Aug. 21, 2009

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mizzou Tiger Football team held a full-pads practice Friday morning that Head Coach Gary Pinkel called the best one of the fall. The defense claimed a 3.5-to-3.0 win over the offense, which was the fifth-straight day the defense has claimed the coveted black jerseys, but the competition went down to the wire, as the defense won the final two scored periods to claim the win.

Coach Pinkel said that the practice was full of great leadership and enthusiasm, things he wants to see increase as the clock is ticking on the remaining days of training camp. The Tigers will have an afternoon session today in shells, with the practice focusing on speed and fundamentals. After that, the team practices Saturday morning, before having two days off from practice, as Monday is the start of school. The team will practice Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, before holding the final scrimmage of the fall Thursday afternoon.

Pinkel said after the morning session that junior CB Carl Gettis is the favorite to return punts for the Tigers this year, while junior college transfer Jasper Simmons is the leading candidate to return kickoffs. He also indicated that freshman TB Kendial Lawrence will play in 2009, and that a couple other freshmen have chance as well – OL Justin Britt and WR T.J. Moe. Moe has been hobbled most of camp with a foot injury, but today shed the red injury bib and was looking much more agile than he's been previously.

On to practice highlights:

• Simmons had a good practice Friday, as he was seen grabbing a pair of interceptions, one in 6-on-6 pass drills, and the other in 11-on-11 scrimmaging on a ball over the middle where he tipped the ball to himself and caught it as he was falling backward to the ground...
• In 11-on-11 scrimmaging, with the #1 offense and #1 defense going at it, LB Sean Weatherspoon laid a big hit over the middle on fellow captain WR Danario Alexander to break up a pass on what might have been the hit of the day. QB Blaine Gabbert and WR Jared Perry hooked up on the next play for a nice gain on an out route where Perry made a nice sliding catch...
• Later with the ones squaring off in redzone work, the defense won the majority of the plays, as it held Gabbert to a short gain on a keeper, followed by a couple of incompletions as Gabbert couldn't find open receivers in the endzone. The offense struck back with a couple of nice TD runs -- one each by TB Derrick Washington (9 yards) and TB De'Vion Moore (3 yards), with Moore getting spring on a nice block from C Tim Barnes...
• Sophomore CB Trey Hobson had a nice interception during 11-on-11 work near the left sideline, where he broke to the ball and jumped high to pull the ball in, while getting both feet down. Redshirt freshman Aldon Smith had a tackle for loss and junior CB Munir Prince broke up a pass in the endzone from QB Blaine Dalton intended for WR L'Damian Washington, among other defensive highlights...

Stay tuned to mutigers.com for continuing coverage of Tiger Training Camp!