Two key storylines coming out of the loss at Kentucky for Missouri was the hamstring injury to QB Kelly Bryant, and the continued slump of K Tucker McCann, who has missed multiple field goal attempts in recent weeks.

Barry Odom on the SEC media teleconference on Wednesday offered updates about those players.

“Kelly went out of the game last week with a hamstring strain,” Odom said. “The way he plays, it limits the functionality of playing the position. He was limited enough, so we got him out to not damage it further. He is still in the early part of that injury, I would say. He feels better than he did right after the game. Will be limited in practice today, but I think he will be full-go by the weekend. More day-to-day than week-to-week.”

Odom said the coaching staff managed McCann’s workload to help him break out of the slump.

“We held him out this week, due to his workload to this point… I thought it was wise to do that. He knows his body better than anyone, he kicked today,” Odom said. “I have confidence in him, I know he will respond… his punting has been good, I know we’ve missed some kicks but we remain confident in him.”

Here’s what else Odom said on the call:

  • On Albert O, do you try to get him the ball more down the stretch? All the game planning that takes part, you always want to get your playmakers the ball… he can make things happen, not only making catches but making tough catches… all in all, just trying to find ways to get him the ball, even if that means forcing it a bit.
  • On first bye week schedule this season, do you repeat that this bye week? The first bye week we did a full game plan, practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
  • On Kentucky game film: I think, No. 1, the lack of ability to convert on third downs, that has hurt us. Coming off the field without extending drives, that gets you out of rhythm… We are not good enough to get down in the red zone and come away with zero… we were not as assignment sound as we need to be. Those things, I think being efficient on third down.
  • On appeal and the recruiting: We started looking at that early on, back in January. We signed everyone in December minus a few spots. You always have to balance that, that’s tough with attrition and the transfer market… things have changed there… with all that said, it’s a difficult thing. for us, throwing on top the sanctions, for us, the clarity of that, not knowing what it will look like, we have looked at the best-case and worst-case and something in the middle and we will have to adust when we get the final word.