COLUMBIA, Mo. -- No. 14 Missouri got the SEC's
attention upsetting Georgia on the road. The Tigers will try to retain
momentum without their most indispensable
player.
Quarterback James Franklin is hurt again, out
three to five weeks with a sprained right shoulder. Coach Gary Pinkel
said Monday he's confident redshirt freshman Maty Mauk can do the job in
his first career start on Saturday at home against No. 22
Florida.
Pinkel expects teammates to help make it
work. They're accustomed to playing without Franklin after the
quarterback's injury-plagued junior season.
"Bottom
line, it doesn't matter. We're wasting our time talking about it,"
Pinkel said. He added, "How about them playing to a high level, every
one of them?"
Just like Franklin, Mauk likes to run.
All he lacks is experience.
"I'm going to be busting
my butt 100 percent and they know that," Mauk said. "We're going to have
a good week of practice and we're going to be
ready."
Franklin was injured in the fourth quarter of
the upset at No. 7 Georgia, interrupting a very good senior comeback
season, and showed up for media interviews with his right arm in a
sling. He has 14 touchdown passes with three interceptions and is the
third-leading rusher with 290 yards, a 4.5-yard average and three more
TDs.
Pinkel said Franklin had been playing "as good
as any quarterback we've ever had."
"It's a good
thing it's a team sport," Franklin said. "It stinks that I went down but
we still have a lot of talent. I know that we can do
it."
Franklin missed four starts last year and
frequently played hurt. Missouri (6-0, 2-0) struggled with or without
him in a 5-7 SEC debut season, the school's first losing record since
2004.
Missouri had myriad injury problems last year,
notably on the offensive line. That made the fill-in job a lot tougher
for Corbin Berkstresser, who began this year No. 3 on the depth chart
and will be Mauk's backup.
"Last year, we got hit
with a wrecking ball," Mauk said. "This year, everyone's
healthy."
Multiple reports said earlier in the day,
Pinkel told the school's Tiger Quarterback Club that he would complain
to the SEC about a late hit. At his news conference, the coach
hedged.
"I don't know, they're going to have to
determine that. I'm not supposed to (comment) and I shouldn't. We have a
process to go through and it's a good process, and
thorough."
Franklin threw the ball out of bounds on a
rollout near the sideline and then was tackled by two Georgia players.
Franklin said "it doesn't matter" whether he was hurt on a late
hit.
Pinkel said he won't change the offense or
condense the playbook for Mauk, who has played sparingly but can lean on
high school stardom. He has encouraged Mauk, known best at Missouri for
a scooter mishap that got him arrested, to just be
himself.
"You don't want him to be a robot out
there," Pinkel said. "You've got good people around you, just go play.
He's going to be nervous, he'll do fine."
Mauk broke
national records for yards passing (18,932), touchdown passes (219),
completions (1,353) and total offense (22,681), and was a Parade
All-American and two-time Gatorade Ohio Player of the
Year.
He's been used sparingly, usually one series.
He's 5 for 6 for 41 yards, and got sacked twice in three plays against
Toledo.
Senior cornerback E.J. Gaines, a key player
on defense, is questionable this week with a strained left quadriceps.
Freshman Aerion Penton and redshirt freshman John Gibson are backups on
the depth chart at cornerback and both figure to see playing time this
week.
