COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri head coach Barry Odom made rare Tuesday media appearance to announce senior linebacker Michael Scherer and sophomore defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr. each sustained a torn ACL in Missouri's 51-45 loss last Saturday.
The injury ends Scherer's Missouri career, though Odom didn't rule Beckner making a return to the field this season after seeing Beckner walk normally Tuesday.
"Terry's going to be back and he's got a lot of football left to play here," Odom said. "Mike, on the other hand, it kind of rips my heart out that he's done everything that he's done and it ends for him with that injury. Both great ambassadors for the University of Missouri and our football program, I love them dearly and they're like my sons."
Odom and defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross are now tasked with replacing two of the top players on a struggling Missouri defense. Joey Burkett, Eric Beisel and Trey Baldwin are all players Cross listed who could replace Scherer by committee.
"It's nothing you can do about it but try to get the next man up," Cross said. "We're trying, nobody wants more results and better play than me but our young guys are trying. We got a couple guys trying to step up freshman wise trying to step up, going to try to step in. We've got to bring some guys we thought we were going to be able to redshirt up, all we need to do is keep grinding and try to stay focused on the task at hand and that's play better football. It's going to be hard with those guys down but I think we rally together, simplify things more and have a chance."
Markell Utsey could see more playing time with Beckner out, and Josh Augusta will likely see more playing time in a rotation with starters Ricky Hatley and A.J. Logan.
"Hatley and AJ have done a real solid job in there, those guys are really reliable to count on, but it's not like having Terry Beckner coming off the bench," Cross said, "and, like I said, we had four starters in there and he's like our emotional charge as far as the interior player goes so some guys got to step up. And that's the thing about the defensive line, I think those guys, I think Charles (Harris) is even more fired up.
"It's gut-wrenching, but obviously you've got to stay focused, you simplify things, you try to get them to play faster, be a little bit more assignment-sound, you know tackling has been the achilles heel all season, you've got to be better tacklers, like I said before, but I think simplifying things is going to help the kids a lot. We're not going to try to be exotic, we've got to simplify and let the guys go play."