By Calum McAndrew Special for the Post-Dispatch
COLUMBIA, Mo. — When Missouri defensive tackle Darius Robinson was named captain for the 2022 season, he sought advice from teammate Martez Manuel.
“When things don’t go your way,” Robinson said, he asked senior security, “how do you rally the group?”
The gist of Manuel’s response, Robinson said, was “‘as a leader, you are responsible for everyone'”.
Robinson asked the right person – he also learned the difficulty of back-to-the-wall captaincy, the value of tailoring mentorship to individuals and the successes and failures of past leaders.
Manuel, who is Missouri’s only sophomore captain in a group of eight officers elected for this season, has the experience to complement his guidance.
MU defensive co-ordinator Blake Baker nominated Manuel for a different reason – to play the lead role in his new play.
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Baker plans to use Manuel as the all-star starter, a versatile safety connecting the defensive front to the secondary, with the freedom to operate as the game demands. Manuel will make his debut in that role on Thursday when the Tigers open their season. at home against Louisiana Tech.
Why Manual? Well, for several reasons.
“He’s a leader, man. He really does a phenomenal job leading the defense,” Baker said. “That position sets us up a bit, so he’s doing a great job of everything that comes through him.”
But he’s not just a captain. As his high school coach Van Vanatta said, he’s also “one hell of a football player.”
Baker said Manuel reminds him of former University of Texas, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans safety Kenny Vaccaro, whom he saw when he was a graduate assistant for the Longhorns. High praise, but he thinks Manuel can do everything the new job requires.
“He’s kind of what you want in this position,” Baker said. “He’s quick enough to cover the crevices, he’s physical enough to play in the box, he’s a very, very good blitzer. I know he did a lot last year, so he fits the bill.
Manuel said he’s still learning things about the new position, but if his job as captain is the aptitude test, he gets the hang of it fast. He said Baker stressed the need to “slow down” the game, to let the situation “speak to you”.
It’s a tough adjustment, but who better to turn to than the player who led the Tigers through their toughest time last season?
That was glaringly clear in the younger days of the season where Missouri’s glaring weakness was in 2021. In Week 1, the Michigan center rushed for 174 yards. The following week, Kentucky rushed for 333. Southeastern Missouri State rushed 294 in Week 3. At an average of 267 yards per game, MU was an FBS bottom dweller to stop the run .
Rather than let the critics scream into the void and let the poison fester, Manuel rose to do what Missouri had failed to do until then.
Ahead of the Boston College game in Week 4, he said defensive issues had become a point of restoring pride and he was looking forward to him and his teammates “shut everybody down.” He put the slow start on his shoulders and said he was taking steps to improve the team.
It took a while for Manuel and Missouri to get some real vindication — seven games later, in fact, when the Tigers beat South Carolina to renew hopes of a bowling berth.
But when he did, he revealed more of the misfortunes he and his teammates had been through. Social media was hard to watch, he said after the Gamecocks game, which made it difficult to maintain a positive frame of mind. More recently, he hinted at a fractured dressing room that needed careful management.
“I learned a lot last year,” said Manuel. “I told the guys this year that I’m super happy for them to be captains, but I also told them it’s one of the hardest things you’re going to do. It’s not just fun and games.
“Sometimes you have to be the bad guy, sometimes you have to do what’s best for the group, and maybe that goes against one of your best friends, but that’s what’s the best for the team and that comes first.”
He learned this earlier than most.
Vanatta, who coached Manuel at Rock Bridge High in Columbia, saw him make sacrifices for the greater good in real time.
As the Bruins began a playoff streak in Manuel’s senior year, they kicked things off. Vanatta called the play: If the returner gave up from the middle, Manuel and another teammate were on him. That’s what happened, and as the attack and defense met, the returner slipped, Manuel tackled, the helmets collided and Manuel was thrown off.
It became possible that Manuel made his final appearance for Rock Bridge. The Bruins advanced, but a high school ejection results in a full-game suspension.
After the calls came back empty, Vanatta sat Manuel in his office and broke the bad news. Her captain was devastated, but only for a moment.
“I just said to him, ‘What I need you more than anything else: I need you to be our leader, I need you to be our boy scout team, I need you to fly and make it difficult for everyone,'” Vanatta, now the head coach of Macon High, said. “And I tell you what, this week of training was amazing. … And during the game, instead of sitting there pouting, he was jumping up and down, he was dragging guys onto the field. We ended up winning and he had another chance to play.
“A lot of kids would have cowered, a lot of kids would have been upset,” he added. “But you know what? The moment we left my office it was like it was on top of the world.
Fast forward four years, and some of Manuel’s Missouri teammates are calling him “the legend of Rock Bridge,” Robinson said.
But the defensive tackle, now fully immersed in his own role as captain, still calls Manuel “Cap,” and for one reason only.
With a strong accent on “the”.
“He’s THE captain,” Robinson said.
Ex-Miami DB picks MU
Two days before the start of the season, the Missouri defense added another Power Five transfer. Second-year Miami cornerback and former Hurricanes starter Marcus Clarke signed to the Tigers on Tuesday during a visit to campus. He announced his verbal engagement on Twitter. Clarke’s commitment reunites him with Baker, who held the same position in Miami during Clarke’s first season in 2020.
Clarke, of Winter Park, Fla., was a three-star prospect in 2020. He played six games as a rookie in 2020 and 12 games last year, including four starts. By signing so late in the fall semester, Clarke would likely need a waiver to secure eligibility for the 2022 season, similar to the process Mizzou linebacker Chuck Hicks went through last fall when he was transferred from Wyoming.
