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08.11.2008 12:05 pm

Tigers take the afternoon off, ready for scrimmage

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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COLUMBIA — In what could be a sign that coach Gary Pinkel is pleased with how training camp is going, he called off Monday afternoon’s practice and took his team to the movies on Monday afternoon.

 That no doubt made for a doubly pleasant Monday morning for the Tigers, who worked out Monday on what was their coolest day of training camp so far.

It also means the Tigers will be well-rested when they have their first scrimmage of the season on Tuesday morning.

Pinkel said he planned to use everyone in the 40-play scrimmage.

 ”There’s competition all over,” he said. “It’s going to be a big day for everybody. It’s going to be like game day, with a lot of things going on. Our goal is to give 40 plays for the top four units. Right now, we intend to play all our players all 40 plays. The next scrimmage (which is next Saturday), we’ll probably back off pretty significantly for established players. We need to work. There’s a lot of competion. It’s good.”

With so many players returning, there are few starting spots up for grabs, but the scrimmage will also be important as the staff makes decisions on which freshmen will play and which won’t.

“You start leaning, the percentages start going higher,” he said. “Right now if a guy’s got a 70 percent chance of playing some as a freshman, that might go up to 90. We very rarely say you’re in. We’re starting to make those decisions and by the beginning of next week, we’ll pretty much be locked in.”

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Cornerback Castine Bridges was held out of Monday’s morning workout, but Pinkel said he expects him to play in Tuesday’s scrimmage.

“He’s got a sore muscle in side of his leg,” Pinkel said. “We think he’s going to scrimmage tomorrow. We’re just trying to be smart about it. It’s nothing serious. We held him today hoping he’ll be able to scrimmage tomorrow. There’s no structural damage.”

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