Missouri Tiger Defense Rules Camp's Second Scrimmage

The Missouri Tigers held their second scrimmage of preseason camp Thursday morning at Faurot Field. A far cry from Saturday's 11-on-11, when quarterback Blaine Gabbert and the offense did pretty much whatever it wanted to the defense, Thursday's scrimmage featured an inspiring performance from a pissed-off defense.

Thoroughly whipped 54-31 just five days ago, the defense wreaked havoc in every way, shape, or form. When members from all defensive units weren't bursting through the line and applying pressure in the backfield, they were recording would-be sacks, deflecting passes, and creating turnovers.

"I think it was just focus," linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said of the defense's 34-20 victory. "When you come out here, and it's early in the morning, when you just had two practices yesterday—even though we did get to go to the pool during the second practice at the end—when you wake up, you just gotta hope to get your mind right as a defensive unit."

Clearly, focus was not a problem for Weatherspoon and the defense during spring workouts, when a string of strong performances perhaps coincided with a pubescent offense trying to find its legs. The two factors converged during Missouri's annual Black and Gold Game in April. That day, an advanced defense cruised through the spring game, dominating the their sluggish offensive counterparts with ease.

And after the tide changed a bit in the preseason camp's first scrimmage, defensive tackle Jaron Baston said the defense used its lapses to regroup for Thursday's battle.

"The offense just came out and got after us (on Saturday)," Baston said. "I think they still were a little mad about that spring game, so they came out and got after us. It woke us up."

As fierce as the defense was, head coach Gary Pinkel seemed equally as disappointed in his starting offense, which, by the time it managed to cross midfield 50 plays into the scrimmage, trailed 18-4 within a scoring system that is offensively biased.

"I thought it was kind of sloppy, in some respects," Pinkel said. "I thought the one offense was lethargic out there and made a lot of mistakes. When you have penalties and sacks, it's just all execution. So, disappointed in that."

Pinkel may have been hinting at the hesitant play of quarterback Blaine Gabbert, whose numbers—14-of-21 for 121 yards and one touchdown—were arguably belied by a number of sacks given up by a patchwork offensive line, and a running game that was consistently under siege in the backfield.

The Tigers return to the field on Friday at 7:15 a.m. for the first half of a two-a-day.

Courtesy of the Columbia Daily Tribune, both videos touch on what has been transpiring lately at preseason camp. First, Pinkel discusses Thursday's scrimmage. Below that, beat writer Dave Matter and sports editor Joe Walljasper discuss a handful of topics in their second webcast of the season.

Behind The Stripes Webcast for August 18, 2009 from Columbia Daily Tribune Video on Vimeo.

Lead photo courtesy of Columbia Daily Tribune