Beisel making the most of his opportunity on MU football team

Eric Beisel’s red hair was damp. Beads of sweat clung to his shaggy auburn beard that had gone a few weeks without a trim. He wore a gold T-shirt with ragged cut-off sleeves.

While Mondays are technically an off day for Missouri football players, Beisel was on the practice field — just where Coach Barry Odom predicted he would be.

Minutes earlier, Beisel walked past a “Toughness Wins” sign and through the doors of the Mizzou Athletic Training Complex. Before he stepped in front of the TV cameras that were waiting for him, he proceeded to the training room, where he toweled off the perspiration from hours of work. He had to look somewhat kempt.

“You guys caught me after practice,” he said, as if the signs weren’t already evident. “I’m usually on the practice field now. I had to do it earlier, because now I’m doing interviews.”

Beisel has been in demand recently. Weeks ago, his biggest claim to fame was a great nickname — Zeus. The 6-foot-3 junior linebacker first went by that moniker during his high school days at Rockwood Summit, because, like the Greek god, Beisel brought the thunder as he plowed over opponents.

“I love it,” Beisel said. “It’s starting to come back now. It died off a little bit.”

Before home games this season, Beisel has carried the Missouri state flag as he leads players and coaches onto the field. On the Tuesday before the Tigers’ home opener against Eastern Michigan, Odom informed Beisel that he would be the flag-bearer.

“He basically just said, ‘Beisel, I want somebody who represents the state of Missouri well to carry the flag, preferably a special-teams player and a leader on this team,’ ” Beisel recalled. “I gladly accepted.”

He is no longer just a special-teams player. Beisel’s journey from “old school” high school linebacker to impact college player has been far from straight. Despite offers from seven other Power 5 programs, the four-star prospect picked his home-state school.

“I’ve been a Missouri fan my entire life,” Beisel said. “I love the University of Missouri and the state of Missouri. I thought, if I take my talents here, I can take this team to a championship.”

For his first three years at MU, Beisel wasn’t a prominent fixture on the field. In 2016, he was buried behind Michael Scherer on the depth chart. Even when Joey Burkett lost his starting job, Missouri turned to freshman Cale Garrett over Beisel.

But when Scherer suffered a season-ending knee injury on Oct. 22 against Middle Tennessee, Beisel was the next man up.

“He was a little frustrated with not playing early, but like I told him, ‘It’s a long season,’ ” defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross said. “He stayed ready. We laugh and joke about it now, because he’s the guy.”

Beisel saw his likeness on the screen at Memorial Stadium before MU’s game against Kentucky — his first career start. He played well, registering three tackles for loss. A week later, Beisel had 14 tackles — 10 of them solo stops — and two tackles for loss.

Beisel’s move into the starting 11 followed the Tigers’ switch to the defense that was successful under Dave Steckel and carried over to Odom’s one-year stint as the defensive coordinator in 2015. Since Odom seized control of the play-calling duties two weeks ago, MU has allowed the defensive line to attack up the field — as opposed to a read-and-react style.

With only three days to teach Garrett the old, new scheme in the buildup to MU’s game against Kentucky, Beisel was the obvious choice.

“I invested a lot into what we were doing this year with Coach Cross and what he brought from TCU,” Beisel said. “I was pretty comfortable with that. Obviously, I invested a lot last year into what Coach Odom was doing, too. I am comfortable with both.”

Cross said that Beisel has looked more confident in what Missouri had been doing defensively pre-2016.

The change “has helped him quit a bit,” Cross said.

Now that Scherer is on the shelf, Beisel and senior Donavin Newsom are the most experienced linebackers on the field. Newsom has been deployed at the strongside and weakside spots this season but has been hampered in recent weeks by a nagging left quad injury.

Cross estimates that 60 to 70 percent of the defensive calls go through Beisel, who directs MU’s front seven — occasionally making checks and adjustments based on what he sees from the opposing offense.

“I’ve been winning my whole life,” Beisel said. “Now, that I’m playing, I think people see what I do before Saturdays.”

In high school, Beisel earned the reputation as a workaholic. In the offseason, he woke up most days at 5 a.m. Back then, he traded his Chevrolet Impala SS for his mother’s van — dubbed the “Muscle Wagon.” He drove around Fenton and scooped up teammates for early-morning workouts.

Beisel hasn’t changed that pattern in Columbia, although he’s flying solo more often that not. He spends his Mondays performing footwork and linebacker drills. Later, he watches two to three hours of film.

“Eric is the type of guy who you actually won’t see him, but you already know he’s putting in the work because he’ll do it late at night,” Newsom said. “It’s showing out on the field.”

When Newsom does spot Beisel after practice, it’s through the windows of the MATC.

“I’m in here eating. I’m starving after practice,” Newsom said. “He’s out there running back and forth.”

For each game, Beisel said his goals are 15 tackles, three TFLs, an interception and a sack, as well as a shutout for the defense. The defense has been nowhere near that good. The Tigers rank 87th in the FBS in scoring defense (30.4 points per game) and 116th in total defense (470.3 yards per game). MU allowed averages of 16.2 points and 302 yards last season.

Missouri has also been on the wrong side of the win-loss column. When the Tigers (2-7, 0-5 Southeastern Conference) host Vanderbilt (4-5, 1-4) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, they will be searching for their first conference win in more than a calendar year. MU has dropped 11 consecutive SEC games.

“I think losing drives us,” Beisel said. “We’re starving. We say it every day: We’re hungry. What does an animal do when he needs to eat? ... We’re a bunch of dogs, and we have to eat. It’s getting to the point where the savage is going to come out of us, and we have to do something about it.”