Jack Meiners Looks To Stay In One Place In Mizzou's Starting Lineup

Jack Meiners was the last University of Missouri offensive lineman to play as a freshman, but up until the 2011 campaign, had not been a fixture in the starting lineup. That changed last season when the graduate made 7 starts at guard.

Now, after seeing action 38 games over three years, largely filling injury gaps along the line, he's the favorite to be the every down starter at Right Guardin 2012, and he's fresh off having achieved an unofficial school record with a 505 pound bench press in recent weeks.

Patch Editor James Baer caught up with Meiners at Mizzou Fan Day Sunday.

Patch: Are you ready for the season.

Jack Meiners: Absolutely. We are working very hard to make it happen. We practice then we spend the rest of the day in the film room watching games.

Patch: How is the transition going from the Big 12 to the SEC.

Meiners: I don’t think its too bad. There’s just a different style offensively and defensively. There are great teams in the Big 12 and there are great teams in the SEC so we will just have to see. We will have to compete every Saturday and play our “A” game.

Patch: Teams like Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and Nebraska and Texas are hardly second rate.

Meiners: Right, exactly. They are great teams and there are great teams in the SEC as well.

Patch: Thrilled to see (tackle) Elvis Fisher back.

Meiners: Absolutely. He’s a great tackle on the left side of our offensive line and great to have him back this year. (Fischer got a sixth year of eligibility with a season ending knee injury last year.

Patch: So how well will Mizzou fit into the SEC.

Meiners: We are definitely coming in bold. Our offensive style is very unique to the conference and we play very fast, very high tempo. We will see how those SEC defensives hold up against our high tempo offense.