Confidence? Cockiness? Never fear, Mizzou fans -- it's just 'Maty being Maty'
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- When Mitch Morse's cell phone buzzed
Sunday, he recognized the number. It was a text from Maty Mauk, wanting
to talk shop, demanding a get-together, pining to break down the
baddest dudes that Florida had to offer.
And Morse
thought to himself: Ownership. Cool. This is
good.
"We've been talking to him (and) he's
just ready to go," the Tigers' junior right tackle said with a grin.
"And it's fantastic to see. You know, it's going to propel us to one of
the best weeks of practice we're going to have this year, and we're just
ready to rock."
The Mizzou Athletics Training
Complex looked a happy place Monday, all sunshine, lollipops, rainbows,
and bulldog pelts. Then again, a 6-0 record and the program's first
victory over a Top 10 team on the road in 32 years -- a 41-26 trashing
of Georgia between the hedges -- tends to do
that.
You ready for a dance with the best defense the
Southeastern Conference has to offer, Maty?
"Yes
sir," the Tigers' redshirt freshman quarterback replied. Then, without
batting so much as an eyelid, he said this:
"We've
got one of the best offenses, so we're going to come right at
them."
And, well, so much for
butterflies.
"Maty is Maty," center Evan Boehmn said,
chuckling. "(It's) Maty being Maty. He loves to have fun, he jokes
around with everybody, he does this and that. And usually, he's not a
quiet, shy kid.
"He likes to be all up in your face
and talk to you all the time. And that's something special to
see."
It's something rare, too, especially in a
freshman making his first collegiate start in a contest where the stakes
are high enough to bring rain.
"Just thrown into the
fire pretty quick, huh?" Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said of Mauk, who was
tossed into the Georgia game last Saturday after starting quarterback
James Franklin left the contest with a shoulder injury. "I thought he
did a good job. I'm not surprised. He's a pretty poised guy, so that's
pretty much like him."
There's a fine line between
cocky and confident, one sometimes even the greats struggle to keep in
check. Mauk was Mr. Football, Mr. Everything, as a prep signal-caller in
football-mad, football-rich Ohio. He didn't come to Columbia to hold
Franklin's clipboard; in his mind, this was always part of the master
plan. It just didn't happen quite the way he'd expected it.
"Offensively, me and James like the same stuff,"
said Mauk, who to this point has tossed all of six passes in collegiate
games, half of which came last weekend down in Athens. "He likes to run
the ball, I like to run the ball. He likes to go deep ... so, we're both
similar in that, and I don't think I would expect anything (in the
playbook) to change."
No CliffsNotes. No
streamlining. Pinkel insisted that the Tigers' entire palette is at
Mauk's disposal; Mauk insisted that he wouldn't have it any other
way.
All of which is for the best, considering that,
in theory, they'll probably need it. Saturday at Faurot Field sets up as
your classic irresistible-force-versus-immovable-object kind of cage
match, at least on paper. Mizzou (6-0) comes into the weekend ranked
among the top 10 in the nation in scoring offense (45.7, eighth),
third-down conversion percentage (51.9, 10th), and first downs (164,
tied for 10th); the Gators (4-2) reside among the top 10 in scoring
defense (13.0, fourth); third-down conversion defense (27.1, eighth) and
fewest first downs surrendered (84, tied for
fourth).
Or, if you prefer, the Tigers are the tank,
Florida, the concrete wall. After three hours, we'll see which one is
left standing.
"Last year I kind of struggled, didn't
know much (of the system)," Mauk said, "and now I know that playbook
like the back of my hand, man."
And when he isn't
poring over formations, he's on the phone, circling the wagons, taking
the reins. Mauk has even been trading texts with a cat who's walked in
his cleats -- former Tigers quarterback Chase Daniel, now a backup with
the Kansas City Chiefs.
"I was texting him
(Saturday)," Daniel said of Mauk. "I just said, 'Hey, just go in there,
prepare like you have been -- you've been preparing like you've been the
starter, and it showed against Georgia, you played well. The team
trusts you and just go out there and just hone in on all the details in
practice.' I told him the details are the big thing, and just keep your
mind on one game."
Daniel also told him not to worry
about replacing Franklin, to just go out there on the big stage and be
himself. Which, Maty being Maty, could prove very interesting
indeed.
You can follow Sean Keeler
on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at
seanmkeeler@gmail.com
