If the St. Louis Rams had “The Greatest Show on Turf”, maybe the forefathers of Mizzou’s high-octane offense should be dubbed “The Greatest Show on Faurot.” Three members of the 2007 Missouri Tigers football team that vaulted all the way to a late-season #1 ranking were inducted into the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame. Former Kirkwood standout and first-round draft pick Jeremy Maclin (WR) was joined by Chase Daniel (QB) and Chase Coffman (TE) as inductees of the 2015 class. The three dynamic talents helped transform Mizzou from a mediocre, middle-of-the-pack football team into the perennial Top 25 and conference title contender that it is today.
Maclin is quite possibly the most dynamic football player in Tigers history. In just two years, the speedy St. Louis native became the MU’s all-time leader in all-purpose yardage with 5,609 yards. Maclin was a consensus first-team All-American during both of his seasons in black and gold. The four-star recruit arrived in Columbia with high hopes and outran the lofty expectations like fat defenders during one of his five explosive punt or kick return TDs. In his abbreviated college career, Maclin accumulated 182 catches, 2315 yards and 28 TDs from the line of scrimmage. Maclin has had a stellar NFL career for the Philadelphia Eagles and earned his first Pro Bowl selection in 2014.
Some say a receiver is only as good as the arm pitching the pigskin to him, in which case Daniel deserves all the accolades received. The highly touted but undersized kid from Irving, Texas became the Mid-Mo Joe Montana. He took the baton from Brad Smith and took the Tigers to the next level. With his pinpoint touch and excellent elusiveness, Daniel nearly led the Tigers to a berth in the national championship game in 2007. Daniel threw for more than 4,300 yards in a season twice and was a Heisman Trophy Finalist in ’07. He owns nearly every meaningful game, season and career passing mark at the University of Missouri.
Daniel took advantage of every single asset on the team’s offense and made Mizzou’s offense a nightmare for opponents. In three seasons as the starter, Daniel led MU to its first two Big 12 championships. He amassed 12,515 passing yards, 111 TDs (passing and rushing) and most-importantly, changed the culture and attitude of an entire college program. Due to his size, Daniel has never been given a shot as a regular starter in the NFL but has served as a backup in New Orleans and Kansas City over the past six seasons. I don’t care what anybody says, I’d love to see Daniel in St. Louis fighting for the starting job. It won’t happen, but a guy can dream can’t he?
Since we’re doing comparisons, Coffman was without a doubt the Rob Gronkowski of Mizzou. Coffman was uncoverable from the tight end position. He and Martin Rucker routinely made linebackers look like plum fools. The big 6’6” tight end could move like the wind and routinely hurdled helpless defenders who tried to go low to take him down. Coffman was a consensus All-American in 2008, when made 90 receptions for 987 yards and 10 TDs in his senior season (despite missing two games to injury). He won the John Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end and left the NCAA as the career leader in receptions from the tight end position. In the NFL, Coffman has served mainly as a backup for the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans.
The fact that Maclin, Daniel and Coffman were inducted together is no coincidence. The three electric players helped to define an era of Mizzou football and laid down the groundwork for the Tigers to head to the SEC and become the NFL talent factory that it is today. Before the ‘Faurot Show,’ Mizzou players were drafted about as often as the Chicago Cubs make the playoffs – not very! Now, every season we see several Tigers making their way to the stage to shake hands with the commissioner. Mizzou Head Coach Gary Pinkel’s latest slogan is “Mizzou Made,” but in this case, these three players help to make Mizzou.
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