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Over the course of the last week, PowerMizzou.com has held voting for the best players in school history at each offensive position. Today, we reveal the results of that vote. Here is the all-time Tiger offense, as selected by our subscribers:
QUARTERBACK
We selected five nominees, but the vote here was not even close. In a landslide decision, subscribers selected Chase Daniel as the quarterback of our team.
Daniel took over the starting job as a sophomore in 2006. He would re-write the passing record book at Missouri, ending his career with 12,515 yards and 101 touchdowns. Daniel led Mizzou to 30 wins in three years, including a school-record 12 victories and a No. 1 national ranking in 2007. Daniel led Mizzou to back-to-back division titles and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a junior.
Here are the results of the voting:
Chase Daniel: 407 (60.3%)
Paul Christman: 101 (14.96%)
Brad Smith: 88 (13.04%)
Phil Bradley: 65 (9.63%)
Corby Jones: 14 (2.07%)
TAILBACK
In choosing to run a two-back offense, we go with two running backs on the all-time Tiger team. This vote was also surprisingly lopsided, though that may have had something to do with some names who were not on our ballot. Tony Galbreath, Gerry Ellis and Mel West all received some support. But our users went with James Wilder and Devin West.
Wilder was a big-time producer on some of Missouri's more talented teams, the late 1970's editions that upset some of the best teams in college football. He left Mizzou as the school's all-time leading rusher and went on to hold the same honor with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. West holds the single season rushing record at Mizzou and may have put up even bigger numbers had he not split carries with the likes of Brock Olivo and Ernest Blackwell.
Here are the vote totals at tailback:
James Wilder: 512 (49.61%)
Devin West: 246 (23.84%)
Joe Moore: 110 (10.66%)
Zack Abron: 65 (6.3%)
Tony Temple: 51 (4.94%)
Bob Steuber: 43 (4.17%)
Darrell Wallace: 5 (0.48%)
WIDE RECEIVER
Whether it was recency or common sense, the vote for the top wide receiver was a foregone conclusion the second we posted the poll. Jeremy Maclin put himself among the best in school history despite playing just two seasons. But the race for number two was intriguing. In the end, our voters gave the nod to Mel Gray in a vote that wasn't all that close.
Maclin holds the single season record for both receptions and yards with 102 grabs for 1,260 yards in 2008. He is also third on the career yardage list and fourth on the receptions list despite playing just two seasons. In addition to his receiving ability, Maclin the top two seasons in individual all-purpose yardage and five of the top 17 individual games by that measure. He returned more kicks for touchdowns than any player in school history. Maclin was a two-time all-American and a first-round pick in the NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.
In the days before receivers put up the numbers they are today, Gray was one of the first big play wideouts at Mizzou. He held the school receiving and touchdown records for more than two decades and was an all-conference performer in 1969. Gray was also a five-time sprint champion on the track. He was selected to Mizzou's all-century team in 1990 and is a member of the school's Hall of Fame. He played 11 seasons in the NFL and was an all-pro receiver. Gray ranks ninth on Missouri's all-time receiving yardage list, despite making just 67 grabs. His 22.25 yards per catch average is the best in school history.
Here are the vote totals at wideout:
Jeremy Maclin: 482 (51.66%)
Mel Gray: 246 (26.58%)
Justin Gage: 110 (11.79%)
Victor Bailey: 37 (3.97%)
Henry Marshall: 24 (2.57%)
Leo Lewis: 11 (1.18%)
Joe Stewart: 10 (1.07%)
Linzy Collins: 9 (0.96%)
Harold Burnine: 2 (0.21%)
TIGHT END
The tight end position had the fewest candidates, but perhaps the most who deserved serious consideration as the best in school history. One redefined the position in the late 1970's while the other two brought both the tight end and Tiger football back to glory in the last few years. The voters' choice was recently departed senior Chase Coffman.
Coffman came to Missouri a year after the most statistically prolific tight end in Missouri history. And then he broke every record Martin Rucker set. The Ray-Pec product finished with 247 catches for 2,659 yards and 30 touchdowns. All are records for tight ends, and the catches and touchdowns are Missouri school records regardless of position. But more staggering than the numbers themselves might have been the highlight reel fashion in which Coffman attained them. Any list of the best catches in Tiger history will include multiple contributions from Coffman, who many will say had the best hands of any receiver they have ever seen. And had injuries not hampered his final two seasons, he would have set the bar even higher.
Here is how the vote broke down:
Chase Coffman: 313 (58.95%)
Kellen Winslow: 156 (29.38%)
Martin Rucker: 62 (11.68%)
OFFENSIVE LINE
No offense can work without the men up front doing their jobs. At no position has Missouri had more all-Americans than on the offensive line. This vote was tough. How tough? One guy who is on the team wasn't even among our initial list of nominees. The five linemen Tiger fans picked as the best were Russ Washington, John Clay, Francis Peay, Rob Riti and Brad Edelman.
Washington was an oversight on our initial list after his Missouri career from 1966-68. He was a fourth-round draft choice who went on to a five-time Pro Bowl career with the San Diego Chargers that landed him in the team's Hall of Fame.
A St. Louis native, Clay was a four-year letterman and one of four players in school history to make three all-conference teams. He was a consensus all-American as a senior in 1986, the Tigers' last all-American for 12 years. He was a 1987 first-round draft pick of the Oakland Raiders, but saw his carer shortened by injury in the pros.
Peay was an all-American as a senior in 1965 when the Tigers were third in the country in rushing and beat Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Peay was a first-round draft choice of the New York Giants and also played with the Packers, Chiefs and Redskins over a ten-year NFL career. He was a member of the all-century team at Mizzou in 1990 and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame the next year.
Riti held the record for most games started in a career until he saw it broken by his successor, A.J. Ricker. Riti is one of seven consensus all-Americans in school history (1999) and anchored the line for two Tiger bowl teams. In 1997 and 1998, the Tigers ranked among the nation's top rushing teams with Riti paving the way. He also set a school record by squatting more than 1,000 pounds.
Until this past class, Edelman was a member of the last senior class to appear in a bowl game all four seasons at Missouri. He was an all-Big Eight pick in 1980 and an all-American in 1981. Edelman played nine years with the New Orleans Saints and was a five time Pro-Bowl pick, including a starter in 1987.
Here is the vote on the offensive line:
John Clay: 109 (34.6%)
Francis Peay: 60 (19.05%)
Russ Washington: Write-in selection
Rob Riti: 38 (12.06%)
Brad Edelman: 31 (9.84%)
Ed "Brick" Travis: 19 (6.03%)
Darold Jenkins: 16 (5.08%)
Morris Towns: 16 (5.08%)
Conrad Goode: 16 (5.08%)
Ed Blaine: 7 (2.22%)
Ed Lindemeyer: 3 (0.95%)
Next week, PowerMizzou.com will turn to the defensive side of the ball and once again ask for your votes to select the all-time best at each position.
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