Missouri’s Pinkel confirms DL Brantley will miss season

Pass the glass slipper – extra large, please – because Missouri’s 6-foot-3, 320-pound center Evan Boehm wants to smash it into oblivion.

So why does Missouri’s SEC success seem so surprising still? It’s a great league, and you have to buckle it up and go play and deliver every Saturday. That’s fine with us. “… All the schools in the East are making that commitment to play at an extremely high level”.

“I think it does bother some people”, Mauk said. “That’s one reason we’ve been so successful”.

Geez, the SEC coordinator of officials was more dynamic.

Quarterback Maty Mauk understood – sort of. He believes social media has fed a negative image of the Tigers’ program. In fact, you could make an argument that Pinkel is the best developer of talent in the country. And it’s not the ’60s anymore. “Mizzou’s emerged”.

The same critics told that to Missouri’s Gary Pinkel. The 63-year-old deals in facts, not perception.

“I talked to Andy Hill, who recruited him, our quarterback coach, and we’ll see”. I think it motivates. “I feel really good”. “What I’m trying to say is you don’t know what’s going to happen down the road”.

The Tigers’ 23-5 record the past two seasons is not the sole indicator of success. But the Tigers’ classes ranked 11th following the past two SEC East titles. Beckner is the only five-star prospect in the Tigers’ 2015 class and the first since Dorial Green-Beckham in 2012.

A redshirt junior, Brantley will have one more year of college eligibility if he choose to stay in school beyond the coming year.

In the last four years, Pinkel has signed 64 players with three-star ratings.

Just like it will be Thursday when the media doesn’t pick Missouri to three-peat in the East. Pinkel says he doesn’t care.

This approach should have Missouri in the thick of the SEC East race again.

That’s nothing new. They were picked sixth in 2013 and fourth in 2014. He’s remarkably good under pressure.

“We have a lot more experience than we usually have back there”, Dennis said. “He knows that”. Pinkel gave an update on his star defensive tackle and said he’s “lucky to be alive” during his press conference.

Brantley’s injury is a major blow, but Pinkel plans to stick to a script that has worked beyond everyone’s expectations outside his program.

For Mauk, that means playing big in the big moments, something he has experience with.

Mauk and the Tigers specialized in winning ugly a year ago, ranking in the middle to bottom of the SEC in several offensive categories.

Clad in championship T-shirts – including one that read “Ohio State won it first” – the two Buckeye supporters quietly went about their business.