Notebook: Tigers prepare to face thin air

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As Missouri head coach Barry Odom said when he met with the media for his first weekly press conference of the season, the week of the first football game always comes with a level of excitement and anxiety. This season, however, Missouri’s opening test is particularly unique.

Missouri will travel to Wyoming Saturday for a rare road meeting with a Group of Five opponent in an even more unusual setting. The Cowboys’ stadium sits 7,215 feet above sea level — a stat that is prominently displayed around the field. Offensive coordinator Derek Dooley pointed out Tuesday that the Tigers don’t have the option of spending a week in Laramie to acclimate to the 6,000-plus foot elevation difference from Columbia, but the team has taken a few steps to prepare itself.

Among the measures: daily servings of beet juice. Players have been drinking the juice, which center Trystan Colon-Castillo said comes in a small container, like a shot, each morning for the past two to three weeks.

The juice is supposed to help increase players’ stamina, though the taste has not earned high reviews.

“It’s disgusting. It’s horrible,” Colon-Castillo said. “I’m just going to be real with you. It tastes absolutely horrible every morning. … I would rather drink anything other than that.”

“It doesn’t taste very good at all,” linebacker Nick Bolton added. “You gotta drink it with some Gatorade, it tastes a little bit better.”

In addition to drinking beet juice, players said they have made an effort to stay hydrated and have done extra conditioning drills over the past few weeks. Odom said he wanted his players to be aware of the effects of elevation, but he doesn’t want them worrying about it. The rest of the coaching staff offered a similar message.

"It’s only a problem if you make it a problem,” Dooley said.

“It’s overrated,” defensive coordinator Ryan Walters added.

Wyoming’s results at home suggest Walters may be correct — that the home-field advantage caused by its elevation is a bit overrated. In the past 10 years, the Cowboys have accumulated records of 33-29 at home and 22-41 on the road, for respective winning percentages of 53 and 35 percent. That may seem like a big difference, but according to data from sports-reference.com, from 2006 to 2016, teams across the FBS had an average winning percentage of 62.8 percent at home and 42.5 percent on the road. That difference of nearly 20 percent suggest Wyoming's home-field success is unremarkable.

In addition, other Power Five visitors to Laramie do not seem to have struggled in the altitude. Wyoming has hosted four Power Five opponents in the past 10 years and has lost all four games by an average of 28.3 points per contest. The Cowboys only covered the spread in one of those losses, when No. 2 Texas went to Laramie in 2009 as a 33.5-point favorite and won by 31.

While the majority of the coaching staff likely isn’t thrilled about the prospect of opening the season on the road and at elevation, this week’s game will be a special moment for one assistant. Missouri director of character and culture development Austyn Carta-Samuels spent two seasons as the quarterback for Wyoming, playing all 13 games as a true freshman in 2009 and 11 games in 2010 before transferring to Vanderbilt.

When Missouri takes the field Saturday evening, it will be Carta-Samuels’ first time back in the stadium since the Cowboys’ 44-0 win over Colorado State to end the 2010 season. He told 7220sports.com that “the tears will be flowing.”

“My parents will be there, two of my captains, who were captains on the team when I was a sophomore, will be there,” Carta-Samuels said Tuesday. “It will be exciting, just being back in that environment. It will be the first time I’ve ever been back for a game, so it’ll be awesome.”

Given his experience playing in Laramie, we asked Carta-Samuels for his take on the effect the altitude could have on Saturday’s game. The players will feel it, he said, but it shouldn’t impact the end result.

“It makes a difference,” Carta-Samuels said. “There’s a reason that Olympians train up there and all that stuff. But being a night game and being more mild weather with no sun there, it will be good for us, and I think (strength and conditioning coach Rohrk Cutchlow) got the boys right. I think we’re in shape. So we’ll feel it, but I don’t think it will be anything that affects the game.”

After seeing just three players depart the program all offseason, Missouri lost two players in the past few days. Wide receiver Alex Ofodile is retiring from football, while quarterback Lindsey Scott Jr. has opted to transfer.

Ofodile informed Odom of his decision Tuesday morning. He grew up in Columbia and starred at Rock Bridge high school before attending Oregon, then transferring to Missouri prior to last season. The son of tight ends coach A.J. Ofodile, he didn’t catch a pass last year. His mother, Krystal McKee Ofodile, died during the summer.

“I have respect for the reasons why he wanted to step away now from the game and I appreciate the work that he put into our program,” Odom said of Ofodile. “... This offseason was hard for him and with all the things that he went through, and at this point he feels like it's better to to be finished with with football, and we'll support him and make sure that he's got the things he needs to to continue to be successful."

Scott, meanwhile, informed Odom that he intends to transfer out of the program. Scott began his circuitous college journey at LSU but quickly transferred to East Mississippi Community College, where he won a junior college national championship. When he arrived at Missouri prior to last season, he was seen as a potential replacement for Drew Lock. However, he didn’t play at all a season ago and was beaten out by Taylor Powell for the backup quarterback job during fall camp.

“There's only one quarterback that's going to play, unless there's injuries and all those things,” Odom said. “And you know, Lindsey's been through a couple different schools and a transfer, and for him and the window of opportunity on what's left in his college career, he thought he's going to look at the opportunity to go somewhere else."

By officially earning both the starting punter and placekicker spots for Missouri, Tucker McCann has joined rare company. Last season, only one player for a Power Five school attempted the majority of both punts and field goals for his team: Oklahoma’s Austin Seibert. The last player to do so for Missouri was Adam Crossett way back in 2005, though it’s worth mentioning that punter Trey Barrow also took over place-kicking duties midway through the 2011 season.

Even though it may not be common to handle both punting and placekicking duties for a team, special teams coordinator Andy Hill said McCann proved during fall camp that he is the team’s best option at punter.

“He punted in high school, and he’s been good,” Hill said. “He’s been the best guy by far. We were looking for consistency, and that’s what he was.”

McCann will handle kickoffs for Missouri as well this season, but Hill said he is not concerned about overworking the senior. Hill said he has McCann on a “pitch count,” similar to a baseball pitcher, during each practice, to make sure his leg isn’t overworked. Based off his performance during camp, he doesn’t believe the workload of a typical game will impact McCann’s performance.

“We’re taking care of the pitch count every day during practice, and you’re going to have maybe 20 kicks between punts, kicks, kickoffs (in a game),” he said. “So no concern.”

One other special teams note: Cornerback Richaud Floyd and running back Tyler Badie are listed as the team’s starting punt and kickoff returners, respectively, but Hill said other players will get some reps at those spots as well, at least early in the season. Slot receiver Johnathon Johnson is listed as Floyd’s backup at punt returner, and Larry Rountree III, Kam Scott and Jalen Knox could all see reps as kickoff returners.

Missouri has already ruled two defensive players out for its Week One contest: defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat and linebacker Cameron Wilkins. Jeffcoat is the more significant of the two losses. The sophomore has not practiced since Aug. 2 due to an elbow injury. Wilkins is recovering from a knee sprain.

“Trajan is going to get another MRI at the end of the week,” Odom said. “He will not be able to play this week, and I would expect him back very soon."

Tight end Brendan Scales and linebacker Jamie Pettway also sat out of Tuesday’s practice, though neither comes as a surprise. Scales is expected to miss six to eight weeks due to a broken bone in his foot, while Pettway has not practiced since the outset of fall camp due to a knee injury. Wide receiver Khmari Thompson, who also missed camp because of a knee injury, took the practice field in a red, no-contact jersey.

The first game week of the season also means the first update since the outset of fall camp. We broke down the noteworthy changes and surprises on Missouri’s depth chart here. A few additional notes:

-- Even though sophomore Jarvis Ware is listed as the starting cornerback opposite DeMarkus Acy, instead of junior Christian Holmes, Odom said he considers all three players starters. He expects the three players to take roughly the same number of reps Saturday.

-- Asked about Knox and Scott, who are listed as co-starters on the depth chart at wide receiver, Odom’s response was similar. He said he considers both sophomores to be starters, and both will play meaningful snaps against Wyoming.

-- Odom praised offensive lineman Thalen Robinson, safety Martez Manuel and defensive end Isaiah McGuire, all of whom earned second-team spots on the depth chart as true freshmen. However, he also noted that just because a player’s name is not listed on the depth chart doesn’t mean he won’t contribute. He cited tight end Niko Hea as an example. “He’s going to play Saturday, and probably play a lot,” Odom said. In addition to Hea, Odom mentioned linebacker Devin Nicholson, safety Stacy Brown and running back Anthony Watkins as true freshmen who have impressed him of late.

-- Odom said the team has selected its five captains for the season. They are quarterback Kelly Bryant, linebacker Cale Garrett, defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, Acy and Rountree.