Time after time after time Saturday afternoon, freshman Mizzou running back Damarea Crockett found daylight at Tennessee. He ran and ran and ran to exhaustion, gaining 225 yards in 24 carries.
Before more than 101,000 fans and a national television audience, Crockett signaled that better times are coming for the Tigers, thanks to a potentially explosive offense that is just getting started.
But in the meantime there will be more growing pains. There always seems to be pain, and a but, with Missouri football.
In Crockett’s case, it was his subsequent arrest in Columbia for possessing less than 35 grams of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor.