Culp, Priday Named to All-Big 12 First Team

Six Mizzou baseball players earned All-Big 12 Conference honors, as announced by the conference office on Thursday. Junior Nathan Culp and sophomore Jacob Priday led the way as first team honorees, while seniors Zane Taylor and Travis Wendte, junior Max Scherzer and sophomore Evan Frey were honorable mention selections.

Brad Smith 1st QB in NCAA D-1 history to achieve 8000/4000 Feat

With each game, graduate QB Brad Smith seems to establish record after record. One of the more significant marks that he has established has to do with the fact that he has become the 1st player in Division I-A history to throw for 8,000 yards and rush for 4,000 yards in a career.

He was also the first to ever reach the 8,000/3,000 standard, and just the 3rd alltime to join the 7,000/3,000 club.Smith entered the Baylor game with 8,197 passing yards and 3,907 rushing yards for his career.

In leading MU to the 31-16 win on Nov. 12th, he amassed another 161 rushing yards (3 TDs) to bump his career total to 4,068 yards (already an NCAA D-IA career record for QBs). He added 72 yards passing, which increased his MU-record total to 8,269 yards.

With 95 rushing yards Sept. 3rd against Arkansas State, Brad Smith passed the 3,000-yard plateau for his career. That put MU's signal caller in rarified air from a national perspective, as he became only the 3rd player in NCAA Div. I-A history to achieve at least 6,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing. In fact, only 4 others altogether have ever achieved the 3,000/3,000 feat.

Here's a look at those who have 7,000/3,000 for their careers:
Brad Smith (Mizzou) 2002-Present 8,517 4,139
Antwaan Randle-El (Indiana) 1998-2001 7,469 3,895
Joshua Cribbs (Kent State) 2001--04 7,169 3,670

Youthful Team Points to Bright Future

The Missouri Tigers opened the 2005 season looking to make amends for the disappointing 2004 season, in which Mizzou went 5-6, after an 8-5 season in 2003. Head Coach Gary Pinkel knew he had good talent to work with in 2005, but that it still was a young team overall.Mizzou returned only 11 starters from the 2004 team, which included 7 starters on offense, 3 on defense and 1 kicker.

This youthful squad was picked to finish 4th in the Big 12 North Division in 2005 by league writers, but the Tigers eventually won 6 games, including 4 in Big 12 play, to finish tied for 2nd in the division. By virtue of wins over Nebraska and Iowa State, the Tigers would win the tiebreaker to finish alone in 2nd.While there is still 60 minutes of a bowl game to be played in 2005, it is fun to look ahead to 2006 and see what returns for Mizzou. That look provides warm and fuzzy feelings for Tiger fans, as the following facts indicate...

Mizzou is in line to return as many as 15 starters in 2006, including 8 on offense, and 7 on defense. That number goes up to 17 when factoring in the positions of placekicker and punter, meaning the Tigers will return a starter at 17-of-24 positions in 2006...

On the latest 2-deep depth chart, there are 50 players listed on offense, defense and at placekicker and punter. Of those 50 players, Mizzou stands to return 40 of them in 2006, meaning that 80% of MU's current 2-deep will be back next year...

Of those 40 returnees on the current 2-deep, 25 of them are either freshmen or sophomores this season. The breakdown includes 15 freshmen, 10 sophomores and 15 juniors currently...

Broken down further, the Tiger offense will return in 2006 19-of-23 players currently listed on the 2-deep. The Tiger defense will return 17-of-23 players, while placekicker and punter spots will return 4-of-4 currently listed...Now, that is not to say, of course, that there won't be big shoes to fill with the departure of the 2005 senior class. Record breakers like QB Brad Smith and Sean Coffey, and all-league performers such as OG Tony Palmer and FS Jason Simpson will be missed sorely. But the cupboard certainly doesn't appear to be bare, which points to a bright future at Mizzou.

Mizzou at bowl again

For the 2nd time in 3 seasons under Head Coach Gary Pinkel, Mizzou is playing in a post-season bowl game. Mizzou, which went 6-5 overall, and 4-4 in the Big 12 Conference (North Division), will take on the South Carolina Gamecocks (7-4 overall, 5-3 in the SEC East) in the Independence Bowl, set for Friday, December 30th at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La.

The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.Each school tied for 2nd place in their respective divisions. Mizzou was picked to finish 4th in the Big 12 North this season, according to the pre-season Associated Press poll. The post-season feat is no small accomplishment for Mizzou, as the bowl appearance will mark only the 4th for the Tiger program since 1983.Mizzou's last bowl game also came at the Independence Bowl, but the Tigers hope to produce a better end result this time, as MU lost to Arkansas in the 2003 MainStay Independence Bowl by a 27-14 score.Mizzou and South Carolina have met only once previously, with the Tigers claiming a 24-14 victory in the 1979 Hall of Fame Bowl, played in Birmingham, Ala.