For Gary Pinkel's 15 seasons at Mizzou we're ranking the top 15 players on each side of the ball in the Pinkel era.  We base this solely on each player's career at Missouri, not on what he did afterward, not on how many stars he had coming in, etc.  Pete, Gabe and Brian each voted for 15 players.  Scoring went as follows:

The top three spots hold a little more value, therefore being ranked in those spots carries more weight.  In the story you'll see first the ranking we came up with based on that scoring system, followed by each of our individual ballots.  Each of us also included a short explanation of our vote.

Listed below are the results of our balloting. Here are the top 15 defensive players of the Pinkel era according to our panel:

As stated, each of our three full-time staffers submitted his own ballot of 15 players. Spoon was a unanimous number one, but after that, our order varied. The No. 6 player on two lists (Brian Smith) was left out of the top 15 on the third. Four players were named on only one ballot, but one of them was high enough on that ballot to crack the top 15. There were a total of 19 players who got at least one vote from one of the three of us. Below are our individual votes.

Notes from Gabe: *It needs to be said Justin Smith doesn't count here as he never played a game for Pinkel.  After that, Spoon to me was the best on the field over a period of time.  He wasn't Daniel to the defense, but I'm not sure he was that far behind. 

I struggled with the order of the next three.  Ray set the single season sack record.  That merits a top five ranking.  What put him over Richardson is I think Ray's sophomore season leading up to his breakout year he had a bigger impact than Sheldon did in his lead-up year on campus.  Gaines is the best corner in the Pinkel era and no one else is in the discussion.  I have Golden as the second best DE Pinkel has produced and never having been the best on his own team.

6-10 will probably produce the most debate.  Maybe Sam's too high but in the Tigers' breakout year in the SEC, he was the most visible player.  Pig Brown had only a year and a half, but what a year and a half it was.  If he's healthy, I truly believe the 2007 Tigers play in the national title game.  Aldon Smith is a guy who had a very good college career, but I think his status increased with what he did in the NFL his first couple of seasons so I have him below Willy Mo, who took over for Pig Brown as a major force on the back end of the defense.  Hood could be higher, but I'm comfortable with his spot. 

Lorenzo Williams was not only a hell of a player but the best (or at least second behind Spoon) defensive leader Pinkel has had.  Jackson was a very productive player on defenses that weren't all that great.  Ealy was a guy whose production never quite matched his potential, but still a heck of a player.  I think Gachkar might be the most underrated defensive player of the Pinkel era.  Finishing out the list, Kinney is the all time leading tackler.  I just couldn't leave him completely off the list. In retrospect, I messed up on Brian Smith. He certainly deserves to be on the list, and probably even in the top ten. Hey, sometimes you make a mistake. Own it.

*Just missed the cut:  Brian Smith, Jacquies Smith, Andrew Wilson, Zaviar Gooden, Atiyyah Ellison, CJ Mosley, Keith Wright

Notes from Brian: Weatherspoon was a playmaking machine for some of Mizzou's best defenses. He was a sideline to sideline tackling machine. Ray set the all-time sack record and the single season sack record. Richardson is the most physically gifted defensive player of the Pinkel era. A physical freak. Moore may be the second most physically gifted. A guy that could make a interception or tackle the runner behind the line of scrimmage. Gaines is best cornerback of the Pinkel era.

Notes from Pete: No brainer on Weatherspoon. Smith and Ray could be debated, but I think Smith was a better all-around player, and considering he played most of 2010 on one leg, his performance really is impressive. Richardson could actually be lower, in my opinion, because he really had just one dominant year -- but, man, was he dominant that year.

I have Smith at 6, the third-best defensive end, just because he had three years of performance, and his Missouri career ended early because of that hip injury, but he's still No. 1 in career sacks and No. 3 in career TFL. I also have Sulak on the list because of his career output. Agree with Gabe -- Gachkar was a very, very underrated player. Finally, I have Pig Brown so low because both of his seasons at Missouri were hampered or ended by injuries.