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Owasso High always made sure the first person it sent off the team bus first before games was the same person.
Chris McClellan.
There’s a pretty simple reason.
McClellan, a new Missouri football transfer at defensive tackle, now stands at 6 foot 3, 320 pounds. When he transferred to Owasso, a high school north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for his senior season, he wasn’t a great deal smaller.
Put yourself in the coaching staff’s shoes. Who would you want your opponent to see first?
“(It’s like) a giant over a baby,” then-Owasso defensive coordinator Antonio Graham told the Tribune. … “No matter what, we want to make sure these guys see (McClellan) first, so make sure you sit up front so you can get off the bus first.
“We just thought that was intimidating, and then the way he played on the field was more intimidating.”
McClellan was a big get for Mizzou last December, too, as he swapped SEC schools by transferring to the Tigers after two seasons at Florida.
That’s because he could be filling an important role in Columbia.
Mizzou is a little light on returning top-level reps on the interior of its defensive line. Of the four players who made up Missouri’s main rotation in 2023 — Kristian Williams; Jayden Jernigan; Realus George Jr.; Josh Landry — only Williams returns.
The Tigers have in-house talents Jalen Marshall and Marquis Gracial seemingly on the cusp of cracking the two-deep, but the pair have just five collegiate appearances between them. Mizzou replenished in the offseason with three transfer tackles: McClellan; New Mexico State transfer Sterling Webb; and Georgia Tech transfer Eddie Kelly.
Of those three, it’s the former Gator who looks the most likely to take the starting role alongside Williams when Missouri opens its 2024 campaign Thursday, Aug. 29, at home against Murray State — a season that…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/meet-massive-chris-mcclellan-missouri-080105870.html
Author : Columbia Daily Tribune
Publish date : 2024-06-23 08:01:05
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