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Heads up! Teams focus on safe tackling

COLUMBIA, Mo. • Bigger, faster, stronger. It’s the promise and the purpose of every training staff in college football.

Rob Droege’s college experience went another direction. He got shorter.

From the time he arrived on Missouri’s campus as a freshman in 1999 to when he began a professional playing career in 2004, the offensive lineman shrank from 6-foot-7 to 6-foot-6¼. He knows exactly why.

“When I played at Mizzou, I used my head to block,” said Droege, 34, an All-Big 12 offensive tackle in 2003. “I just wasn’t strong enough in the upper body to use my hands.