Mizzou Football Wraps Up Spring Practices with Black & Gold Game
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Spring football has come to an end for the Missouri Tigers. The grand finale, practice 12, was the Black & Gold spring game in front of a excited crowd at Faurot Field.
The Tigers were split into two teams for the game, as hinted in the name, team Black and team Gold. Team Black was led by the following captains; quarterback Brady Cook, running back Chris Kreh and linebacker Chuck Hicks. Team Gold was led by defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. along with wider receivers Theo Wease and Mookie Cooper.
You can add the result of the scrimmage as another tally in the argument for the importance of a good quarterback as Cook's team Black won 10-9. Though Cook played for the entirety of the first half, most of the highlights came from the under the radar guys on the Missouri roster, including the two MVPs.
Mizzou Football Black & Gold 2024
Freshman, upcoming sophomore, wide receiver Joshua Manning was named the offense MVP after being one of Cook's favorite targets, especially on contested catches.
"Josh has had a great spring," running backs coach and head coach of team Black Curtis Luper said. "He's an explosive athlete but he hadn't really played a lot at receiver and his development is in progress but he's had a great spring. He'll play very well for us in the future."
Houston Christian transfer safety Caleb Flagg was named defensive MVP after coming away with an interception late in the game. According to Flagg, he had seven interceptions through the 12 practices.
"Ballhawk Flagg, man," linebackers coach and team Gold head coach D.J. Smith said. "He's going to be a dynamic for us. He's going to help us this fall, excited about him."
Lining up in front of Flagg were some impressive young linebackers including upcoming sophomore Brayshawn Littlejohn and incoming freshman Brian Huff. The two could be reliable options for Missouri in a linebacker room that will be searching for depth this season after losing both Ty'Ron Hopper and Chuck Hicks.
"I think Brayshawn Littlejohn played a really good game," Smith said. "Had some good tackles, had a couple pass breakups, really excited about his development.
Huff is a four-star linebacker that has some impressive athletiscm at 6'2" and 224 lbs.
"He's coming along," Smith said of Huff's development. "He did some good things out there today. ... He's getting down hill, he's a physical football player. We got to keep growing and pushing along, keep bringing him along. He's going to be a good player for us."
Offensively, team Black housed one of the rising names on the Missouri offensive line in Logan Reichert. The three-star recruit out of Kansas City has intimidating 6-foot-6, 369 lb. stature while also possessing good agility.
"Logan is a physical specimen," offensive line coach Brandon Jones said earlier during spring camp. "He's going to test through the roof and all those things."
Jones hopes that the upcoming sophomore will improve in his self-assuredness on the field.
"Just the confidence," Jones said. "Trust in his technique, just knowing and being confident in his assignment, which he's making significant strides there."
On the other side of the line from Reichert was team Gold edge rusher Darris Smith. The 6-foot-5, 240 lb. transfer from Georgia showed off some impressive athleticism and size in the scrimmage.
"He flies around, he gets after it, he's a physical guy," coach Smith said. "He loves the game of football. He got after it today. I was really excited to see some flashes from him, we just got to keep progressing."
Smith and the rest of the Tigers will now have to continue their improvement into the offseason before reconvening in the summer. Missouri's first home game is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 31 against Murray State.
