ESPN College Football

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Gary Pinkel isn't naive. Missouri's coach understands a new recruiting game has to be played now that the Tigers are moving to the SEC.

The states of Missouri and Texas will continue to be recruiting priorities, but stretching out to southeastern states will now become very important.

"That makes sense," Pinkel said about generating more recruiting efforts in southeastern states.

Pinkel said the main areas of importance outside of the Tigers' home state are Dallas and Atlanta. The good thing for Pinkel and his staff is that it's only about an hour longer drive to Atlanta compared to Dallas. It still accounts for 10-plus hours on the road, but if you're going to take the time to head to Dallas, you might as well make it out to the hub of the South.

And for Pinkel, it's well worth it.

"If you look at statistics and analysis of BCS players, they come out of the metroplex around Dallas and then you look at the greater Atlanta area," he said. "The parallels are staggering between those two cities. They produce a lot of athletes."

Currently, Missouri has just six players from SEC states -- three from Florida, two from Arkansas and one from Louisiana. Mizzou increased that number by two after signing two players from Florida in its 2012 class.

Pinkel said things are certainly different when it comes to the 2013 class. There's a lot more marketing in the South from the Tigers. Pinkel said the school is sending "thousands of pieces of information" about Mizzou to southeastern high school coaches and counselors each week. There are also Mizzou billboards in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee.

While Mizzou hasn't received any verbal commitments from southeastern prospects in its 2013 class, according to ESPN recruiting services, the coaches have issued scholarships to 19 of those prospects. Expect that number to grow as coaches get out on the road more.

While Pinkel wants to hit Atlanta hard, he doesn't have experience recruiting that area, but has recruited off and on in Florida. Here's a look at the coaches who will be patrolling the southeast:

• Safeties coach Alex Grinch: Atlanta area
• Running backs coach Brian Jones: Tampa and part of Orlando
• Co-offensive line coach Josh Henson: Florida Panhandle, Jacksonville, Fla., and down toward Orlando
• Defensive coordinator Dave Steckel: West Dallas
• Co-offensive line coach Bruce Walker: East Dallas
• Defensive line coach Craig Kullgowski: Houston area
• Offensive coordinator David Yost: Missouri and Memphis, Tenn.

Pinkel understands that Mizzou is a foreign program to a lot of southeastern prospects, but slowly he expects that feeling to disappear. He experienced it recruiting the state of Texas as Toledo’s coach and when he first arrived at Mizzou, but saw it turn around twice.

Pinkel said his first Mizzou roster had around 10 or 11 players from Texas and now has more than 30. Once southeastern players get to know his program, Pinkel insists Mizzou will be more appealing to recruits in this talent-rich part of the country.

"We've been here before," he said. "We understand it's a process.

"I also think we walk in the door with some credibility -- winning and success and graduating our players. In the last five years or six years -- I'm not sure what it is -- we're the eighth winningest BCS program in the country and we're graduating in the last six years 96 percent of our players. Those are facts."

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- With all due respect to much ballyhooed wide receiver signee Dorial Green-Beckham, he wasn't the biggest get for Missouri in 2012.

That title belongs to great grandpa of the program, left tackle Elvis Fisher. While Green-Beckham's commitment and signature caused coaches to do figurative backflips around Missouri's football facility, Fisher's return caused an eruption of even more excitement from the staff.

"That was the best recruit we signed," offensive coordinator David Yost said.

But it didn't come without worry. Fisher ruptured the patellar tendon in his left knee during preseason camp of what was supposed to be his final year, causing him to miss all of the 2011 season. He applied for a medical hardship, but already had four years under his belt. He redshirted in 2007 and was a three-year starter afterward.

"There was a slim opportunity for me to be able to get that," Fisher said. "A lot of guys don't get their senior year back."

Let alone a sixth year. Fisher said he spent the early part of 2012 discussing other options with his father and Mizzou coaches. One of those options was actually pursuing the chance of going straight to the NFL. He said he was "sweating bullets" until a trainer approached him in early February with news of a phone call from Mizzou's compliance office.

Fisher called compliance back, received word that the NCAA granted him a sixth year, then called his coaches, who already knew, his father and his girlfriend. Once the chitchat finished, he went right back to work at skill improvement with his teammates.

It was business as usual for Fisher and it will be again this fall.

The 6-foot-5, 295-pounder went through some spring drills at full speed, but took it relatively easy for the most part. It's not like he needs a lot of practice. What he needed was the chance to strengthen his knee.

"I take it as I don't have to take practice as hard as I can," Fisher said. "I just want to go out there and have fun and focus on the little things I need to do to get my knee better. I'm not trying to push myself to hurt myself. I'm trying to push myself to be able to play on Saturdays and perform."

This spring, Fisher said he looked to strengthen his quads and hip flexors in order to be more stable and take pressure off his knee. He still has trouble planting on his knee when he's running, but said that will come with summer running and working with the strength staff.

"I'm actually really darn comfortable with it," he said.

And that's a good thing because Mizzou needs him anchoring its line as the Tigers move to their new home in the SEC. Fisher understands that he and his line mates will be tested more in the SEC and that means that strength and communication are two areas that have to improve up front. This isn't a very big line, so the weight room will be a second home, and three starters from last year are gone. Sure, there's experience, but not a ton.

The biggest thing this line will have to adapt to, Fisher said, is the amount of defensive line talent it will face.

"When you look around a league like the Big 12, every team has like one or two linemen that are really good," he said. "In the SEC, their whole line is stacked."

With that comes some pressure, but Fisher said he's making sure he keeps his teammates play their games and don't listen to all the outside noise.

"You have to go out there and play your game and not worry about all the hype, if they're first-round draft picks, whether they're going to win, or Missouri sucks. You can't listen to all that," Fisher said. "We're just going to keep practicing the way we're practicing and give them hell."

And more hell can be given with a healthy Fisher back.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- On paper, Missouri's group of wide receivers bleeds inexperience.

Outside of veteran T.J. Moe, who will be a senior this fall, Missouri's returning receiving targets have combined for 51 catches for 712 yards and five touchdowns in their careers.

But when you talk to players and coaches at Missouri, those numbers tell a much different story. They say that while the returners aren’t burning up the stat sheet, it hasn't been because of a lack of talent.

"It's only unproven because guys haven't got the chance to do anything yet," Moe said. "We have a lot of good receivers out here and we have a lot of guys out here who have made plays."

Last year, Moe led the Tigers with 54 receptions and 649 yards. Behind him, Missouri had former All-American tight end Michael Egnew (50 receptions) and seniors Wes Kemp (29 receptions) and Jerrel Jackson (17 receptions), who combined for 36 starts.

"It's hard to beat those guys out because they do all the right things," offensive coordinator David Yost said.

While most of the talk concerning Missouri's receivers has revolved around inexperience and numbers, Yost and Co. are excited about what this group can do.

Coaches and players think they have bona fide deep threats in rising juniors Marcus Lucas and L'Damian Washington. Lucas was fourth on the team in receiving last year (23 catches for 414 yards) and tied for first with five touchdowns. Washington was fifth with 20 catches for 364 yards and three scores.

Yost said both received more time as the season went on because of how explosive they were (Lucas has been clocked running a 4.3 in the 40-yard dash). Both ended the year averaging 18 yards per catch.

Washington was banged up this spring, but Lucas said he took full advantage of his time on the field. With more reps, Lucas said he shook the laziness that hurt him last year. His jogging and trudging around the field turned into sprints, his head stopped swimming and he finally learned how to finish plays after getting more comfortable in Missouri's offense.

"It comes with confidence, really," said Lucas, who caught four passes for 81 yards in Missouri's spring game. "When you don't really know exactly [what's going on] and you're guessing on what your exact assignment is it slows you down. Whenever you're out there just playing, you can play at your top-end speed."

Players like Bud Sasser, who worked at the Y position/tight end position, Gahn McGaffie and Jimmie Hunt, who caught an 88-yard touchdown in the spring game, all impressed this spring. So did tight end Eric Waters, who will now take over for Egnew, before he went down with an MCL injury that required surgery. Coach Gary Pinkel said Waters, who has two career catches, will be a key cog in the offense and should be back up to speed in three months.

Upperclassmen Rolandis Woodland, Jaleel Clark and Kerwin Stricker should also contribute more this fall and much ballyhooed recruit Dorial Green-Beckham, known around the program as "the big guy," will be on campus this summer.

"We're in pretty good shape," Pinkel said.

Before spring practice, 7-on-7 sessions helped build receiver chemistry, but what really brought this group together was not having quarterback James Franklin healthy this spring. After being sidelined with a shoulder injury, the receivers were forced to work with backups Corbin Berkstresser, Alex Demczak and Ashton Glaser.

Lucas said it was tough building chemistry with the other quarterbacks at first, but it forced the receivers to be more vocal in film sessions and in the huddle with the QBs

It also helped the receivers learn to take on more responsibility in the offense. They felt as though they were the voices this spring, and Lucas said that will be more beneficial for this group than in past seasons.

"We just want to be dominant," he said.

"We're kind of like the motor for [the offense]. We run the pace out there. If the wideouts are having a good day, it feels like the offense is having a good day."

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- From the moment Missouri was officially welcomed to the SEC, the questions about adjustments began.

Could Missouri’s spread offense work in the bigger, badder, faster SEC? Could the Tigers hold up in the nation’s best, most physical conference? Could all of this hyperbole about a college football conference get under the skin of a team and staff leaving the Big 12?

Coach Gary Pinkel and those around the program calmly answer each one of those with a simple “Yes.”

Pinkel has had to answer questions about change for far too long, and just so everyone is on the same page, he’s very confident the football his team has played -- both offensively and defensively -- during his 11 years in Columbia will work in the SEC. To say that there won’t be tweaks made to combat the obvious speed and power the SEC is known for would be “inappropriate,” Pinkel said. But to suggest that the Tigers should overhaul most of what they do is just as inappropriate.

“We’re going to run our offense and we’re going to run our defense,” Pinkel said. “We’re going to do what we do.”

What the Tigers did last year was rank first in the Big 12 and ninth nationally in rushing (243.5 yards per game). Missouri was also fifth in the Big 12 in total offense (475.5). In a conference known more for burning out scoreboard lights, the Tigers averaged 32.8 points per game and 30 in league play.

Say what you will about Big 12 defenses, but the Tigers are proud of their numbers and their competition. The SEC will no doubt be tougher, but Pinkel isn’t looking to change just because of a new challenge.

Most of the questions concerning change have centered on the offense. Missouri runs as true a spread as anyone. The Tigers love space for receivers and linemen. Rarely is there a tight end attached, shotgun is the primary formation, there is a lot of motion and there will be empty sets.

This is an offense built more on finesse, but offensive coordinator David Yost insists that there is power. New wrinkles were added last year to attach the tight end more and run more I-form. Both will make appearances, along with a little three-back action, if the personnel works out.

While the Tigers have been asked if they can adapt, Yost wonders if the SEC can adapt. Not a lot of spread has been used in this league, and even Urban Meyer’s spread at Florida showed a lot of power plays with physical QB Tim Tebow. Auburn was much more spread out, but Yost said this will be different.

“We will be a spread team and we will try to give people fits in different ways than how other people do it,” Yost said.

“There’s not a lot of what we do happening in that league right now. It’s a change for us going against new people, but it’s also a change for them for what they’re going to see because we’re different and we’re different in how we do it.”

Wide receiver T.J. Moe, who led Missouri with 54 catches for 649 yards and had four touchdowns in 2011, agrees. He understands the SEC is good, but thinks SEC defenses will have to catch on as well.

"Offensively, they have to cater to us because whatever we do they have to try and defend us," Moe said. "They can't put eight in the box when we're spreading it five wide. You just can't do that.

"For us, we're going to do what we do and they're going to have to stop it."

Defensively, the Tigers feel just as confident. This group ranked fourth in the Big 12 in total defense last fall, and defensive coordinator Dave Steckel said he doesn’t plan to change much -- physically or schematically -- in the move. In fact, he’s been so focused on his own team and recruiting that he hasn’t seen much SEC offensive tape at all. When asked about any changes he might think about making, Steckel seemed disinterested in the idea.

“I can’t answer that question. I’m too old, man,” he said with a laugh. “Football is football. You just play football.

“We’ve always emphasized since we’ve been here tough and physical football.”

As far as taking on bigger or faster skill players, linebacker Will Ebner isn’t concerned because he doesn’t believe he’ll see anything faster than what he saw in the Big 12.

“I don’t agree with that,” Ebner said about the SEC being a faster conference. “We play against fast guys. The Big 12 is not a bad conference. They’ve got a lot of skill guys, especially [with] all those spread offenses. Those guys can fly.”

The defense’s toughness will be constantly judged, but the offense will continue to receive the most attention this fall. Yost said change will be considered week-to-week, and until then, the plan is to make defenses answer to them, not the other way around.

“We try to do as many things as we can that defenses don’t like," he said, "and try to put the onus on them to handle us and react to us as opposed to we react to what they do.”

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- I made it out to the new Columbia to check out the new Tigers in the SEC Tuesday. It was my first time visiting the city and school and it was the first time I had ever spoken to coach Gary Pinkel.

Immediately, I could tell that he wasn't afraid of his new surroundings. Not one bit. He's been at Missouri for 11 seasons and after some thought he'd be run out of Columbia before he even figured out where his office was he'll enter the 2012 season with 85 wins at Missouri. He's also taken the Tigers to seven straight bowl games.

So when the coach with 21 years of head-coaching experience was asked about adjusting to the SEC, it was no surprise that he didn't budge much. He gives the SEC a ton of respect, but thinks his team can earn some with the move.

"It's hard to argue with anybody and say the SEC's not the best league in the country, consistently," Pinkel said. "There's no argument.

"I understand we're going into a great league this year, but we go in with some credibility and some success."

The Tigers have reached double-digit wins in three of their past five seasons, so there's no doubt this team will get some respect, but earning it means adjusting to life in a league that lives and dies by line play. That's where things might get a little tricky for the Tigers.

Missouri has to replace six linemen on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Missouri has been without defensive linemen Brad Madison and Sheldon Richardson this spring due to injuries. It hurts because both are expected to contribute a lot this fall, but it has helped get younger players more reps, especially end Kony Ealy who should give Madison a real run for his spot when the senior-to-be returns.

On the offensive line, the Tigers were fortunate to get wise, old Elvis Fisher is back after he was granted a sixth year by the NCAA, following a devastating knee injury that end his 2011 season during fall camp. They also return a group of players that might not have started every game, but got good game experience last year.

To the coaches, the Tigers aren't exactly losing three starters on the offensive line. Offensive coordinator David Yost acknowledges that Jayson Palmgren, Austin Wuebbels and Dan Hoch are all gone, but he also considers guard Jack Meiners a starter from last year and Fisher is considered a returning starter as well. It also helps that Justin Britt started at left tackle last year, essentially giving Missouri two left tackles and containing the edges on this year's line. That's big because Missouri doesn't use an attached tight end much.

Speaking of tight end, Eric Waters, who is replacing All-American Michael Egnew, underwent surgery to repair a torn MCL in his knee Tuesday and Pinkel said he's out for three months. He should be ready for the season opener.

As for tweaking the offense and making sure Missouri is fit to run its true spread in the SEC, the players and coaches aren't worried. In fact, they're pretty confident in their scheme and they're not changing from being a true spread team.

"Until you play us, it's different than what other people do and how they do it," Yost said. "We have our system, and we're going to stick with it. Their challenge is to do what they do and have their stuff mesh to what we do."

The Tigers will have to have a balanced attack like they did last year.They'll have quarterback James Franklin back for the opener and think he'll help guide their group of unproven wide receivers. Missouri can also go four or five deep at running back, even without Henry Josey, who likely won't see the field this fall following that devastating knee injury.

We're handing off Missouri from the Big 12 blog to the boys at the SEC blog today, and as part of the proceedings, it's time to get a bit sappy.

Ol' Mizzou, here's what I'll miss about you when you leave for the SEC.

And, if you were curious, here's our past installments of this series:

• What I'll miss most about Nebraska
• What I'll miss most about Colorado

1. Columbia. I called the city home for four of the best years of my life and earned a degree that I had so much fun earning it almost felt stolen. That doesn't affect how I cover the team, but I'd be a liar if I said I enjoyed visiting any Big 12 campus more than Mizzou. Sorry, Austin. Whether it's a Booche's burger, a slice of Shakespeare's Pizza or a stop by The Heidelberg, which somehow gets consistently left out of the "Must Go" places in Columbia, I love it. And if you didn't know, now you know, Tigahs.

2. The Border War. Nebraska and Colorado checking out didn't cost us any big annual rivalries, but this one hurts. The Kansas-Mizzou hate flows 365 days a year, and now, they'll have no chances on the football field or basketball court to give that hate an outlet. It's a shame. Please, please, play this game. I understand Kansas' side of the debate and why it wants to end it. That doesn't make it any less ridiculous.

3. The coaching staff. This was always a fun group to work with. Offensive coordinator David Yost -- we had some fun with him on Twitter last week -- will tell it like it is and offer some solid insight, too. He's always good to help folks better understand what's happening on the field, but the Tigers have a great mix of coaches. The fiery nature of defensive coordinator Dave Steckel balances well with the straight-laced Gary Pinkel, who handled an embarrassing incident this year with about as much class as you'll ever see, personifying the idea that character isn't mistakes, it's how you react to them.

4. Senior Day at Mizzou. The Tigers have one of the least-publicized, coolest senior day traditions around. After a player finishes his career on Faurot Field, he runs down, hops the fence surrounding the field and grabs a rock from the Rock M to keep for good.

5. Seeing DGB's career play out. Top recruits at schools that traditionally don't get them are much more interesting than ones who go to factories like Texas and OU. Dorial Green-Beckham will be a fun, fun player to watch over the course of his career. Unfortunately, I won't get to see it. But, good luck to him in Columbia.

Recruiting Nation scoured every league and named the recruiter of the year in each conference.

Who landed the honor in the Big 12?

Bo Davis of Texas.

Writes Recruiting Nation:

Bo Davis settled right in for the Longhorns and did very well in his first season as a recruiter for Mack Brown and Texas. His impact was immediate as ESPNU 150 defensive end Torshiro Davis (Shreveport, La./Woodlawn) signed with Texas on signing day instead of LSU, where he had been a longtime commit. These are battles LSU doesn't normally lose to Texas. Davis was also responsible for landing junior college standout Brandon Moore (Scooba, Miss./East Mississippi C.C.), who originally signed with Alabama out of high school two years ago. Davis also had a key hand in the Longhorns getting defensive end Caleb Bluiett (Beaumont, Texas/West Brook) and defensive tackle Paul Boyette Jr. (Humble, Texas/Humble) on signing day. Davis, who is from Louisiana, is a big reason Texas, which normally isn't very active late in the process, made some big, late moves.
Honorable mention: Stacy Searels, Texas; Joe Wickline, Oklahoma State; Terrell Williams, Texas A&M; David Yost, Missouri.

No doubt an impressive haul for a Texas team bringing in lots of talent once again. We'll see how well each develops.

Let's take a look inside that first half out in Tempe, Ariz., where Missouri trails Arizona State, 16-10.

Turning point: Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler, who, if you haven't heard, is 6-foot-8, connected with Aaron Pflugrad on a gorgeous 60-yard rainbow down the right side of the field to give Arizona State its halftime lead. The momentum had shifted toward the Tigers, who scored on the previous drive, but Osweiler's deep ball gave ASU points on its first play of the ensuing possession and control of the game once again.

Turning point II: Missouri lost De'Vion Moore early on with an ankle injury and he won't return. Missouri had four reliable backs to begin the season, but for tonight and perhaps a bit into the future, it's down to just one. Henry Josey is the only healthy back left from a group that included Moore, Marcus Murphy (shoulder surgery) and Kendial Lawrence (broken fibula) and rushed for 1,557 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. Missouri already entered tonight's game missing six starters due to injury just a week into the season. Moore was a new starter, so it's still six, but still.

Stat of the half: Osweiler and Missouri's James Franklin have combined to complete 23-of-29 passes. It's been a pretty clean-looking game so far with both quarterbacks dealing.

Best player in the half: Osweiler. He's been outstanding, connecting on throws at every level of the defense and really making the Tigers' defense work. In the first half, he was 11-of-14 for 229 yards and two touchdowns. He also swung the game on a huge throw to Pflugrad that earned our turning point of the half.

Second guessing: On Missouri's opening drive, Gary Pinkel elected to kick a 24-yard field goal on fourth-and-short in the red zone, rather than try and tie the game at 7 after Arizona State scored on its first drive. The Tigers have the perfect quarterback to make those kinds of plays, and OC David Yost has lauded Franklin's ability to push a pile. However, coach Gary Pinkel didn't give him the opportunity. Somewhat reminiscent of a similar decision early on against Oklahoma State in 2008, a game in which top 10 Missouri was upset on its home field.

What Missouri needs to do: Get in the backfield. Missouri's defensive line is strong, but it has been quiet in the first half. The Tigers have been unable to pressure Osweiler with any consistency, but the Tigers' cornerbacks need help. E.J. Gaines and Kip Edwards have both been burnt already, and two of Missouri's defensive backs somehow whiffed on the first touchdown pass. How did it happen, though? Osweiler had lots of time and receivers were able to find open space in the secondary.

Tyler Gabbert's career began as a near carbon copy of his older brother's.

A commitment to Nebraska, followed by a decommitment and finally signing a letter of intent with Missouri.

Tyler enrolled early at Missouri last spring. He spent a year behind a franchise quarterback, just as his brother did during his freshman season behind Chase Daniel .

As a freshman, though, Blaine played the role that James Franklin assumed last year, a freshman change of pace behind an experienced talent.

And in the spring that followed, their careers further diverged. While Blaine Gabbert won the starting job in what was a competition in name only, Tyler Gabbert narrowly lost a spring battle with Franklin.

Rather than stick around this fall and try to claim a No. 1 spot, Gabbert announced he would transfer on Monday, giving no indication of his future destination.

Based on coaches' comments, the race looked close, with Gabbert grabbing hold of a co-No. 1 spot midway through spring camp and briefly getting more time with the first team than his counterpart, Franklin.

But after spring break, Gabbert struggled while Franklin surged, capped by a disastrous spring game for Gabbert, who completed 8 of 22 passes for 48 yards and an interception.

Franklin completed 13 of 21 passes for 116 yards and two scores.

The pair's cumulative numbers were nearly identical over the handful of spring scrimmages, but based on the finish, Missouri's coaches made the right call for the time being, placing Franklin atop the chart but stopping well short of anointing him the starter for next season.

Publicly, at least.

Gabbert's father, Chuck Gabbert, spoke with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday after the announcement was made public.

Gabbert is leaving Mizzou, his father, Chuck, said Monday morning, "for an opportunity to compete and vie for a starting position."

Unstated but implied in those words and his son's action is the notion that Franklin had seized hold of the starting job for keeps after a back-and-forth battle in spring practice.

"This is not a knee-jerk reaction by any stretch of the imagination," he said.

Gabbert's father also told the Columbia Tribune "There are other factors that went into this decision that we’re not going to discuss with the press."

I won't stab a guess at what those are, but regardless of what Missouri's coaches told the media, it seems likely that Gabbert didn't feel he had a realistic shot to win the job in the fall.

This spring, Missouri offensive coordinator David Yost described Gabbert to me as the quarterback with the most competitive fire and the strongest arm on campus.

Decision-making and accuracy will take you a lot further on the field than either of those, but I find it very, very hard to believe that Gabbert would leave before fall camp if he still felt he had a chance to start next fall. The message from the staff in the post-spring evaluations likely wasn't welcomed. The public was blindsided by what looked like a stunning decision. I'd be surprised if the same was true of Missouri's coaching staff.

The future could be promising for both. Gabbert is good enough to play somewhere at the Division I level, and he'll have four years of eligibility after he sits out a year at his new home, unless he goes the FCS route, where he'd be eligible immediately.

Nebraska, where he first committed, has already surfaced as one possible destination, as has Louisville, where former Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson coaches the quarterbacks.

But both schools have logjams at quarterback and young players taking part in those competitions. Louisville also signed Teddy Bridgewater, one of the nation's top dual-threat passers, in its 2011 recruiting class.

Both places sound good on the surface, but I'd expect Gabbert to look elsewhere and, with finals at Missouri wrapping up this week, take his time doing it. There's no rush for Gabbert, who I expect to make a few campus visits this summer and find a permanent home a few weeks before fall camp begins.

For Missouri, the quarterback situation gets simplified. Franklin might have to hold off incoming freshman Corbin Berkstresser this fall, but he'll begin preseason camp with a huge lead, and I'd expect him to ingrain himself as the team's offensive leader during voluntary workouts this summer.

That's probably an advantage in the long run for Missouri, which can focus on giving Franklin a huge share -- if not all -- of the first-team snaps during fall camp, too.

Missouri's fielding one of its most complete teams under Gary Pinkel, but a huge gap remains at quarterback.

For the first time since Blaine Gabbert's departure, though, there's little doubt about who will fill it.

Missouri's quarterback race has officially heated up.

Tyler Gabbert outperformed his competition, Ashton Glaser and James Franklin, at the first scrimmage of the spring for Missouri on Saturday, and as a result, debuted on Tuesday as the co-No. 1 quarterback with Franklin.

Last spring, Gabbert was the No. 5 quarterback when he enrolled early along with Franklin as a freshman. Franklin won the No. 2 job and played while Gabbert redshirted and started the spring at No. 3 behind Franklin and Glaser.

Now, it looks like he's neck-and-neck with Franklin to succeed Blaine Gabbert as Missouri's quarterback.

Coach Gary Pinkel downplayed the move, but it's obvious Gabbert has made an impression early.

"We looked at all the practices and scrimmages," Pinkel told reporters after Tuesday's practice, downplaying the big-picture impact of Gabbert's performance on Saturday. "There’s a lot of competition. That’s good. It’s going to be very competitive. Someone’s going to have to pull away. But there’s a long way to go here, you know. A lot of things are going to happen. They’re all great competitors."

What looked like an interesting spring in Columbia has lived up to its billing. Even if Gabbert wins the race, I'd still expect Franklin to get a good amount of playing time. As a freshman, Franklin spelled Blaine Gabbert in a role as a runner.

Chase Daniel did the same for Brad Smith as a freshman and Gabbert did the same for Daniel when he was a freshman in 2008.

That's consistent with what offensive coordinator David Yost told me during my visit to Missouri earlier this month. If a backup quarterback offers something the starter can't duplicate, it's worth getting them on the field. Daniel was a more accurate passer than Smith. Franklin was a much better runner between the tackles than Blaine Gabbert. Yost, in fact, compared him to Tim Tebow. The comparison stretched only as far as Franklin's ability to move the pile as a powerful runner and find creases between the tackles, but even though all three quarterbacks have decent wheels, Franklin, at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, has size and power the other two lack.

Like Pinkel said, there's a long, long way to go. At this point, it seems unlikely that Missouri will definitively settle much at the position by the end of spring, but like you read last week, the players will decide.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- I hope you've enjoyed our coverage from Mizzou the past few days. If you aren't one of my most faithful readers, here's a refresher.

• Continuing the QB tradition at Mizzou
• Missouri DE Madison an unlikely star
• Tigers continue growth in secondary
• Video: QB James Franklin
• Video: WR T.J. Moe
• Notes and observations from practice

But not everything fit neatly into those stories. I've got plenty more on the Tigers from my visit to Columbia.

Quarterbacks are the focus of spring for the Tigers, but there's no doubt, it's going to be a bit of an adjustment if James Franklin wins the job. That's no guarantee, and Tyler Gabbert has come on strong this spring, but Franklin is just a completely different type of person than the fiery Chase Daniel or uber-competitive Blaine Gabbert. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. Offensive coordinator David Yost told me he wants each new quarterback doing things his own way, and that includes his demeanor and actions off the field.

"Blaine and Chase were different, and Blaine did a good job of not just copying Chase. He took what Chase did and tried to make it fit him and how he dealt with players, getting himself ready to play," Yost said.

Franklin will have to do something similar. Tyler Gabbert, who has come on strong of late in practices, is a much more heated competitor. "Sometimes you have to calm him down because he gets very, very 'on,'" Yost said. "He wants to make every throw. It’s great to have that, but you can’t let that affect the next play, so he’s kind of learning that."

Franklin is a much more easy-going type of guy. He's nowhere near as outspoken. It'll just be different. I believe it was Rene Descartes who said, "Different strokes for different folks." Seems to fit this scenario.

"I’m not too vocal as a quarterback. As a person, I talk a lot, but once I come on the field, I’m not as vocal. It’s something I hadn’t really done in the past, so it’s something I need to adjust to," Franklin said.

Coaches have told him that sometimes his silence, especially after negative plays, can come off as bad body language, so even if his head is clear, his actions have to communicate positive messages to teammates. Sometimes his quiet demeanor meant his teammates didn't even realize who had thrown them the ball in practice.

"They’d come back and say 'Hey, nice throw James' or 'Good call,' and I’m like, 'That wasn’t me, that was Ashton or that was Tyler," Franklin said. "To me, I’m thinking, 'How could they not know?' For one, I’m just a little bit taller and my skin is like 50 shades darker. But they’re just kind of in the zone, so if I’m more vocal and demanding of them, they kind of recognize 'hey, that was me.'"

The thing is, he has to do it naturally, and managing that balance will be a key for all three quarterbacks' development. Franklin can't just turn into an animated screamer overnight. That would only come off as disingenuous and be more counterproductive than anything.

"Being more vocal will help. Not only as a quarterback, but also as a person, because it should show you leadership and you demand things out of your offense.

• You get the sense Yost could talk about Blaine Gabbert and what he's meant to the program for hours. I'm sure he could. But when it comes to influencing younger quarterbacks, it's easy to see why. "You’d go up for room check [the night before road games] and Blaine’s sitting in his bed with his iPod in and his computer on his lap watching cut-ups," Yost said. "Every week. That'd be at 11 o'clock and at meetings the next day I’d ask what he watched, and he'd tell me. I'd ask when he got to bed, and he’d say, 'Ah, it was about 1:30.'" Franklin roomed with Gabbert on the road, and his younger brother surely saw some of that.
• Passing down lessons like that is nothing new. When Blaine Gabbert came into the program, he'd spend about two hours a day during the summer as a freshman with Chase Daniel watching tape. He wasn't watching the offense by then. He was looking at the defense. "Where are they moving? Backing up? Where can I get throws? When this guy does this, this opens up," Yost said. And because of those summer film sessions, "Blaine was way ahead of where Chase was in understanding defenses at the same spot in camp their sophomore years," he said. The idea, of course, is that continues with the younger quarterbacks.
• Speaking of Gabbert, Yost loved how he blossomed into a "quarterback" after coming to Mizzou as a "thrower." "He was a tremendous, highly recruited thrower out of high school, but he bought into becoming a great quarterback," Yost said. He did it by first learning how to study film from Daniel and carrying it on once Daniel left and he became a starter. "People look and say, 'Well, his passing yards are down,'" Yost said. "But he became more of a quarterback because of how he prepared each week."
• Part of the reason for that dip was Missouri's lack of a vertical passing game in 2010, which is are of focus this spring. Tyler Gabbert has the arm strength. Yost likes Franklin's deep ball a lot. But somebody's got to catch it. I did think it was funny that Yost cited my look at explosive plays across the Big 12 in our conversation. The number of plays longer than 20 yards didn't drop much for Missouri (73 in '08, 66 in '09 and 63 in '10), but the longer plays did. "We were still getting our 20-yard plays, but instead of having Danario [Alexander] take a 20 yarder to a 60-yarder, we were getting that 24-yarder. Even when you go back to 2008 when we had Maclin, the numbers were a lot higher than last year," he said. "Anytime you can get those, it takes off so much pressure. You could feel it last year. Guys were tightening up on us. We didn’t hit a lot downfield last year, and that was more disappointing than anything. We took some shots, and there were some games when we’d be at halftime and we’ve thrown the ball downfield eight times and we’re 0-for-8. Either we could have thrown it better, could have caught it, protected better and given him a better chance, there was a multitude of things. It wasn’t just one reason. But you hit those, it changes a game."
• Jerrell Jackson and Wes Kemp have the ability to get vertical, even if they lack Alexander or Jeremy Maclin's straight-line speed. The potential is there for younger receivers such as Marcus Lucas and Wesley Leftwich, or older ones such as L'Damian Washington or Rolandis Woodland who have had modest careers thus far. But someone has to do it. Missouri has the rare opportunity to bring back every single receiver on its roster from last year, and it added Leftwich, who enrolled early and has 4.4 speed, according to Yost. But for Michael Egnew and T.J. Moe to be their most productive, someone has to stretch the defense.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri offensive coordinator David Yost sat down in the quarterbacks' meeting room, pulled out his cell phone and fired off a text to his former quarterback, Blaine Gabbert, alerting the soon-to-be first-round draft pick that Missouri's first spring practice was hours away.

"You'd make my life a lot easier if you were sitting here on the right side of me in meetings," Yost wrote.

But Gabbert isn't. He's been preparing for the draft and Yost, the Tigers' third-year offensive coordinator, is preparing for his first season running Missouri's offense without Gabbert behind center.

For Missouri, whose quarterbacks have been coached by Yost since Gary Pinkel and his staff arrived in 2001, it's the first real quarterback competition since some redshirt freshman named Brad Smith beat out senior Kirk Farmer to win the job in 2002.

"Each guy kind of has his own thing that he does really well, but they’re all alike enough, and they can all throw the ball really well, and for the most part, the offense won’t majorly change for whoever wins the job," Yost said.

Sophomore James Franklin is the frontrunner after winning the No. 2 job as a true freshman last season and earning spot duty as a runner between the tackles and in short-yardage situations.

Sophomore Ashton Glaser has the No. 2 spot currently after enrolling early in spring 2009 and spending two seasons in the program.

Blaine Gabbert's younger brother, redshirt freshman Tyler Gabbert, entered spring as the No. 3, but possesses the strongest arm in the group, Yost says.

"They’re going to decide it," Yost said. "If one guy would separate themselves, that’d be good, but it’d still probably continue on throughout the summer."

Though the specific experience of a quarterback competition is foreign, Pinkel maintains that competition isn't.

"There’s no difference if we’re talking about this position or if we’re talking about the offensive guard," Pinkel said. "You’ve got to perform and you’ve got to perform consistently, and you’ve got to play better than the guy in front of you. That’s how it works."

Casual Missouri fans may think of Franklin as a runner. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound quarterback did run well last season, albeit with power and shiftiness as opposed to the blinding speed of Smith, who started four seasons for Missouri. But Franklin is plenty more, and now's his chance to showcase it.

"Not that James couldn’t throw it, but we thought, well, if we’re going to throw it, we better let No. 11 [Gabbert] throw it," Yost said. "There's a reason why he was so talented."

A player's potential does nothing to influence the coach's decision. As much as the staff would like one player to separate himself, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.

Want the job? Show them who you are. Who a quarterback could be doesn't matter at Missouri.

"That’s the beauty of how we do it," Pinkel said, "and the reason we don’t -- I don’t think as coaches, I don’t do it and our coaches don’t do it -- we don’t think in our head, 'Well this guy might be ‘The Guy’ or I might think that guy might be ‘The Guy,’" and the reason we don’t is it taints your evaluation. Let the players decide what’s going to happen and we’ll just see it and evaluate it."

Gabbert and his predecessor, Chase Daniel, had the potential and talents different enough from the starter that they earned meaningful playing time in spots as freshmen. But once the torch was passed in spring, they were clearly better than the passers below them on the depth chart.

This time around, it hasn't happened yet. But regardless of how far the separation is, Missouri will have a No. 1, a No.2 and a No. 3 quarterback leaving spring, just like it did to begin spring practice.

"We’re trying to get better because we all want the spot. Even though I'm in the No. 1 spot right now, that doesn’t mean I’m going to keep it," Franklin said. "I know that’s what a lot of people expect, and that’s what their guess is, but that doesn’t mean anything."

He says he feels the added pressure of those expectations, but he also felt more comfortable this spring after getting a chance to adjust to the speed of the college game with an early spring and a season on the field already under his belt.

"It’s kind of hard not to think, 'Oh, I’ve got all this pressure, I’m supposed to be the starter and this and that,'" Franklin said. "I just think it’ll help me have that edge."

He threw just 14 passes last season, completing 11 for 106 yards and a touchdown, in addition to running 23 times for 116 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including one in Missouri's win over then-No. 1 Oklahoma.

Those 14 passes in real games, though, are 14 more than Tyler Gabbert and Glaser have thrown in their careers combined.

"Everyone messes up, but when I go out there, it should look like someone that’s gone through it before," Franklin said. "I don't want to have thoughts like, 'Hey, well this guy is a sophomore or a freshman and he’s going to make those mistakes,' so I should look maybe not on the level of a veteran, but closer to that than a rookie."

The coaches wanted this competition. They signed two quarterbacks in the 2010 class so this would be a three-man battle instead of a two-man battle. Now, they've got it. All that's left is for someone to win it.

"I think we’re going to be pretty good at quarterback," Yost said. "He’s going to be the least experienced member of our offense, a lot of other guys will be counted on, but I think we’re going to be fine at that position with whichever guy separates himself whenever that happens."

With spring practice set to begin soon -- Texas opens its camp on March 2 -- here’s a quick look at how I have the teams ranked heading into spring practice. In formulating my rankings, I took into account returning players, transfers, arriving freshmen and a teams’ schedules.

1. Texas (14 starters back: 6 offensive, 7 defensive, 1 special teams). Garrett Gilbert got a head start on replacing Colt McCoy with his considerable playing time in the national title game, an invaluable learning experience for a young player. The Longhorns return most of the defense that improved in its second season under Will Muschamp. The biggest chores will be for offensive coordinator Greg Davis, who has to boost running game production and find a replacement for record-breaking wide receiver Jordan Shipley.

2. Nebraska (18 starters back: 8 offensive, 8 defensive, 2 special teams). Bo Pelini has the Cornhuskers positioned for a potential top-10 preseason ranking. Most of the offensive weapons will be back from a unit that sputtered down the stretch before breaking out in the Holiday Bowl victory. Quarterback Zac Lee will miss some of spring practice as he recovers from postseason surgery. Cody Green and Kody Spano will get most of the work until Lee returns. Nebraska coaches think the defense can be better this season, even without the up-the-middle strength of Ndamukong Suh, Phillip Dillard, Larry Asante and Matt O’Hanlon.

3. Oklahoma (15 starters back: 9 offensive, 4 defensive, 2 special teams). The Sooners overcame a debilitating run of injuries last season to finish with a flourish, knocking Oklahoma State out of a BCS game and winning the Sun Bowl in their final two games. Landry Jones will be infinitely better in his second season as a starter and Ryan Broyles and DeMarco Murray may be the best one-two receiving/running back combination in the conference. Bob Stoops will be facing a big renovation on defense where key players like Gerald McCoy and Dominique Franks left early for the NFL draft. Look for Travis Lewis to be the key to a defense that will need to improve by the time Big 12 play begins if the Sooners are to have any hope of claiming a seventh Big 12 title this season.

4. Missouri (19 starters back: 9 offensive, 9 defensive, 1 special teams). The Tigers will miss Danario Alexander and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, who were arguably the best players at their positions in the conference last season. But Blaine Gabbert is back for a second season as starting quarterback and some talented recruits are expected to emerge on defense. A key for the Tigers’ success will be a more productive running game and consistency from the offensive line. Improvement on both will be critical for coordinator David Yost during the spring.

5. Texas Tech (15 starters back: 7 offensive, 6 defensive, 2 special teams). New coach Tommy Tuberville immediately will have to sort through a potentially difficult decision at quarterback between Taylor Potts and fan favorite Steven Sheffield. New coordinator James Willis hopes to install a 3-4 defense that should be a haven for athletic linebackers. But the group’s success will hinge on replacing Jamar Wall at cornerback and finding some pass-rushing threats to replace Brandon Sharpe, Richard Jones and Daniel Howard along the front.

6. Texas A&M (19 starters back: 8 offensive, 9 defensive, 2 special teams). With Jerrod Johnson, Jeff Fuller, Uzoma Nwachukwu and Christine Michael back, the Aggies shouldn’t have trouble scoring points, although the line needs to do a better job of protecting Johnson. But the Aggies’ success will depend on the returning starters quickly taking to new coordinator Tim DeRuyter’s teachings. The group was blistered for at least 35 points in seven games last season and allowed at least 30 points in two other games. So needless to say that even with nine starters back, DeRuyter has his work cut out.

7. Kansas (16 starters back: 7 offensive, 7 defensive, 2 special teams). New coach Turner Gill inherits an uncertain quarterback situation, but has the framework for a strong running attack with all of his starting linemen back, along with Toben Opurum and heralded back Brandon Bourbon as running threats. The Jayhawks will need to fill in for the loss of Darrell Stuckey in the secondary, but new coordinator Carl Torbush should find the elements for a blitzing, attacking defense among the returnees. But the biggest reason the Jayhawks might be bound for a bowl game in Gill’s first season is swapping Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma for Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Baylor in their cross-divisional schedule.

8. Iowa State (13 starters back: 8 offensive, 4 defensive, 1 special teams). Paul Rhoads returns most of the offensive weapons that led the Cyclones to the Insight Bowl, most notably quarterback Austen Arnaud and running back Alexander Robinson. But the team loses all of its starting linebackers; veteran coordinator Wally Burnham will be challenged to cobble together a serviceable unit. The Cyclones could actually be a better team in 2010 but post a worse record. A tougher schedule featuring nonconference games against Utah, Iowa and Northern Illinois and the addition of South Division powers Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech will make last season’s bowl trip much tougher to duplicate.

9. Oklahoma State (10 starters back: 4 offensive, 4 defensive, 2 special teams). The Cowboys must find replacements for key players like Zac Robinson, Keith Tosten, four offensive linemen (including Outland finalist Russell Okung) and six of their back seven on defense. New offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen finds an uncertain quarterback situation but will lean heavily on a healthy Kendall Hunter. A manageable nonconference schedule should have them in bowl contention, but this should be a step back from Mike Gundy’s last two teams.

10. Kansas State (15 starters back: 7 offensive, 6 defensive, 2 special teams). The Wildcats missed out on a bowl trip last season only because they scheduled two FCS teams, but they surprisingly challenged for the Big 12 North title up to their last game of the season. It might be tougher to do that this season, although Daniel Thomas will provide the foundation on offense. Carson Coffman has the inside track at quarterback, but keep an eye out for Oregon transfer Chris Harper at either that position or wide receiver. Players like Jeffrey Fitzgerald and John Houlik will be missed on defense, but all four starters are back in the secondary.

11. Colorado (16 starters back: 8 offensive, 7 defensive, 1 special teams). Dan Hawkins’ seat is the hottest in the Big 12 and arguably in college football after missing a bowl for a second straight season last year. Tyler Hansen returns as the starting quarterback, but the Buffaloes need to find some help in the backfield with only three scholarship backs in spring practice. The defense was young last season and should be improved, but will miss the leadership provided by Jeff Smart and Cha’pelle Brown. A bowl trip likely will be necessary to save Hawkins’ job and a tough nonconference schedule featuring games at California and against Hawaii and Georgia will prove troublesome even before Big 12 play begins.

12. Baylor (14 starters back: 6 offensive, 6 defensive, 2 special teams). The Bears’ hopes of stopping the conference’s longest bowl drought will hinge largely on the health of Robert Griffin, who is recovering from knee surgery that forced him to miss the final nine games of the 2009 season. New offensive lineman “Big” Robert Griffin will have to protect his quarterback if coach Art Briles has any hope of making a bowl trip. Jay Finley and Kendall Wright are underrated offensive threats, but the Bears will miss key defensive leaders like Joe Pawelek and Jordan Lake who were stalwarts for several years.

After watching all of the Big 12's bowl games, I came away with a clearer picture of the conference and it's relative position in college football.

Here are some specific observations I gleaned after watching the conference's bowl games.

• Garrett Gilbert looks like a keeper at quarterback. Although the national championship game was a difficult learning laboratory, the freshman Texas quarterback showed the kind of flashes that helped make him last season's most heralded quarterback recruit. Gilbert will still be learning as he goes into his sophomore season, but appeared to have confidence in throwing the ball downfield against the tough Alabama secondary as the game progressed. That success was the major reason the Longhorns were able to improbably climb back into the game against the Crimson Tide. With speedsters Malcolm Williams, Marquise Goodwin and D.J. Monroe back for next season, expect the Longhorns to employ a more vertical passing game with Gilbert in charge than the short-passing game that was favored with Colt McCoy during his career.
• Texas Tech's quarterback battle in 2010 will be the most interesting in the conference. Taylor Potts and Steven Sheffield both were productive in the Red Raiders' Valero Alamo Bowl victory over Michigan State. Potts claimed the Valero Alamo Bowl's most valuable offensive player honors and Sheffield directed the Red Raiders' comeback over the Spartans. But both quarterbacks will come in even with new coach Tommy Tuberville and a new offensive coordinator taking over. The job is there for the taking for either one of them.
• Iowa State's surprising success likely will be short lived. The Big 12's feel-good story of the season was capped with Iowa State's victory over Minnesota in the Insight Bowl. Paul Rhoads' victory should resonate for the ISU program for the next several months. And the way it finished couldn't have been more fitting as cornerback Ter'ran Benton, who missed most of the season with a broken leg, iced the victory by recovering a Minnesota fumble in the final minutes. But as sweet as the bowl victory might have been for ISU fans, a significantly more difficult schedule looms next season. They better enjoy the spoils of a bowl victory while they can with Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Utah and Northern Illinois looming on the 2010 schedule.
• Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson had the best bowl game of anybody around the Nebraska program. And he needed it. Complaints about Watson's offensive philosophy were growing after the Cornhuskers' offense limped toward the finish line at the end of the regular season. Watson utilized the time off before the Holiday Bowl to help rebuild Zac Lee's confidence, find a way to get Niles Paul involved and utilize a Wildcat attack with Rex Burkhead running the ball. All worked masterfully in the Cornhuskers' 33-0 victory over Arizona in their top offensive performance of the season. That production should help turn around public perception about Watson's offense and catapult the Cornhuskers into spring practice with some badly needed offensive confidence.
• Missouri's refusal to run the ball against Navy was the biggest shock in the Texas Bowl. The Tigers had all kinds of chances to take control of the game, utilizing their superior size in the trenches against Navy's undersized read-and-react defense. And they still didn't do it in a stunning 35-13 loss to the Midshipmen. Even as Navy defensive coordinator Buddy Green used a two-man defensive front, Missouri offensive coordinator David Yost stubbornly tried to keep throwing the ball. Missouri's running backs only ended up with 16 carries in the game. It was understandable that Yost thought the Tigers could keep passing with Blaine Gabbert and Danario Alexander. But a little balance would have kept the game from getting away from them.

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Here are some of the topics that people are talking about inside the Big 12 after the first two weeks of the season.

• Texas Tech’s running game has regressed this season, down from 119 yards per game last year to just 46 yards per game and 2.8 yards per carry after two games. The major reason for the decline has been the defensive philosophy of opponents North Dakota State and Rice. But another factor has been that Graham Harrell was comfortable with the running game and frequently checked into those plays at the line of scrimmage in the past. New quarterback Taylor Potts isn’t nearly as proficient at that part of the Red Raiders’ offense – yet.
• Kansas is intent on developing its secondary and that retooled unit helped key the Jayhawks’ victory against UTEP. Kansas coaches weren’t happy with sophomore Anthony Davis and moved nickelback Chris Harris into the starting lineup in his place. Phillip Strozier made his first start at safety and the Jayhawks responded by limiting the Miners to 204 passing yards -- their lowest production since early last season.
• Despite struggling with the Big 12’s worst kicking game after two games, Bill Snyder isn’t turning away from starting kicker Josh Cherry. Against Louisiana-Lafayette, the Wildcats missed two field-goal attempts, struggled with another and saw an extra point glance off the left upright. Snyder still is working to build Cherry's confidence and will have him in the lineup Saturday against UCLA.
• One concern coming out of the Texas game at Wyoming was the Longhorns’ early inability to protect Colt McCoy from various blitz packages. That pressure helped contribute to McCoy’s early struggles until Wyoming got tired and didn’t have the personnel to stick with the Longhorns into the second half. That won’t be the case when Oklahoma and maybe even Texas Tech play against Texas. It will be interesting to see if future Texas opponents saw anything in the game films at Laramie that could affect McCoy later his season.
• One interesting thing about Missouri’s play-calling when down last week against Bowling Green was how new offensive coordinator David Yost didn’t abandon his running game. Obviously having backs like Derrick Washington and Kendial Lawrence has to help that confidence. But it was noticeable that Yost isn’t afraid to stick with the run where former Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen believed in a pass-first, everything-else-later mentality in those times of desperation.
• Robert Griffin uncorked a 59-yard quick kick in Baylor’s first game and mentioned he is extremely comfortable in the role as a punter. Griffin said the kick was his first in game since his freshman season in high school -- when he served as his team’s kicker and punter.
• While he’s careful to say it’s not a quarterback battle, look for backup Jerome Tiller to get an early series for Iowa State when the Cyclones visit Kent State. Coach Paul Rhoads said it's nothing against Austen Arnaud, but he always believes in two quarterbacks getting early work in a game. The idea is to have both quarterbacks fresh and ready to contribute in case of an emergency, Rhoads said.