Even after a month of two-a-days in the vicious Missouri heat and humidity, a two-day break from practice still made senior Missouri defensive end Jacquies Smith antsy. So when the team doctors deemed his injured toe fit for drills, Smith was more than happy to rejoin his teammates.

“I can’t be away from practice too long, man,” Smith said. “I need to be out here practicing. I need my reps and to be out here improving with my guys. I don’t want to be out of rhythm.”

Unfortunately for Smith and Missouri, a good number of his guys are missing practice time with injuries. In fact, the list of Tigers injured in preseason runs so long, it could be confused with a depth chart sheet. Coach Gary Pinkel said it has been a while since he has had this many players out in one preseason.

“I think we have about five defensive starters out and about eight first- or second-team offensive players out,” Pinkel said. “It is what it is. We don’t worry about it, because some years it happens.”

The experienced offensive line has taken its fair share of hits. Just as junior starting center Travis Ruth was nearing a return from an Achilles’ tendon strain, senior left tackle Elvis Fisher was lost for the season with a ruptured tendon in his left knee. A few days later, guard Austin Wuebbels left practice with a neck injury.

On the other side of the ball, projected starting safeties Matt White and Kenji Jackson are also out with injuries. Junior defensive end Brad Madison took to the field again for the first time in 10 days on Monday after spraining his shoulder, but said he wasn’t too worried about the time he took off.

“I’ve been doing this for a while, so I kind of know what to expect,” Madison said. “Last year helped me a lot. I’m ready mentally. I think just physically I need to get into the shape I was at before I got hurt.”

Part of Smith’s eagerness to practice again stemmed from his presence as a senior member of the squad.

“As a leader you need to be out there leading by example rather than just talking on the sideline,” Smith said. “You can talk on the sideline so much, but you need to get out there and make plays and show the young guys the ropes.”

Instead, newcomers such as defensive linemen Sheldon Richardson and Brayden Burnett have been getting first-team reputations in camp. Smith admitted the numerous injuries present a good opportunity for the young players.

“That’s when the next guy needs to step up and fill the void,” Smith said. “I think a lot of guys like Michael Sam and Brayden, they get valuable snaps with me and Brad out. I think that helps them a lot so when they get put in the game, they’re ready.”

Although Pinkel and his players would prefer to see the number of injuries begin to taper off, Madison said he’s confident the team is deep enough to fill in for injuries effectively during the season.

“You look at all the spots we’ve got,” Madison said. “There’s guys I trust to go on the field if one guy goes down. That’s kind of how we were last year with guys going down at d-line and linebacker, and we had guys step up and prove themselves. That’s going to be huge for us this year because you never know when someone’s going to go down.”