Danario Alexander: Mizzou football's Grant Hill?

Photo through Creative Commons.

Yesterday afternoon the MU coaching staff found out that its most physically imposing wide receiver, Danario Alexander, will have to undergo further surgery on his left knee to repair the ACL that he injured in the Big 12 Championship game and caused him to miss the Cotton Bowl. 

It is believed that Alexander will be back for the start of conference play but he is almost certain to miss all of Mizzou's non-conference games.

This isn't the end of the world for the Tigers, obviously. But it's certainly not an insignificant injury. The Tigers still have a lot of talent at WR and they still have that Coffman guy who's alright. But they don't have the depth they had last year. Two things have to happen for the Tigers to be able to overcome this injury:

1. Jared Perry has to re-emerge as a playmaker. I'm confident this will happen. I've said before I think a lot of people forgot how good he looked as a freshman. And by all accounts he was one of the hardest working players this spring and that hard work appeared to be paying off as coaches and media alike were raving about his performances in practice and scrimmages.
2. One of the freshman weapons that MU has brought in (Wes Kemp, Rolandis Woodland, Andrew Jones) will have to pretend they're not rookies. Again, I'm confident at least one of these guys can step in and contribute immediately. If there is one position that this coaching staff seems to specialize in, it's wide receiver.

So I fully expect this injury to be an obstacle that this team can overcome. But that doesn't mean I'm not very concerned. This offense is undergoing a lot of change as it is and when your first game is against a team like Illinois, that becomes worrisome. You need as many proven guys as you can get. 

I'm even more concerned for Danario. He seems destined to be plagued by injuries during his career. He has size that no other receivers on this team has and skills that only Maclin can match. He's got a future NFL career ahead of him if he can overcome these injuries but thus far he hasn't been able to do that. 

Only time will tell if Danario can reach his potential or if he's destined to be Mizzou's answer to the NBA's Grant Hill.