Coach Baker “not worried about the past” as he perfects the Mizzou defense
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Defensive coordinator Blake Baker says that he wants to give the defensive room a "breath of fresh air" by leaving last year in last year.
"I've done that every job I've ever taken is make sure that last year what happened in the past has no bearing on moving forward so we don't talk about last year," Baker said.
Baker has built off the defense this offseason and seems confident in the depth he has at certain positions.
"Devin Nicholson has definitely progressed. Chuck Hicks, he's had a great camp and a great spring and I feel good where he's at. Dameon Wilson he's been a pleasant surprise. He's changed his body over the summer and is one of the more improved players right now on our unit," Baker added.
As senior linebacker Devin Nicholson comes off a big year with 50 tackles last season, this year he steps into a bigger leadership role.
"Great leaders are always great encouragers. They encourage the team, you have to get to know your teammates very well to know what type of coaching they need. Maybe some guys don't respond very well to yelling so you have to be more gentle with them," Nicholson said.
As the Tigers enter "toughness week" tackling will continue to be a big part of the reps.
"There's always levels of improvement. This was the first day of live tackling so just being able to take what we did today and stack days," Nicholson added.
Chuck Hicks is also returning as another senior in the linebacker room. Hicks talked more Sunday about the expectations for the linebackers in Coach Baker's defensive scheme.
"It's a big responsibility for us because at the end of the day, we have two guys but we expect to get around the ball every time," Hicks said. "It's kind of getting to the ball no matter what you have to get around the field, you gotta be fast enough and you gotta make the tackle."
The Mizzou defense also has some big transfers there this season including defensive lineman Jayden Jernigan from Oklahoma State.
The big question around Jernigan is his size on the line only being 6'0" and 277 pounds, but he says he finds ways to use that to his advantage.
"If you use your hands and you have the feet, you can do it. I've been using my hands and also my quickness, I'm able to use that to go against the defenders that are 330-340," Jernigan said.
MU also brought in defensive back Joseph Charleston from Clemson this offseason who says he's getting more comfortable as the summer progresses.
"We have got a lot more comfortable as the summer and as fall camp has went on with our scheme and I think that we're on a good track," Charleston.
