Everywhere you look on the Tigers’ practice field there are freshmen playing in key positions. After Monday morning’s workout, MU coach Gary Pinkel said as many as eight of those freshmen could see action in games this fall.

Pinkel named walk-on TE/long snapper Beau Brinkley, TE Michael Egnew, TE Andrew Jones, WR Gahn McGaffie, WR Jerrell Jackson, LB Will Ebner, DE Jacquies Smith and OL Dan Hoch. Pinkel later said that WR Wes Kemp was a possibility.

“What we do, from a players’ standpoint, is ‘Who are the best players to help us win this year?’” Pinkel said. “That’s kind of where we’re at with that. It’s never changed. We’ve always had that philosophy.

“I think there’s a lot of things (that determine how many freshman play): the depth at a position . . . turnover would lend itself to more players playing at a spot. There’s maturity factors. William Moore, who will probably play 10 years in the NFL and he red-shirted. T. Rucker red-shirted. I can go through a bunch of players that are high-level players that were red-shirts.”

As far as eight freshmen suiting up for the Tigers, Pinkel said. “Right now, that’s what would happen. Could they change? That could change in the next scrimmage it possibly could. But we think right now for the most part, that’s probably what’s going to happen.”

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Kemp, who played at DeSmet High, missed a couple days of practice last week to return to St. Louis and attend the funeral of his grandmother, Anna Kemp. He was back at practice Monday.

Kemp has gained eight pounds of muscle and lost four pounds of body fat since leaving DeSmet, putting him at 217 pounds. He’d like to play this season, but said that’s in the hands of the coaches.

“I think everybody when they sign that letter of intent has plans to play college football and wants to play college football as fast as possible,” Kemp said. “With all the other freshmen, I want to play as fast as possible. Whether it’s this year or next year, that’s up to the coaching staff. I think as a whole, the freshmen wide receiver group is just going to keep working hard. If the coaches find a place for us, that’s what we’re going to do to help the team.”

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Notes from Monday’s practice: The Tigers ran several plays with specific yardage scenarios. A coach with a megaphone yelled out: “Second and 4, Third and 2,” as the team lined up on the ball. Derrick Washington reeled off a long TD run, while Tommy Saunders hauled in a few nice catches.  . . . Freshman TE Beau Brinkley was the long snapper in punting situations. After practice, Pinkel said Brinkley was a strong candidate for that job. Pinkel added that LB Brock Christopher would handle PAT and field-goal snapping. . . . LB Brian Coulter was wearing a boot to protect his injured foot. Coulter was scheduled for an MRI today. X-rays taken have shown no damage . . . The Tigers’ experience on defense is putting them way ahead of where they were last year. LB Sean Weatherspoon said after practice today that the defense worked on some blitz packages that they didn’t implement until Week 8 last year against Colorado (Nov. 3).

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After the Tigers’ final practice drill Monday morning (well, the final one designed by the coaching staff), several players lined up in the end zone and took part in a drill they came up with themselves.

Who could stand in the end zone and launch a football over the end-zone seats and completely out of the stadium?

QB Chase Patton tried to no avail. QB Chase Daniel tried and fell short. Tommy Saunders . . . not nearly enough arm. Then QB Jimmy Costello stepped up and heaved one. When the pigskin left the yard, there was so much commotion amongst the players that Gary Pinkel was distracted and held up his interview to see what had happened. After he saw what the players were up to, Pinkel smiled and went back to answering questions.

It probably won’t be the last time players have fun with that drill after practice. But for now, Costello, who threw for 1,700 yards and 18 TDs as a senior at Liberty High in 2006, holds the bragging rights.

- Jeremy Rutherford