Seniors' final home game exhibits challenges, closeness

By Mike Bushnell

Published Nov. 13, 2007

Following No. 6 Missouri's 40-26 win against the Texas A&M Aggies, senior tight end Martin Rucker was carried off the field by a number of players. Although coach Gary Pinkel said the stunt was planned, it was fitting that the man with the second most receptions in school history would leave his last game at Faurot Field in a grand way.

"He (tight end coach Bruce Walker) has a deal with the tight ends, that he would get carried to the locker room," Pinkel said. "I wanted to carry Rucker off, but they wouldn't let me."

Rucker led the Tigers on Saturday with six catches, bringing his career total to 185, just 16 behind Justin Gage. With either three or four games left in the season, that number is reachable.

But senior defensive tackle Lorenzo Williams said Saturday was a momentous day for the entire 21-man senior class.

"This was a game we'll never forget," he said. "We came here to change this place, and we did."

When the seniors came here in 2003 and 2004, depending on if they used their redshirt season or not, MU was lost in the wasteland of mediocre football. Before 2003, the Tigers hadn't been to a bowl game in five seasons and hadn't won nine games since 1969. On Saturday, they reached that mark, a number senior left tackle Tyler Luellen said was fitting considering how much had changed in a relatively short time.

"Getting that ninth win shows just how far we've all come," he said. "We always believed in what we had going."

But Rucker and Williams said even they had doubts during their freshman season. In 2004, the Tigers opened the season ranked No. 17. But after an embarrassing early season loss at Troy, MU ended the season 5-6.

"In 2004, things were bad," Williams said. "We had a big team and everything went downhill."

Williams said that challenge, along with the death of his roommate Aaron O'Neal during practice the following summer, changed the team.

"We learned to stay together," he said. "The 2004 team didn't stay together. Everything's different."

Rucker said the most noticeable change has been in the demeanor of the once-frosty Pinkel, which dramatically changed following O'Neal's death.

"Coach listens to us a lot more," he said. "He puts a lot more trust in us than he used to."

Williams said Pinkel has greatly improved his communication and has softened up a bit, implementing traditions like "victory Sunday," where the team now gets the day off following a win.

"When I got here, you hardly heard him talk," Williams said. "It used to be on Thursday at meetings and then on Saturday, and that was it. Now he's chatting with us on the practice field. He's a completely different person."

And some of the Tiger seniors celebrated the rebirth of their program by playing huge games. Senior tailback Tony Temple had his best game of the season, rushing 22 times for 141 yards. Williams forced and recovered a safety late in the game.

"I'm glad guys like Tony went out great," Williams said. "It's only fitting."

Pinkel almost got emotional when asked about the fact that these seniors will never play on Faurot Field again.

"It's hard every year on Senior Day," he said. "But especially this year. I owe these seniors so much."

And Williams said not only have the seniors built the program to the Top 10 school that it is, but they have also grown incredibly tight in the process.

"It's ridiculous how close we all are," he said. "When we first got here, we wanted to stick together and we have. It's almost like we came from the same mom."