2018 Tiger Mailbag: 37th Edition

GD: Well, my guess (pun intended) is that Cuonzo Martin felt he was better than not filling the scholarship. From everything I've been able to gather, Guess has ridiculous athleticism and a ton of potential but he's a guy that needs to be coached, needs to focus his energy and needs to be in an environment with a coach that's going to help him do that. Cuonzo Martin has some things to sell to a kid who may not have grown up in the cushiest environment or had a whole lot of guidance as a kid. You had a scholarship, so you can take a chance. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But we know enough about recruiting by now to know that this isn't going to prevent them from taking a guy they want down the road.

GD: You know, as a reporter, all I can do is try to get a little bit better every day. I've got to take each press conference one at a time. The next one is the most important one because it's the next one. I'm not good enough to just open my laptop and expect to have a great story. I can't beat everyone else in the business by just showing up. I'm going to have to put in the work, grind every day, give it my all at the press conference and in the classroom. The best guy writes the story and if an injury prevents me from doing it, it's got to be next man up. You're one carpal tunnel syndrome away from being on the front page. Every other reporter has good grammar and sentence structure, works really hard at his job and has an editor that really does a good job of putting his people in the best position possible for them to succeed. But I've got to worry about me. I'm just trying to be a little bit better every day.

GD: If he does, at least this is the game where every Missouri fan ought to be able to give him credit and not find a reason why it doesn't count. I'm not saying Missouri has beaten murderer's row, but all they can do is play the teams on the schedule. In the last ten games, Lock has well over 3,000 yards, 33 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. But nobody's quicker to point out that the competition wasn't the greatest than a Missouri fan. Really good teams are really good teams for a reason: They don't lose much. I'd say 253 yards and four touchdowns against Georgia last year was pretty good. But he can't play defense too.

GD: If I'm the UGA OC, I'm pretty confident my guys are going to be able to execute either one. I know I can run and I know Missouri struggles against the pass. I shoot for 50/50 at the start and see how things develop as the game goes on. I doubt Purdue went into last week's game planning on a 4:1 pass: run ratio, but it became evident that's what was going to work and the Purdue staff deserves credit for recognizing that.

GD: I'm running the show as the head coach. Mitchell Forde can be the defensive coordinator because he's used to fending off crazy things on the message board. I'll put Sean Williams in charge of recruiting because he's already familiar with that milieu. That leaves Keegan Pope running the offense. He's young and he's green, but he's got some potential. Jordan Kodner is in charge of marketing and social media and such.

GD: From a purely athletic standpoint, it was probably Danario Alexander going up between double coverage at K-State in 2009, snatching a ball out of the air, coming down, maintaining his balance and going for about 75 yards to the end zone. From a memorable standpoint, I think it has to be Gahn McGaffie against Oklahoma in 2010 returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. And I'm partial to any of the countless times Brad Smith pulled the move where everyone in the stadium was convinced he was going out of bounds and then he cut it up and tiptoed the sideline for an extra 15 yards.

GD: We were talking about that after the game last weekend. I didn't think Lock had any chance at matching the 44 touchdowns from a year ago, but he's on pace for 44 passing and 52 total after three games. And the big thing is, he might have to keep up those numbers. If the defense we saw against Purdue is the defense we see all season, he's going to have to put up 40 to win a lot of games. And there's really not a game left on the schedule that I know he won't play the entire four quarters. I still have to go under on both of your numbers just because I've got a hard time believing either one can stay at this level every single week...especially when the two easiest games of the schedule have already been played.

GD: Initially I was a little disappointed because I've got Billy Joel tickets in KC on Friday night and I didn't really want to hit the road at 6:30 to get to work. But after going to bed at 3 a.m. in West Lafayette last Saturday, I'll take a game that will get me home for dinner.

GD: We all sign a code of ethics that we won't influence the recruiting process in any way or advocate for a school in the recruiting process. As far as day to day operations and writing stories, I don't know that we have anything like that. I can really only worry about us. And I maintain a belief that you guys pay us to get the straight story and the information, not a gold-plated version of spin. Some people would rather have the second, but that's not ever going to be our site.

GD: Honestly, I've only had four of those. I'll go

1) Texas Sunrise

2) Sweet tea (but I prefer unsweet)

3) Old Fashioned

4) Hurricane

Can't rank the other three. Mint juleps look disgusting and I don't even know what sazerac is. Give me beer 98% of the time. If I'm going to drink liquor, give me a Kentucky Mule or a plain old gin and tonic.

GD: I think Oklahoma was in the final three as well. Believe Missouri was the first major offer for Jacobs, but once Bama came calling, well, that was all she wrote. I'd have to say they've done a heck of a job at running back, yes. They've been good traditionally at quarterback and defensive end too.

GD: No idea. Didn't even know it had happened.

GD: I'm not sure it can be fixed, but I think we disagree what the bigger problem is. I think it's the pass rush. They just don't make anything difficult on the opposing quarterback. Nobody can cover for seven seconds. I thought Christian Holmes was pretty good and I didn't think Adam Sparks was terrible (he actually had pretty good coverage on a couple of long completions). And remember, they played the whole game without DeMarkus Acy. I'm not sold on Missouri's safeties at all, but if you ask me to rank the problem areas, I think a complete lack of pass rush from the defensive ends is number one. And I also think (and numbers back this up) that Missouri's linebackers are not good at all in pass coverage, so there are a lot of open receivers in the intermediate passing game.

GD: If you're not on the field in year four and all but two of the receivers who are on the field are younger than you, I'd say the chances aren't very good of ever getting on it.

GD: We're trying to get Cuonzo Martin this week, but don't know his schedule yet. We'll have Jim Sterk next week. Nothing beyond that has been planned.