COLUMBIA, MO. • Easy as it was for Mizzou senior cornerback Carl Gettis to recognize his performance Saturday against Illinois as the best of his volatile career, it didn't obscure his prompt recollection of the low point.

That was last season's nationally televised debacle against Texas, a 41-7 loss in which TV coverage became fixated on Gettis jaw-jacking with defensive coordinator Dave Steckel.

"They catch everything," said Gettis, managing a smile.

What the Fort Zumwalt West grad called "an immature mistake" came after Steckel emphatically pointed out he was playing the wrong defensive scheme.

Instead of accepting the fact he got the signal wrong, Gettis gave Steckel heat.

Asked Monday whether his flak back reflected guts or stupidity, he said, "Stupidity is probably the better word. Not guts."

Steckel was not available to comment Monday, but he said little about the episode last year and probably wouldn't now.

"We're still close as can be," Gettis said last week. "It was a tough time for me, because everybody wanted to talk to me about the situation and what happened. But, honestly, it's made me a stronger person today."

That seemed evident to MU coach Gary Pinkel even before Gettis' spree of big plays Saturday, most notably a twisting, one-handed interception that was Gettis' first since the 2008 season.

"I think he's just on a mission, and I think you saw that," Pinkel said. "He wants to play at a whole different level than he's been."

As cornerback counterpart Kevin Rutland put it: "He showed it's time to be a new Carl, and he played better than most people have ever seen him play."

There are a few reasons for the apparent change in Gettis, whose start against McNeese State on Saturday will be his 39th in a row over four seasons but who acknowledges he "didn't respond to the expectations like I wanted to" after cracking the lineup in the fifth game of his freshman year.

Fairly or not, Gettis has come to be seen as representative of a secondary that was considered most responsible for a pass defense ranked 117th and 104th in the nation the past two seasons.

"It's my last go-round," he said, "and we've really got a point to prove in the secondary, so I've been feeding off that."

He's also been drawing off a new mental outlook encouraged and nurtured by outgoing Mizzou track coach Rick McGuire, a leading figure in sports psychology.

McGuire met with the team a few times in the offseason, Gettis bought in to what he has said and now considers McGuire's office always open to him.

"He gives you things that you can actually use," said Gettis, noting that he now has goals such as being All-Big 12 written on pieces of paper in his locker and on the ceiling of his apartment. "Every morning I wake up and I see that."

Beyond the affirmations, Gettis said he has worked with McGuire on "thinking the right thoughts" in terms of forgetting about plays gone awry, as well as on "how to keep my cool and certain times to just be quieter and listen."

The issues exposed by his heckling of Steckel, in fact, seemed to lead Gettis to an openness about improving his mind-set.

Maybe it helps explain the apparently more confident and locked-in player whose interception Saturday was among MU's most dynamic plays.

Even as he went up with the intended receiver, Gettis knew the ball was behind him and that he wouldn't be able to reach for it with both hands.

"So I reached out with one hand," he said, "and it was like the tip of the ball landed right in my palm."

That's about where he seems to have the game now after a start at redemption, tended to long ago with apologies to Steckel and the MU staff and now penetrating an even more significant barrier: himself.

"I had to work on myself, physically and mentally," he said, "but I stand here today a better football player than a year ago."

Tom Timmermann of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report