College football spring games typically serve as a preamble to the regular season games played five months later in the fall.
For Missouri football, Saturday afternoon’s Black and Gold Game at Faurot Field was a preamble to a new era for the entire university — a “coming out party,” as sophomore wide receiver Jimmie Hunt labeled it.
The Southeastern Conference logo wasn’t painted on the sidelines, but it was stitched onto the Tigers’ uniforms specially for this game. The first half marked the last time the Tigers wore the uniforms.
For possibly the first time in Memorial Stadium history, a fashion show was the main draw for the 18,614 fans that came through the gates. The Tigers unveiled the new wardrobe (two helmets, three jerseys and four pairs of pants) they’ll be donning when they begin play in their new league come September.
Although he was sidelined with a shoulder injury Saturday, sophomore quarterback James Franklin is a fan of the Tigers’ new look.
“It’s something that’s really going to help us confidence-wise when we go out and play,” Franklin said. “Me personally, I like how they’re a lot more loose than last year’s jerseys so that from a quarterback standpoint we have more flexibility. That’s something we like to have.”
Uniform unveiling aside, a football game, albeit a spring football game, was indeed played Saturday at Faurot Field.
Spring football means strange scoring systems and strange scoring systems means obscure scores, which was the case Saturday.
Tiger2, the squad comprised of the reserves, was spotted a 14-0 lead to begin the game and proceeded to trounce Mizzou1, the starters, 34-7 in the first half.
The second half pitted the offense against the defense on the scoreboard, with the traditional Missouri spring game scoring rules in effect. A turnover won the half for the defense, 5-3.
The Tigers have endured 12 injuries this spring, which coach Gary Pinkel said was the highest total of any spring in his career. With freshman wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, redshirt senior tackle Elvis Fisher, Franklin, sophomore running back Henry Josey and sophomore wide receiver Eric Waters all unavailable for Saturday afternoon’s Black and Gold game, opportunity abounded for a less-heralded player to breakout.
Redshirt sophomore running back Marcus Murphy and Hunt rose to the occasion, standing out on a day that featured few offensive fireworks from the first unit.
Hunt, a sophomore wide receiver from Cahokia, Ill., scored the game’s first touchdown, catching an Ashton Glaser pass down the seam and out-running the secondary to the house for an 88-yard touchdown.
“(Glaser) saw me down the middle, the safety over-ran it, I caught it and took it to the end zone,” Hunt said. “It was pretty exciting.”
Hunt had a coming out party of his own, hauling in three passes for 110 yards and one touchdown. Hunt displayed his blazing speed and shiftiness, showing that he too is deserving of playing time in an extremely deep wide receiving corps.
Murphy, who missed all of last season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, showed flashes of brilliance, much like he did during limited playing time in his freshman year. Murphy’s stat line for the scrimmage was 87 yards on 10 carries.
“Marcus is a player that’s very similar to Henry Josey as a freshman and he was coming along,” Pinkel said. “Now he’s healthy, 100 percent. When I saw Henry at halftime, he was so excited because he believes a bunch in Marcus Murphy. Great quickness, great explosiveness, and you can see that speed on the field.”
With Franklin sidelined due to shoulder injury, redshirt freshman Corbin Berkstresser directed the first-team offense. Berkstresser performed how a redshirt freshman who’s only seeing first-team reps is expected to perform. He did a solid job of finding the open receiver on intermediate routes, rarely looked to throw deep, at times looked rattled in the pocket and telegraphed an out route right into the arms of linebacker Donovan Bonner, who took the pass 60 yards to the end zone for a pick-six.
Berkstresser finished the day 13-of-20 for 187 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The third-string Glaser struggled with accuracy, but did show glimpses of potential on the touchdown pass to Hunt and a 35-yard scoring toss to Rolandis Woodland. Glaser was 14-of-25 for 213 yards and two touchdowns.
Glaser’s success came at the first-unit defense’s expense. The starting secondary of sophomores Kip Edwards, E.J. Gaines, Kenronte Walker and Braylon Webb did not have one of its better days, getting burned on Hunt’s 8-yard score and again on Woodland’s, as a communication breakdown led to Woodland being left alone behind the secondary, making for an easy touchdown.
The performances from guys not at the top of the depth chart, such as Hunt and Murphy, encouraged Pinkel moving forward.
“You want guys proving that they’re ready to play,” Pinkel said. “You don’t have to be a starter to get minutes in our system. The more backup payers that get reps, the better depth you get overall.”