Missouri has had a lot of offensive turnover since last season, some of it expected, some it not.
Most notably, the Tigers lost dynamic big-play wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham. The rising junior was dismissed from the team after his third off-field incident in 18 months this past April. Green-Beckham transferred to Oklahoma two weeks and is petitioning the NCAA for immediate eligibility.
“We lost a really great player; I wish Dorial the best,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said at SEC Media Days on Wednesday. The most important thing, you make mistakes, you have a chance to learn lessons, and I think he will. The good news is he can do a lot of great things for himself as a person.”
Green-Beckham was part of a burglary investigation in which he was accused of forcing his way into an apartment and pushing a female occupants down some stairs, according to the Columbia Tribune. No charges were ever filed in the case, but text messages between Green-Beckham and his girlfriend became public during the investigation that indicated culpability on his part.
Meanwhile, Green-Beckham also was arrested along with two other men after a traffic stop in January yielded pound of marijuana in the car. Green-Beckham said he did not know the drugs were in the car and no charges were filed against him. During the 2012 season, he arrested outside Memorial Stadium on suspicion of marijuana possession, but later pleaded down to a trespassing violation.
Green-Beckham was once rated the No. 1 recruiting prospect in America. He caught 59 passes for 883 yards and a team-high 12 touchdowns as a sophomore this past season.
Missouri also lost top receiver L’Damian Washington, quarterback James Franklin and tailback Henry Josey since last season. So 2014 will be an offensive rebuilding year centered around quarterback Maty Mauk.
“We knew going into spring football our challenges there,” Pinkel said. “I mentioned we have three guys that played an awful lot last year (Darius White, Bud Sasser and Jimmie Hunt), and one or two started a few of those games, too. … Our challenge is going to be what personnel sets we’re going to settle on.”
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