The offseason. Conditioning drills. A time when tackling dummies don't stand a chance. A time when college football teams across America all think they're good, maybe even great, let alone the team to beat. Workouts have been very productive. Weight room warriors are plentiful. Every player has somet
hing to prove. Leaders have emerged or returning players like Missouri quarterback Drew Lock and defensive tackle Terry Beckner, Jr. have ramped up their roles as the principal players, the principal voice on their respective side of the ball in the locker room and on the field.
Camp is right around the corner which signals that the season is a little over two months away. The Tigers opened some eyes with a six-game winning streak following an abysmal start to last year that included some of the worst pigskin performances since Mizzou joined the SEC.
Anyone on or around last year's squad was at a loss to explain how a team that was built on the defensive philosophy of head coach Barry Odom could get gouged for huge chunks of yardage by non-Power 5 Conference opponents or Power 5 Conference members who weren't viewed as anything more than a "W". Losses on the field led to losses in recruiting as the Tigers, licking their wounds after embarrassing displays of how not to play the game, completely whiffed on signing any player from a program-changing class of St. Louis talent that was widely considered the best crop in more than two decades, maybe ever. Now, you can't win the SEC East or compete for a national championship with players from the 314 alone, but securing a familiar face or faces among the locals, one or more whom the hometown fan base can continue to follow, is important.
The offseason prep is fine. The preseason awards are fine. The buildup and countdown-to-kickoff of the 2018 season is fine. Media days are fine but nothing is more important to establishing one's program than winning. So, we can skip all of the banter, pomp and circumstance, even predictions when it comes to Odom who is entering his third year at the helm of his alma mater and blatantly say that the pressure is on him and Missouri football to win - and win consistently starting this year or there may not be another in Columbia. Athletic Director Jim Sterk, who did not hire Odom, can play the role of Pontius Pilate and wash his hands of a season deemed a failure by bringing in his guy should things go awry. Sterk doesn't have a horse in this race but Odom, with the league's top signal caller in Lock back under center for his senior year and NFL prospect Beckner, Jr. pushing his unit to return to the D-Line Zou days of yesteryear, and his Tigers have to win a minimum of 8 regular season contests and a bowl game, especially after laying the proverbial egg against the Texas Longhorns that ended things on a sour note to go along with a 7-6 record when 8-5 would have looked decisively better. Horrible optics for a program trying to find its identity.
Barry Odom hired new coaches. He has a new outlook. He's got a staff of go-getters who may make the difference in recruiting, the lifeline to the success of any football program. Offensive line coach Brad Davis, one of those new hires, was the reason Missouri was able to get a verbal commitment from Lutheran North's Jack Buford, a 6'5", 330 pound offensive lineman rated a four-star recruit by 247Sports.com. Of course, there's nothing binding until the letter of intent is signed. The earliest that could happen would be December but it's a really good start. Odom and company will only get extended if they win. Much easier said than done in college football's best conference. Nothing else matters prior to the start and nothing else will matter at season's end. Barry Odom has his work cut out for him and he's either cut out to handle the job or he's not. Odom has something to prove, namely that he should be the "guy" roaming the sidelines on Game Day in 2019. His football team has something to prove - they belong in the vaunted SEC.
With a bevy of talent manning every position of every unit that will take the field, there will be nothing but high expectations. Win, win big and the recruits will come. They'll want to be a part of something special happening in CoMo. They'll want to become a member of the Tigers family and with a 9-win season, Odom will be the one to welcome them to campus, to his program. The pressure's on Barry Odom and Missouri football - and it starts now.
