Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel begged for one more series between the first string offense and defense before the final whistle blew on Saturday’s Missouri football scrimmage.

With the defense leading, Daniel led the first-string offense from his own 35-yard line to the end zone in a minute and a half to give the offense a 58-52 advantage in the Tigers first full-length scrimmage of the spring.

Daniel tossed a ball over safety Justin Garrett to receiver Jared Perry, who broke a couple tackles before racing to the corner of the end zone. The entire offense – both on the field and on the sideline – met Perry in the end zone as the offense was declared the victor of the first scrimmage.

“It was a fun way at the end with an even score, and Chase Daniel is begging me to go one’s and against one’s to see who can win or lose,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “I have to watch that a little bit because I want to only get so many plays for our players and obviously, you don’t want anybody to get hurt. But it’s very good for the defense, it’s very good for the offense, and that competitiveness makes you better on both sides of the football.”

It was a positive way to end what was a competitive three-hour campaign that saw several big hits, big plays, and at least n potentially big injury. Linebacker Sean Weatherspoon suffered a shoulder injury and was taken off the field for X-rays. Weatherspoon was injured on a running play, but wasn’t actually involved in the tackle. Pinkel said X-rays were negative, but that Weatherspoon would have an MRI to see if there was any other damage.
There were a couple other injuries of note; Safety Gilbert Moye injured his right hamstring toward the end of the scrimmage. He didn’t return.

Garrett suffered a leg injury early in the day, as did cornerback Carl Gettis. Both returned after sitting out briefly. Offensively, tight end Chase Coffman, and receivers Jeremy Maclin and Forrest Shock also suffered some might bruises, but nothing that kept them off the field.

Some other news and notes from the scrimmage:

** Running back Derrick Washington is making the most of his spring. Each practice he seems to run harder and stronger than he did the practice before. Jimmy Jackson is still the incumbent, but it’s going to be difficult to keep Washington off the field. The difference, as I see it, is that Jackson is steady. He’s not going to take too many yardage losses and he’s usually good for at least two or three yards a carry. Washington has a tendency to dance a little bit and get taken down in the backfield, but he also has the ability to break a big run and outpace most of the defenders trailing him. So it becomes a choice of going with the steady veteran or the youngster capable of making the big play.

** Speaking of speed… Tremane Vaughns is fast. He picked off Chase Patton and zoomed past everyone down to the goal line. It was impressive. Too bad he’s the smallest of all Missouri’s corners.

** If you weren’t in attendance – only about 200 of you were – you missed Coffman do his patented leap over corner Trey Hobson. You would think Hobson, who has seen Coffman leap people time and time again, would be ready for it. But no. Hobson went to tackle Coffman, and Coffman leaped right over him. The funny thing was that Hobson, who is 5-foot-11, was practically standing upright while making the tackle.

** Linebacker Steve Redmond was playing full strength for the first time this year. Redmond had been wearing the red pullover because of a shoulder injury he was nursing from the regular season. It’s a good thing Redmond is back because the linebacking corps are getting thinner and thinner. Missouri is almost exclusively playing nickel defense these days to preserve backup linebackers (and it’s the best defense against Missouri’s five-wide). Van Alexander has been the odd man out with the one’s and spending most of his time in the second-string nickel with Luke Lambert.

** As mentioned earlier this week, Michael Keck was working with the second-string defensive line. Dominique Hamilton and Terrell Resonno rotated in with Andy Maples and Jason Townson on the second string tackle spots. While Hamilton and Resonno seem to be the favorites for the second string, I don’t think Townson and Maples are going away without a fight. This might be an interesting battle to watch into the fall.

** Left tackle Elvis Fisher had some work with the first string today while Dain Wise spent time with the twos. This isn’t the first time Wise has lost his starting spot. Same thing happened a year ago when Colin Brown took the right tackle position from him. I’m still holding out hope that incoming freshman Dan Hoch is as good as advertised.

** Long snapping is getting a little worrisome. Brock Christopher is the starting long snapper and he put a couple on the ground. Walk-on Terry Dennis was working with the second string and he seemed to do fine. Nothing dynamic and not sure how he’d fare against a real rush.

** Pinkel expressed some concerns about the kicking, and well he should. The depth behind Jeff Wolfert is a little rough. Tanner Mills and Grant Ressel were spotty on extra points, mid-range kicks and the long ones. All the kicks that are kinda important if you’re a kicker.

Jake Harry had a couple good punts, but all were with no pressure. All of the punters had a good three seconds to get the ball off, which didn’t give a realistic impression of what they’ll do in a game situation. It’s too bad because this is the first time in awhile these guys have been able to punt outside and really see distance and get-off time. Either way, punting is still a hug concern for this team.

The Tigers will take a couple days off before getting back to work on Tuesday. There are usually a few minor depth moves after scrimmages, so look for updates after Tuesday’s practice. Mizzou will then practice Thursday before holding its second scrimmage on Saturday, the last one before the big nationally televised spring game.

Here are a couple stats from the scrimmage:

Passing

Chase Daniel: 20-25-258, 2 TD
Chase Patton: 23-39-138, INT
Dominic Grooms: 15-31-85, TD

Rushing

Derrick Washington: 8-39
Jimmy Jackson: 11-12, TD
De’Vion Moore: 10-44
Jeremy Maclin: 2-32

Receiving

Jeremy Maclin: 8-95, TD
Chase Coffman: 8-101
Jared Perry: 6-99, 2 TD
Tommy Saunders: 1-19
Earl Goldsmith: 3-13