Practice Notes: August 14th

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Missouri held its first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday morning. While the scrimmage was closed to the media, we asked around on Monday morning to get some impressions from the players and coaches.

Odom said the scrimmage consisted of approximately 160 snaps total.

"Came out of it really injury free. Fortunate in that regard," head coach Barry Odom said. "We're getting a lot better. Excited to see where we'll get at the end of this week."

Larry Rountree, Nate Strong, Kendall Blanton, Drew Lock and Terry Beckner were among players mentioned as having strong showings in the scrimmage.

"I thought Drew Lock at the quarterback position did a really nice job of making guys right a couple times," Odom said. "From an offensive standpoint, we've got a lot of playmakers and they consistently caught the football."

"I think Chris Turner did a great job. He's come along, a young freshman, done a really good job this fall camp. Been really pleased with him," defensive line coach Brick Haley said. "Akial Byers has continued to grow and get better as he continues to come along and learn the scheme. Walter Palmore did a good job inside and can be a space eater, has an opportunity to maybe slow down some people."

Defensive tackle Rashad Brandon is back practicing with the Tigers. The junior college transfer was on campus for spring football and was one of Missouri's better players. But he missed the first week-and-a-half of fall camp while the NCAA reviewed his eligibility.

Brandon was cleared for team activities on Friday night. He did not scrimmage on Saturday.

"He left off of spring really in a good spot as far as understanding the playbook," Odom said. "A lot of folks just think the defensive line, there's not much to it, but the way that we're reading blocks and getting vertical up the field, he's going to have to do some catch up. But he had a really good day today."

Brandon will be made available to the media for interviews on Thursday.

Another defensive tackle who drew praise Monday is freshman Kobie Whiteside. Odom called him probably the strongest player on the team.

"Played as hard as he could every snap," Haley said. "That's the culture that we want around here. We want guys that are going to play every snap with everything they've got in them. We want every play to be a strain for your body."

A low-key but intriguing position battle could unfold at middle linebacker for the Tigers. Eric Beisel had a strong finish to last season and is generally thought to be the starter, but sophomore Cale Garrett could provide a push for the top spot as well.

"There's nothing personal about it," Garrett said. "We're friends outside of football. We both want to make an impact on the team and I think we both will."

Garrett admitted to nerves last year as a true freshman. On Monday he said he "played like trash whenever I was in" in the opener against West Virginia and that it was not until the Arkansas game at the end of the regular season that he felt completely comfortable.

"A lot more as you could expect. It's slowed down a lot for me," Garrett said. "My confidence is constantly improving. It's just rising and rising as I get more games under my belt."

Garrett was one of the players Odom mentioned as having a strong scrimmage, but he's not leaving anybody out at the middle linebacker spot.

"Between Eric Beisel and Terez Hall and Joey Burkett and Cale Garrett, Jake Trump, Jamal Brooks, Rod Winters, all those guys need to get game ready because they're all a snap away from being the quote, unquote starter," Odom said. "There's not a lot of separation between really any of them at this point, between Beisel, Hall, Garrett and Burkett."

Garrett said he is confident the defense will improve on its 2016 showing.

"I think we gel a lot better," he said. "We had mandatory team bonding because we made an effort to bring everybody together, the whole team. I think that really did help and it's showing on the field too."

Nearly all of the players who had been battling injuries were out of the red jerseys and full go on Monday morning. Kaleb Prewett, Ronnell Perkins, Cam Hilton, Albert Okwuegbunam, Logan Christopherson and A.J. Logan all practiced at full speed.

Only tight end Jason Reese, who missed Friday's practice and the scrimmage with back spasms, and Justin Smith, who had his knee drained last week, were still sporting red during the open portion of Monday's practice.