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The real height and weight of a team’s players is one of the last behind-the-curtain aspects of major sports in 2014.
It’s interesting, then, when we get information regarding the true size of a player, like we have several times this week with Missouri’s roster.
College teams don’t tend to update the height and weight of the players often — once a year is typical. Whether it’s reflected on the team website or not, here are a few Tigers shifting shapes as the season approaches.
DT Josh Augusta: Listed at 300 pounds, defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski told the media that Augusta is heavier than he was a year ago. Kuligowski also claims that Augusta improved his bench press by 100 pounds and said the 6-foot-4 sophomore is playing more instinctive football. That’s a positive for Missouri, as Augusta will be an important rotational player against the run.
DT Lucas Vincent: Listed at 6-foot-2, 305 pounds, the redshirt senior told the Columbia Tribune he’s about 15 pounds lighter than he was last season and hopes to be more involved on third downs. Vincent has 1.5 career sacks.
“Sacks, that’s where the money is at. Every third down they call ‘Money’ (replacing a defensive tackle with a defensive end), we’re like, ‘Come on. Just let me stay! Come on, now.”
WR Jimmie Hunt: The senior averaged 18.7 yards per touch in 2012, a number that fell to 11.5 last season, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. According to Hunt, he weighed 205 pounds two seasons ago, but reached a robust 230 after offseason ankle surgery before playing at 22o last season. Listed at 6-foot, 210 pounds, he’s now closer to 205.
LB Darvin Ruise: A depth chart enigma this offseason, Ruise is one of two linebackers with at least 60 snaps of college football experience (along with Kentrell Brothers). Frequently buried on the three-deep since spring despite little public explanation from the coaching staff, Ruise opened up to the Tribune’s David Morrison on Friday.
Ruise apparently has been losing weight as part of a mandate from the coaches. Listed at 6-foot-1, he’s down to a reported 242, still seven pounds above 235, his playing weight as a redshirt freshman in 2011. Whatever message the coaches are trying to send seems to be frustrating Ruise, who has played in a unit-best 38 games at one of Missouri’s most inexperienced position groups in recent memory.
“Truth be told, I feel like the coaching staff and Mizzou Nation understand what I can do on the field. I’ve proven that. I’ve shown that,” Ruise said, according to the Tribune. “… I’ve proven I can compete at this weight, and any weight I need to.
“… It’s highly frustrating, but you’ve got to take everything in stride. Things happen for a reason. You have to be mindful that you do what’s best for the team. I know these guys look at me as a senior and as a leader. No matter how frustrated or down I may be in my little world, I still have to come out here and put a smile on and have to do the things necessary to show these guys you have to be a team player.”
DT Matt Hoch: Listed at 6-foot-5, 295 pounds, the former tight end/defensive end broke his leg near his ankle in April, forcing him off his feet for six weeks and adding weight to his frame. He’s lost back down to 300 pounds and wants to reach 290, he told the Post-Dispatch.
“My endurance is off a little bit, not where I want it to be,” Hoch said. “But I’m slowly getting it back with practice.”
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
