SEC media day notebook: Missouri's Gary Pinkel said dismissing Dorial Green Beckham was 'very difficult'

Missouri is in an unenviable position this year.

After finishing 12-2 last season and winning the SEC East, the Tigers return just eight starters and will likely go through a grueling rebuilding year.

But if there’s a positive, it’s that many of those growing pains won’t be at the quarterback position. Maty Mauk, the Tigers starter, got his fair share of playing time last year thanks to injuries and inconsistent play by James Franklin. Mauk went 3-1 as a starter and threw for 1,071 yards, 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He also rushed for 229 yards and a score.

He helped the Tigers to a big win against Georgia when Franklin was injured.

“First of all, the good news/bad news about last year is the bad news is we lost our starting quarterback for four games in the fourth quarter against Georgia,” coach Gary Pinkel said during SEC media day Wednesday. “The good news is we had a redshirt freshman that came in and played at a high level. That experience obviously I think helped him tremendously. I think certainly our players have a lot of confidence in him.”

Mauk, who is listed at 200 pounds on the Missouri website, will go into camp a little lighter after dealing with a viral infection that caused him to lose what he said was about eight or nine pounds.

"Something happened to me and I lost some weight," Mauk said. "Obviously, it wasn't bad. I feel fine, I feel great. The main thing is I feel fast. I kinda had speed already and now I feel like high school again. I'm ready to go out there and I'm ready to do what I have to do to make our offense as explosive as can be."

Mauk said he thought his body wore down because of some extra training he had been doing in the past couple weeks, but that he’s also not eager to put the weight back on. He said he’s gained a couple pounds back, but that he’s not going to add anymore heading into fall camp.

Mauk will need to be as dynamic as possible as the players around him get used to being starters. After Dorial Green-Beckham’s dismissal in the offseason, the Tigers were left with Bud Sasser as the only returning starting receiver, though Darius White and Jimmie Hunt played several snaps last year. Running backs Russell Hansbrough and Marcus Murphy earned a lot of playing time behind the departed Henry Josey.

Even with all the new faces, Pinkel is confident Mauk is the guy to lead Missouri to success.

“I think he's a very natural leader,” Pinkel said. “I knew that when he was in high school. He was one of those guys that he loves to play football, loves to compete. I think he's a dual threat guy. He can run. He's got very good speed. Put a lot of pressure on the defense utilizing both of those things.”

Tough nonconference schedules won’t be the norm

To say Missouri’s nonconference schedule is a little daunting would be an understatement. The Tigers play three teams that had winning records a year ago, including UCF, which finished 12-1, won the American Athletic Conference and beat Baylor in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Pinkel said Missouri’s scheduling hasn’t caught up with the strength of its new league, so there are still some kinks to be worked out.

“That's the way we did it in the Big 12,” Pinkel said of the tough nonconference scheduling. “When you make an adjustment schedule wise, you change leagues, it takes a while to get it back to kind of the consistency the way the rest of the league is. I would expect that to change a little bit as the schedules go out.”

Don’t expect Missouri’s future nonconference schedules to be this troubling. In 2015, the only nonconference games scheduled are against Southeast Missouri State and Arkansas State, there are no nonconference games scheduled for 2016 and Purdue is the only nonconference matchup for 2017.

Pinkel said he expects future schedules to fall in line with Missouri’s SEC brethren, so that random November game against an FCS team is definitely on the horizon.

“Because we had spots open in those areas before, that's what we had to keep,” Pinkel said. “That, I suggest, will change and lean more towards how the SEC does. Certainly TV will have an influence on that in the future.”

Pinkel wants Dorial Green-Beckham to succeed

Pinkel said dismissing receiver Dorial Green-Beckham from Missouri was one of the most difficult things he’s ever had to do. Green-Beckham was Missouri’s leading receiver with 59 catches for 883 yards and 12 touchdowns, but he had two drug-related arrests, which forced Pinkel’s hand.

“That was very, very difficult for me to do that,” Pinkel said. “I can’t tell you what that was like. I had to do what was the right thing to do, and I did.”

Earlier this month, Oklahoma announced that Green-Beckham had been added to the roster. Pinkel said he spoke with Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops about Green-Beckham and that he’s happy Green-Beckham will get another chance to play for a major university.

“He’s got another chance now,” Pinkel said. “I’m excited about that. Just as much as being able to grow as a person as well as being a good football player. I hope he does well.”

Pinkel reached out to Will Muschamp

Pinkel’s first year in the SEC was a disaster.

The Tigers went 5-7 and missed a bowl game for the first time since 2004. Questions about whether Missouri was a good fit for the SEC started to surface and Pinkel’s ability to lead the Tigers into their new conference was questioned.

So, last year, when Pinkel saw Florida coach Will Muschamp dealing with some of the injury issues Missouri dealt with during its first year and some of the questions about coaching stability, Pinkel picked up the phone and offered a friendly ear.

“Well, I just think, you know, when I see people have experiences similar to what we had, been a part of, I think what happens is I've had people reach out to me before, how important that's been to me,” Pinkel said. “When I get an opportunity to do those kind of things, that's what I try to do, for those reasons.”

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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