Former Missouri Players Breakdown the Upcoming Season

[Music] welcome welcome here we are with the very first episode of True Suns now brought to you by the Players Lounge we are super excited about this partnership um it's a way for us to highlight missou football um anything and everything missou football if you want to find out about our how it takes um upcoming games the previous games you can find it right here on the players louns man here were true Sons um we're going to give our takes on football as well as incorporate some stories about our past times at missou um and hopefully in the very near future having some of the both current and past missou greats I'm already sitting here with two of them so can you guys please introduce yourselves what's going on Jeremy Mackin man your your your latest College Football Hall of Fame and duct D I knew M was going to go first it's your boy Sean Weatherspoon AKA SP warmer missou tiger man we just here post it up true Sons it's time to get it all right man so let's get right into it the season is upon us I feel like it took forever for us to even get back to college football college football happens to be my favorite sport I know a lot of people who are like man I prefer the NFL because you don't have some of the mistakes but I feel like the mistakes in college football is what makes it great um because you don't know what you're going to get from Saturday to Saturday and this week we actually play on a Thursday Thursday night man versus Murray State so let's talk about missou kind of where we are right now as a team um how the state feels about the team the buzz around the team coming off of a great year where we are cotton bow Champions man we happen to beat Ohio State uh pretty lows scoring game but we still pulled it out let's talk about the buzz we are hearing now about missou yeah man you you mention something in state you know I'm I'm in state so you know I got a chance to uh kind of have a front row seat to it man and uh you know and also being on the high school football scene as well so um you know it's it's it's a lot of Buzz man very similar very very similar to after our 07 season so um you know guys are excited you know I think the community is excited uh drink has done a heck of a job uh really putting his footprint in Missouri right both St Louis and and Kansas City uh he's done a great job man from a recruiting standpoint um and like you said coming off for you know 11 win season um you know everybody's excited so uh in state man the buzz is real it's loud and I think people are ready to ready to get it going likewise likewise man um I actually had a chance to go to campus you know this past summer and I went up and shot the promo video so for all you fans that'll be at the game you might see your boy back on the Jumbo Tron and while I was there everybody was just super amped up about you know this upcoming season it kind of feel like you know we did we did such a good job last year it kind of seems like no one's really respecting us they're calling our schedule easy like we don't play in the SEC just like the other teams in the SEC um you know we can't pick the schedule we got to go out and take care of business but it seems like coach drink really gota you know got his foot you know he's he's got his foothold on the state of Missouri and everybody's really excited to see what the tigers are going to do and it's kind of weird because we've only had one winning season with him but the one we had last year was enough for us to just say all right drink can do no wrong I feel like come out come out this year and it's like when you got that rookie quarterback in his last year before he got to pay him his money we hit the portal got all the guys you know that we need to come in and play right now it's a little different than when we were coming in when high school guys trying to figure out if they're gonna play or not we went out and got some guys from other teams that are looking to come in and contribute right away and I think the expectation is to definitely have another winning season but for me it's playoff for bus you know I want to I want to see us host a playoff game that's my goal for the Tigers this year okay okay so SP you mentioned the SEC like we're not in the SEC playing in what I would consider personally the toughest conference there is in college football and it's been that way for a pretty good while now none of us played in the SEC but all three of us were undefeated versus SEC teams while we're in the Big 12 talk about that difference just kind of kind of you know recollect on our time I know we faced Old Miss we faced Arkansas when they had mcf and Felix Jones um and we were victorious so talk about some of the differences you've seen in our big 12 run versus what we're seeing now a whole new kind of era of football for the state of Missouri in the SEC no I think it's completely different um you know I think I think right now I think you go back to when we played I think there was probably an argument as to who was the best conference uh I think right now I think it's I think it's definitely the SEC top to B and then when you add Oklahoma and Texas um and seeing what both of those programs did last year and the expectations now that Texas has uh you know I mean it's it's a no-brainer uh I think Michigan was definitely the best team in football last year top to bottom but uh overall the conference man you know week in and week out we got a chance to be front and center last year at that Georgia game um on the sideline and seeing you know Georgia and missou you know kind of go at it but just seeing the size seeing the speed um you know a bunch of NFL Talent on that field um you know it's a different breed man so um you know there's no such thing as an easy schedule in SEC right there's just no such thing so um you gota you got to bring it each and every week so I'm I'm excited to see the guys get going i' I'd agree it's it's still that proven mentality for me um going going to missou you know back in 06 signing with them them not being like the top team in the even the Big 12 North at the time and and us going up there and establishing ourselves was something that was you know heavy on my mind when I went to school and you I get that sense now even though coming off a great season last year um you know everybody's really really excited about going out and seeing if we can do it again and it seems like you know spring went well training camp has been going pretty smooth I know drink don't allow the the media to go out there and watch unconventional yeah yeah he said he's trying to you know keep his Competitive Edge and when I really think about it I got to respect it because you know you know with Twitter and Instagram now you can you can watch A team's whole practice right through you know so I respect that but um definitely think the SEC is the Premier conference in football add in Texas add in Oklahoma I mean who else is coming maybe Michigan will be here next year but I think one thing that's interesting is everybody said Michigan had a easy schedule last year you know the big 10's not as not as strong you know um top to bottom but for them to come out and win it all says a lot about their conference as well but you know got enough on our plate for this season man some games on there that that definitely stick out to you like man but I look at I look at us being a double digit you know winning team just by glancing at our schedule so it's GNA be on us to go out there and put it down so let me get that I like that let me get some quick predictions I I'll go first just so I can lead the way I don't want you guys even say anything opposite of what I'm gonna say as a true son I have to say it's it's an undefeated undefeated season for us some people might say yo you're dreaming but that's the only way I can operate as a now fan of where we played I don't want us to lose a game right of course we have a couple of games on there that that you you you mark in the schedule like all right if I'm I'm nervous for a few of them but I'm I'm GNA pick undefeated man I'mma pick undefeated until the playoff or national championship what what's your takes SP man for me I mean that's my goal too you know my goal is to go out there and rock it and be 12 and0 but when when I look at the schedule realistically I see a few games that that just you know it's going to be some tough games man I see Oklahoma coming to our place you know it's kind of some blood there from the Big 12 that will let me go get my flight let me gota keep mind man because I think that's definitely the day you want to be in Como that game that game scares me a bit and um actually going down to& M bro going to& is is one of the ones that like oh we gotta come through on that one but we do when you look just you look at our team we we got a lot of heat on offense I think the defense is going to have to keep that Trend that it had those six games if we do that we gonna like the way looking when the end of around yeah now I just I just pulled the schedule up um you know Oklahoma coming to Missouri right that's a big one um like missou going to Alabama right that's going to be a tough one right going to be a tough one and then the one outside of the SEC uh that catches my Boston college right I think they're supposed to be improved and if you go back to last year uh missou played Memphis in the dome one score game missou played M Middle Tennessee at home one score game well really four-point game so I think those are the you know those are some of the things that um you know I think you kind of got to work through but at the end of the day I think good football teams find ways to win those type of games and I think that's what they did um so I think those are the three games that I kind of circled um you know Texas A&M whole new regime right got a whole new we're not sure that's a whole new football team right so many people came went out coming back in um so I I think those three I think Boston College coming to us early uh I think going to Alabama and I think Oklahoma coming to Missouri I think those are the three those are the three big ones that's I got I gotta point out one more thing why are we going to play UMass at UMass that that kind of creeps me out a little bit because if you think about when we were in school I remember a team that drink has blood with well he was got his paper with um Appalachia State went up and took care of Michigan one of the biggest upsets that we've ever seen history yeah and they were at home so for us to be going to UMass it kind of like man I gotta do my research on on on the M I think that's what they call I Ain G lie I don't know I don't know nothing about you man lie to you why we gota go up there I don't know we we are the come on now we should they should come to us but now that we're talking about the schedule let's kind of dive into the extended playoff I know we kind of mentioned strength and schedule kind of being an issue maybe some early criticism that we might receive throughout the year and we just saw Flor the state taking L yeah we one so if we come out we have Murray State Thursday if we come out and it's even close but we win do we stay at 11 do we have to blow teams out any non-conference games to even crack the top 10 how does that work for us we we win if we win right let's say everybody wins in front of us wa Florida State losing if we win we go to 10 I just think you think it's that easy I think it's that easy yes I think if we win we go to who's at 12 and 13 and who they're playing if they have a tougher matchup true but I think I just I mean it's just too early to do all the the the the jumping and leaping and all that other stuff um and then also once again you can talk about the schedule like I said got it up but if we go 10 wins with this schedule right even I think even if we're not in the championship game I still think we're in the playoffs so like I I think I think 10 wins with this schedule get you in the playoffs now if you go 10 and two you're in a championship game and then you lose a championship game I think that's tough then then there's then there's a question but I think 10 wins right two losses I think that get you in the playoffs it's interesting that you say that Matt because I back again hate to refer back but there was a two two lost team that won the National Championship the same year we had those lofty goals I remember LSU LSU handling their business against Ohio State and um and we kind of were penalized for playing in the Big 12 championship game and we only lost to Oklahoma all year but for some reason we didn't get a BCS B I mean the main thing to do is just take care of your business and go win the conference you know you don't got to worry about it but that would be the best way to get that you know a buy top four teams get a buy and you know other than that you'll be able to host a game if you have to you know say you're five or six or I forget how many more games but um it's it's a great opportunity for us to go out and and really put ourselves in position so if we if we do what we did last year I think we'll be looking at at least being in colge football player yeah yeah now that we're we're on the subject of wins let's talk about some of the some of these key players that will help us get to this 10- win 11 win season that we're hoping to have uh 12 win if you ask me like who were some of the names um I know we obviously have some of the bigger names in our quarterback and cook and in our our all worldwide out and burden um talk about their impact uh and then spoon I'll come to you and talk about some of the defensive players to look out for uh in in in the upcoming season yeah and know you just touched on it uh you know Brady cook the the the the reason why I love cook man it seems like you know he was under a lot of fire a couple years ago and I feel like you know whether or not you know it gets said but I feel like you know Garcia came in there a bunch of different quarterbacks came in there you know thinking that maybe the dev was going to be their job right and and and not only did he press like but he would on to have his best season right so like my hat goes off to him I've gotten to know him a little bit he was really close friends with my little cousin uh so we've talked um so I seeing him Excel and seeing him um really mature on the football field has been pretty cool thing to watch um and now he's one of the key players he's one of the uh I would say he's a top half of quarterbacks in the SEC um you know he he's he's he's been balling um you know you just talked about Luther uh you know just he doesn't have a weakness in his game right you know people want to compare him to Debo but I think he's way I think he's more versatile I think he can go out wide and run routes and break you down and get in and out of breaks and take the top off uh but at the same time you get m jet swe he runs like a running back so yeah yeah came to watch you watch you coach uh I think year like before Luther even committed to missou and you brought his name up you were like hey this is the kid yeah he's defin Jun then yeah I've seen him I've seen him you know what I mean like he he he was different then you know so uh you know he he's getting all the praise he's getting is very deserving uh you know the receiving core I think is the strong point uh you know Theo I think he's going to have a chance to play on Sunday 50-50 ball winner uh definely the two that people areen talking about course mooki you know season bet but like you know I'm looking forward to Maris Johnson seeing him take the next step Speer um and then Josh Manny right going into his second year I'm interested to see the step that he take because he's a good player right saw him coming out of high school liked him a lot um so I'm interested to see his role and see kind of where he fit in um but yeah like you said man it it I mean that's that's unspoken we brought in the transfer as our running back uh yeah big six7 tight endend in North Fleet like they got they got the skill guys you know end up getting the the tackle from Oklahoma Caden green come C him come back home came home so uh I mean like I said man drink in the state of Missouri drink drink is not only doing what he's supposed to do I think he's doing that in some he's got he's got the top dogs right now you got to win the state you got to win the state spoon talk to me about about defense uh we can also we can mention we we're it's kind of a new error for our defense L coordinator talk to me about defense what what are you seeing what are you hoping for you know I I like the way that we played defense toward the end of the season last year so it's tough to see coach Baker go down to LSU and but that's what happens you know when your when your team is playing well you're having success people going to come in and steal some of the people that you know really help make the train go I'm looking at coach um I think it's Cory baton coming in from um my daughter's name Cory I'm already like on on his side you know but um what he was able to do at South Alabama was you know have a defense for over three years that was a dominant defense they took the ball away I think they had 22 takeaways last year um finished top 30 in total scoring top 30 in takeaways and that those 22 takeaways would have led the SEC so that that kind of shows me that that's a culture of you know it's all about the ball and it's not cliche you know it seems like they're really you know working at it getting the ball out and I think that's why coach dream went down and found a guy that who's been a a coach in in college football and high school for about 30 30 something years I think he has has the experience bringing a guy with him one of the linebackers khil Jacobs who played Us South Alabama that could come in and kind of get the guys up to the standard you know what what what his program is about because know they call it the death row defense at M you know this guy he's new he's new to death row but I mean we got to have the same type of execution you know we got we got to go out there and do what we need to do and I look in the middle um you know we lost we lost four guy four five guys on this defense that were drafted last year Corner think yeah yeah when you think of that you know um first round pick Darius um robinsson for the Cardinals was kind of the guy who everybody got behind so I'm looking at a guy a guy named um Johnny Walker Jr the man's got a name the man's got a name um he has a Mean Streak too you know that's one thing I I always noticed about his game he might he might lose it a little bit and you know get a penalty just cuz he's he's just fired up but I think you know that senior year and you're that leader that Captain you know everybody's you know following you um he has the NFL type of body you know when you see him go out there he's he's he's all about his business man I think um I think he's going to be a Vocal Point a focal point of our defense and the car in the middle along with Williams coming back Christian Williams in the middle um that's I think that's going to bold well for us um we pretty much we suit up you know four five linebackers that are going to be playing next year I don't know who's starting de J came out and said either or so that mean that's a good problem to have you got Jacobs coming in um you got you got Chuck Hicks you got Nome these these guys are guys that you know contributed a little bit last year but we lost you know Hopper um we we we we lost we lost a lot of production on that side but but I think these guys are going to come back and and um really really go out and show what they can do um I'm excited to see see um you know how the cornerback you know situation ends up a lot of corners but um you know R straw going to The League last year is something that that you got to you got to have your eye on that but you know a lot of guys had to fill in for him last year when he was out so I'm looking at um number 12 I think Norwood Norwood he he he stepped out there and has some has some pretty good film out there that I like man hopefully that just carries over and we can come out and and execute but I think if you take the ball away then everybody got to take notice because you mean you just taking away those possessions and giving it back to an explosive offense like you know Brady going to cook over there I think for me for me when I look at the running when I look at the running back position it looks like we're going to be doing it by committee two transfers coming in um I botch the names but um these guys one coming in from um I think SMU then we had another one coming in fromia state Georgia state Georgia State okay well we got I think it's one from Ab State too is going to be um Noel he's I think he's prom to be the starter but we we lost a lot of production so we got to figure it out last year Sher got the ball all the time so you know these these guys are going to have to do it a little bit different differently but I think that's going to be the keys for Brady cook because in the early preseason last year I was still not sold on Brady cook you know I was I was like oh man we we almost lost to Memphis we almost you know almost lost in North Dakota I'm like oh man we got to get it going so I think if we can see early on that we can run the ball and he can still do what he does and we can win these pre-season games by more than four points like we did last year kind of toward the end of the year when we were beating people by 12 points and I think we'll be we'll have a good indication on how good we could be this year one of the things that that corner position we brought in torano Pride from from Clemson right he's also St Louis kid so slated to start um but yeah Frank like you just said I know you said but until one of those running backs take takes takes control they're going to do it by committee but you see what happens when a running back does cuz before before Cody took control it was him and um got who backed him up yeah back backed him up so um and then there's a then there's a rer first from Jamal Roberts I believe that's in the mix a little bit too so so talking me about what it takes on both offense and defense especially with defense with the with a coordinator coming from somewhere that's not the secc what's it take as a defense you mentioned takeaways but talk to me about identity as a defense what's it take to be successful in the SEC this is this is hard no football well you know you know the SEC man you got to be strong in the trenches and and that's a little bit alarming you know um scary that was a kid there was a kid that I saw um transfering from ug darus darus Smith man he actually tore his knee up um you know about a week ago and I was really looking forward to seeing what he could bring because this kid trains at my gym here in in in Atlanta and I'm like man I see him in a missou shirt I walk up I'm like this kid like 65 rangy athlete reminds me of an Alden Smith type of bill so I was looking forward to seeing him um we we got the kid came in from um from Michigan State he's a big defensive end he's going to play to the field I'm botching his name I'm botching his name right now but U he's playing opposite of Johnny Walker he's a guy he's a guy as well but we we got to make sure that we sh up what's going on in the middle we got mlen who's joining us from Florida I'm up there with Christian Williams That's goingon to sh it up and like I said four linebackers you know that four linebackers that are interchangeable is what it seems if these guys can go out and and learn the coach's new system and show that you know they have the if they show that they're responsible enough for he's so he's able to roll out everything yeah and I think we stop that run we get some opportunities on the back end and I just don't believe in college quarterbacks a lot man when you stop that run it's true that's that's my thing you say college football is your fa sometimes I just like oh my goodness man when they can't do something they just force it and I got turn T off and so I'm hoping that we can make those SEC quarterbacks who are not probably not going to be NFL quarterbacks we can make them just throw that ball up and we can scoop and score pick and off and just you know do a little something extra for the offense to take a little pressure off of them M what's it take I know we are considered the high powerered offense not quite like you would have seen of the 2008 n and the Big 12 where it's just we sling it all day and yeah that is high what's it take in the SEC to have a successful offense I think first and foremost I think taking care of the football I think you go down and you look at the two games that missou did lose last year uh there was a big turnover in the Georgia game that got us it was a big turnover LSU game that got us right so and JT Dan yeah yeah that's how I knew he was a real deal he he ruled he ruined my my hall of fame now I'm a little upset about that but no just taking care of taking care of the football man you take care of the football man with with what we have on defense and then also with what we're able to do on offense control the ball right run the football control the ball at the line of scrimmage right Kirby does a great job of taking the shot shots right yeah uh phenomenal football minded family right with with his brother Kellen right you got Kirby like I'm sure they just bounce ideas off of each other all day long right um but he does a good job of setting Brady up to be successful and you know another thing is uh of course Luther's gonna get his chce but not being afraid to use Brady in the Run game and I think that was big for of some big moments last year he's a sneaky athlete um you know was able to make some plays when when the when the when the pocket broke down but I'm I'm thinking some cute runs some cute counters some cute Powers uh you know some read option game I think using him in the Run game uh I think will be will be beneficial for us most definitely get down BR get down you gotta stay safe yards get down brother we need you all right so but before we end it let's let's talk quickly about Mary State our predictions since we do have to see them week one Thursday night I know we'll all be in front of our TVs what are we expecting to see um any Jitters and even talk about some of the Jitters you may have had on your first games I remember my first game I was primarily a a special teams guy but it's the Jitters were still the same you know what I mean it's you're still playing in front of 60 70,000 people um even if you have four plays that game it's still a bit nerve-wracking or it can be you don't want to mess up you want because you got to come back and watch film so talk to me about your first game and what you expect to see out of missou and their first game this season well first and foremost I got to go ahead and and jump off the porch because my first game was against Murray State baby yeah okay I know y'all old and y'all don't remember I remember jeso brother and I was primarily I was primarily a special teams guy you know coming in as a true freshman so you get that first play I Remember running down on kickoff return and and getting my block on Austin Lane who was an NFL player that that came out of Murray State and I I I remember muray State Murray State has some talent and like you said Jeremy your um high school teammate Josh Jones played tail back there we knew we had to get him because you know m m put a hit out on him so we had to go had to go that's not true that's not true that's not true that's not true you did say he was a tough Runner I did I remember playing Murray State and us and us coming in into the season and we they had one formation where they they actually ran power every time they lined this way so hopefully coach baton got a got a nice little nugget he can get a guys so we can get some free run throughs for our linebackers to knock the ball off someone and I think if if we go out and just play our game against meray State I think we'll definitely win by two scores or more but at the same time we we needed that preseason last year to grow and that's what it's kind of what it seemed like last year we were a little a little bit um you know like I said I just wasn't sold on how we were going to be based on our pre-season but I would like to come down you know come out and at home and really jump on State and and and send them back back to where they where they come from you know that' be nice for me what about you m talking about your first game which is like a coming out party for you because you come off an injury and what you expect to see out of the zo yeah my I mean my my first game I'm back at home in the dome uh you know I I had to wait in the extra year cuz I got hurt so uh you know for me man I was just excited uh yeah a little nervous but I was excited um and we all know how the first game is there might be some uh some un some unusual penalties right some things that people do uh that they normally wouldn't do maybe jump the snap count or whatever the case may be but uh you know I I think this is going to be a little bit different I think early on I thought we struggled offensively right in our early part of last season spoon um I think we know who we are offensively I think we know what we got I think Kirby and Brady have a great relationship I think he knows exactly what he wants from Brady and what Brady needs to do um I I don't think it's close honestly I think I think we take care of business I think it's I think it's I'll give him 45 17 right and I think we take care of business and I think I think we're on the next week so uh but man I'm excited dude I'm excited I think there's a I think the here's what people don't understand right whether it's hype right nine times out of 10 is deserving right like they put themselves in this position right now whether people want to believe it or not that's on them but they put themselves in this position because they were able to win 10 games last year they were able to beat Ohio State I mean 11 games last year they were able to beat Ohio State you know in the uh uho so you know it's warranted right so now now now I'm ready to see it in action it is warranted and and one thing about it I just love that people still not saying like oh Missouri gonna ball this year so it's it allows them to keep keep their Edge you know not not drink koola let's stay locked in let's really go get what we want because last year was the taste but it's more out there and this year it's a lot more opportunities for other teams to get into that playoff and we we got to be one of those teams man I'm ready to take the kids down it's the weirdest thing ever right cuz there's buzs right but then when somebody says missou is going to be really good it's a hot tape so like which one is it so make your mind up like pick one come on yeah yeah look fellas episode one was phenomenal I can't wait to get back with my brothers again next week we going to do it again man uh to talk about our next game after Murray State recap this one too recap this to make sure that Ma you say 457 to see if5 Hey Hey listen I was going to say something outrageous but I you know go crazy I tamed it a little bit I tamed it a little I tell you this I tell you this I just want that offense to out score me when I play mer State because I blocked the punt for safety in that first game so we at least got to get get three on the board You Know M the only one scored in his first I'm with it I'm with it I'm with it yeah yeah all right fellas man look enjoyed it can't wait to do it again next week this is once again true Suns brought to you by TPL we'll see you guys next week