Mizzou Needs a Two Way Starter in the Lineup Like Michael Scherer

Gary Pinkel, Mizzou football coach, are you listening?

Next fall, without fail, you need to play new freshman Michael Scherer and probably both ways. I'd be happy to repeat that.

Mizzou hasn’t had two-way starters since the 1960s when Andy Russell of Ladue played fullback and linebacker and Texan Johnny Roland started sometimes at runningback and safety.

It can be done.  Football is no more physical or demanding today than back in the Dan Devine era, in which, by the way the Tigers were never losing to Kansas State.

Saturday’s woeful performance in the other Manhattan only proved the Tigers need to upgrade their talent.

Tiny 185 pound backs ran Mizzou’s defense silly.

Scherer, who will arrive at Mizzou filled out at least 6-foot-3, 238 pounds is a bull in a china shop. Get him to the outside, and he sheds cornerbacks like pins obliterated by a bowling ball.  He presents a menace to defenders.

He leads the 7-0 Rams in every statistical category. Before anyone pooh poohs the class 4 status of this private school, find me any Class 5 or 6 talent in the state any better.

Thursday night, the Rams steam rolled Lutheran North for the seventh win of the season. Read about that game here.

Scherer is rugged and durable. He ought to at least be the H back in short yardage situations. The Tigers struggle mightily, running the ball in from the red-zone.

This is a kid who was high on Alabama’s shopping list. Recruiters left Malibu Beach to dangle a USC scholarship in front of his nose.

This what prep football recruiting service Rivals.com had to say about Michael Scherer.

He's certainly not the brain-dead prototype to run head long into punters or wander off sides in critical situations. These are major grid faux pas that destroyed the Tigers Saturday on the road. Tiger pratfalls were mind bending.

I love watching Michael Scherer perform. He has fire in his eyes and a rage in his belly. He comes out to smack people. Simply, he’s a man among boys.

His dad Joe is one of the Rams assistant coaches. He’s worked with Michael since his little league days.

Mix all that talent with all his smarts and you’ve got an-up-and-coming player with unlimited potential.

Smart, articulate, and built like a Ford 150 truck, he enjoys chasing quarterbacks for their collective lives. He did a number on Jeff City Helias rushers, a team that clobbered the Rams the three previous years.

I dare Mizzou coaches to put this guy on the field as an 18-year-old and let him play both ways. I'm certain he'd be happy to oblige. He sure wouldn’t come up with any excuses about the task being too difficult.

Mizzou needs to go out and round up a dozen more Michael Scherer’s and find a Blaine Gabbert along the way.

Then they could erase that performance at Kansas State, turning it into a W and the record going into homecoming would look a whole lot better.

Scherer doesn’t need to climb the ladder from scout team to varsity; he needs to be in the 2012 starting lineup. I’ll be watching closely.