Defensive players compete to be crowned 'turnover king'

Every afternoon, when the Missouri defense meets to break down film of the morning’s practice, a coronation occurs. The player who forced the most turnovers during the scrimmage portion of practice receives a standing ovation from his teammates and is pronounced the day’s turnover king.

The turnover king doesn’t receive a crown, though linebacker Cale Garrett said Friday that he might look into getting one. The winner does get the highlights of his turnovers shown before the entire defense, however, as well as a standing ovation. Garrett said receiving the honor has become a point of competition among defenders. He has been named the turnover king once, and he vividly recalls the play that sealed his victory.

“I was tied with like three other people,” Garrett said. “Cam Hilton got like a strip or something, somebody did, and I just beat them to the ball. I just dove on it.”

Garrett said the idea to crown a turnover king began last season, when defensive coordinator Ryan Walters introduced the award. But it’s been emphasized more heavily during camp this season. In addition to the daily winners, there will be a cumulative turnover king named at the conclusion of camp. The competition is part of a larger effort by the coaching staff to increase takeaways in 2018. The Tigers forced just 17 turnovers a season ago, which tied for 81st nationally.

Missouri certainly isn’t the first program to concoct an award for players who force a turnover. Last season, Miami players who did so got to wear a gold chain on the sideline, and Georgia players received a pair of spiked shoulder pads. But head coach Barry Odom believes there are other, more concrete practices that make some teams better at forcing turnovers than others. During the offseason, Odom sought advice on how to do so from Texas Tech defensive coordinator David Gibbs, whose unit forced 29 takeaways a season ago, tied for sixth nationally.

“There’s ways and ideas that you get and you try to implement in your program, and we’ve taken so many of (Gibbs’) thoughts on the approach, and hopefully that helps us out,” Odom said.

A few specific practices the team has emphasized during camp are pressuring opposing quarterbacks — two sacks count as one turnover in the turnover king competition — and deflecting passes. Odom said Friday that tipped balls, caused by both defensive linemen and defensive backs, “usually end in the defense’s favor.” Apparently, the defensive players have taken the message to heart. Quarterback Drew Lock said Wednesday that he has noticed more tipped passes by the secondary during 11-on-11 periods of practice.

The other trait that the defensive coaches believe will result in more turnovers is defensive pursuit: having as many players as possible run toward a ball carrier. Getting multiple defenders around a ball carrier allows one player to attempt to strip the ball while the others bring him down, and having more players nearby increases the defense’s chances of recovering a fumble. Garrett said the unit has practiced the skills of ripping the ball away from a ball carrier and falling on a loose ball.

“It’s all the way to the sideline, it doesn’t matter, we all sprinting to the ball, because that’s the only way you can be able to get a takeaway, get a strip, get a fumble recovery, any of that, is running to the ball, good hustle,” cornerback Adam Sparks said.

More than anything else, Odom wants defensive players constantly thinking about turnovers and looking for opportunities to take the ball away. That’s where the turnover king comes in. By making takeaways into a fun competition, players are more likely to embody the practices that lead to them.

“Just emphasizing it in the meetings, making it a mindset that somehow, some way, get the ball back,” Odom said. “Take it back, get it back to our offense.”

Torn ACL a ‘positive in the long run’ for Collins

During the winter of his junior year of high school, Tyrone Collins suffered an injury that all athletes dread: he tore the ACL in his left knee. The injury forced him to miss all but four weeks of his senior season, and he said he was still rehabbing when he arrived on Missouri’s campus in January.

Now that the freshman cornerback is back to full health, however, he believes that the injury may have actually been a blessing in disguise.

After Collins had surgery to repair the ligament, he couldn’t participate in any football-related activity, so he decided to shift his focus to his academics. He ultimately completed enough coursework to get a semester ahead, allowing him to graduate from Braden River (Fl.) high school early and enroll at Missouri prior to spring practices.

“It was actually a positive in the long run,” Collins said of the injury. “I didn’t even know I wanted to graduate early until I tore my ACL.”

Speaking to the media Friday for the first time since arriving on campus, Collins said he’s reaped the benefits of enrolling early and participating in spring practices during the first week of camp.

“It helped me a lot with the plays,” Collins said of spring practices. “I just learned the plays back and forth, and when fall camp (came), I knew it better than most of the freshman.”

Injury report

A host of new players wore red jerseys during Friday’s practice, signaling injury. Freshman tight end Messiah Swinson suffered the most significant of those injuries. Swinson tore the ACL in his left knee and will likely miss the entire season. Prior to the injury, the 6-foot-7 freshman had appeared to be in line for playing time this season.

Other players who sat out of practice included defensive end Jordan Elliott and linebacker Ronnell Perkins. A team spokesperson said both players were dealing with knee strains. Freshman linebacker Chad Bailey also watched from the sidelines, his left arm resting in a sling. He tore a ligament in his left thumb and has already had surgery for the injury, according to a team spokesperson. Finally, linebacker Terez Hall and wide receiver Johnathon Johnson both wore red jerseys and did not participate in drills again Friday, as was the case Wednesday. Hall is dealing with a strained hamstring, and Johnson is sick.

Odom said after practice that he believes Perkins, Elliott, Johnson and Hall will all be back on the field in the coming days.