Mizzou football notebook: 2/5

KANSAS CITY -- PowerMizzou.com stopped by Friday's recruiting reception at the Westport Flea Market in Kansas City to get some news and notes for fans.

Earlier on Friday, the football program announced the retirement of Morgan Steward because of his hip injury.

On Friday evening, head coach Barry Odom spoke with PowerMizzou.com about Steward's situation.

"I don't really know how many specialists, hip-specific guys they saw, to see just his progress through the course of the last couple of months," Odom said. "Specifically the last couple weeks. It didn't look like, it didn't appear that he was making the progress that we felt like was needed to make a significant impact, to get back into the fold.

"Morgan's an unbelievably great kid. He has a bright future with whatever he's going to do with his degree. He's going to do a great job, that's how he's wired. It's what kind of kid he is. But, it wasn't looking like he would have the ability to come back to play that position, at the level he would need to."

Odom said Steward still has a "little bit of a limp" in his walk.

"It's better now than it was three months ago," Odom said. "We're hopeful that over time that will disappear."

Steward was shut down for the 2015 season before the Kentucky game, Missouri's fourth game of the year, in hopes of preserving a year to get a medical redshirt. Odom said he doesn't believe Steward was re-injured before that.

"I'd have to ask Rex (Sharp), but I don't think there was another procedure that was done," Odom said. "But I don't know the specifics if something else occurred at that time."

Missouri defensive tackle Harold Brantley missed the 2015 season after a serious one-car accident in June. After a few surgeries, Brantley's status for 2016 is still unknown.

"He's met a number of times with Rex since we started the semester back," Odom said. "He's got another appointment this weekend with Pat Smith. They're re-X-raying a couple things, just to get a clearer picture on all of the many injuries he had, just to see where he's at. Anticipating him getting back physically, getting back at least starting working out in the weight room pretty much full time."

Odom, however, did not have a timeline on when Brantley could potentially be back to working out.

"Rex would have to give a timeline on something like that," Odom said. "Just dealing with all the multiple things that he had to have repaired. I wouldn't know for sure."

No Missouri underclassmen declared for the NFL draft this season, the first time since the 2012 draft that's happened. Odom said there were "a number of guys" the staff asked for evaluation.

One of those was defensive end Charles Harris.

"We were able to give him information on the success or lack thereof on guys that have left early," Odom said. "He came back. Charles is a very intelligent kid and didn't just run into a decision. He looked at all the information. I think with the information provided, he's still got some things he wants to get accomplished in the college game.

"He's going to have a tremendously bright future."

A source told PowerMizzou.com that Harris received a second-round evaluation.

"It's important to develop a relationship with all the guys," defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross said, when asked about getting Harris to trust the new staff. "I think when Coach Odom was brought back, when he was coordinating those guys, that's the reason they decided to come back. They didn't know much about me, but for them to believe enough in Coach Odom to say, 'Hey, we're gonna come back,' and believe first in him.

"And then, second, to make sure those guys know I've had conversations and we'll put them in positions to make plays and we expect for them to lead. They could make everyone around them better, because they're exceptional players. We're trying to develop relationships with all of those guys."

On Thursday, Missouri announced the signing of Long Beach (Cali.) C.C. quarterback Jack Lowary for the 2016 class. Lowary was a full-qualifier out of prestigious Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Cali., in the 2015 class; therefor, he didn't have to stay in junior college to get his associates degree before he could transfer.

Even after signing Tulsa (Okla.) prep quarterback Micah Wilson, Odom said the staff was on the trail for a junior college player or a graduate transfer, who would be eligible to play this season and at the same time be physically ready for the grind of the SEC.

"Coach (Josh) Heupel has known about him," Odom said. "When we decided to go on another quarterback, we wanted it to be a junior college guy or an older guy. (Heupel) had his junior college list ready to go, so he's known about him for some time. We had been working on that one for a while.

"We feel confident in his skill set, and Heupel will do a great job getting ready to play. He's a guy whose got a little bit of experience than just another high school guy, to go along with Micah."

"We've only got two guys going into spring ball," Heupel said. "We scoured the country in the junior college ranks. We were looking for guys that could either get out in spring time right now, or would be able to get out in June."

Heupel said Lowary checks a lot of the boxes he's looking for in a quarterback.

"Smart, competitive, good leader, tough," Heupel said. "Good feet, mobility inside of the pocket. Not an elite runner, not going to major in the quarterback run game with him, but as the ability to move and slide in pocket and extend plays, get out of the pocket and extend plays, make plays. Arm talent, he can throw the ball vertically and horizontally down the football field. He checks a lot of things we're looking for."

Heupel also spent a moment to talk about what he's seen from returning starter Drew Lock.

"Really, we weren't paying attention to much of the schemes," Heupel said when he evaluated film. "And really some of the technique the guys played with, because you don't know what was being taught and those types of things. You're looking for athletic traits, characteristics and trying to find out what they have.

"Now that I've been around him, he's competitive. I've recruited him, too (at Oklahoma), so I have more familiarity than some of the guys on the roster, having known him. I know he's a good overall athlete. He has great understanding of space. Arm talent has continued to develop and he has a strong enough arm to stretch it and can throw from different arm angles, so there's a lot of positives there."

With plenty of returning starters on defense, the biggest void for Cross to fill in his first season as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach is weakside linebacker Kentrell Brothers.

"After watching tape, that's a big void to fill," Cross said. "You can say, 'Well, they got ten returners back,' but that kid was an impact in every situation, from the run game to the passing game. You've got to do it by committee. You hope the guys around that position can hopefully fill in, maybe rotate some guys in.

"But the two returners that we have, (Donavin) Newsom and (Michael) Scherer, those guys really do a great job of leading the linebackers in the short amount of time I've spent with them. Then our defensive front is very good, I think those guys can cover up some of the plays to a large degree. But you know what? We'll have to rally as a team.

"Just because they were good last year don't mean they'll be good this year. We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

In Odom's defense, the weakside linebacker was a "playmaking" position. While the specifics of Cross' defense have yet to be publicized, Cross said the prospect of Newsom switching sides from strong to weak is "a possibility."

"That's a playmaking position, in a 4-3, a 4-down scheme, adding the linebacker to the weakside is a playmaker is a lot of the defenses I've been in," Cross said. "It's considered, but we just need to go through our roster as a defensive staff, need to continue to evaluate the rest of the linebackers and at the end of the day we need to get the best eleven out there."