionary measure. His status isn't yet known, as he'll get an MRI on his foot, but it's believed to be a sprain. The news wasn't so good for freshman DL Marvin Foster, who will have to undergo a scope of his knee meniscus that he injured Tuesday morning. Toward the end of Wednesday's practice, senior DL Jaron Baston tweaked his groin, and he was held out of the last half of practice as a precaution.
Mizzou returns to the practice field on Thursday for the second set of two-a-days this week, with workouts scheduled for 7:15 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. Stay tuned to mutigers.com for continuing coverage of Tiger Training Camp 2009!
