Even before he caught his first pass for Missouri, Dorial Green-Beckham was lauded as the Southeastern Conference’s next great receiver.
After a freshman season filled with mixed results, Green-Beckham has taken a step toward realizing his potential and has helped Missouri create a prolific passing offense in the process.
“They’ve got a prototype they recruit,” Florida defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin said. “Those guys are all rangy. They’re big. They’re obviously a tough matchup.”
Green-Beckham, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound receiver, came to Missouri facing enormous expectations.
He capped an incredible high school career that saw him set national preps records for career receiving yards and touchdowns by hauling in 119 passes for 2,233 yards and 24 touchdowns as a senior.
Rivals.com rated him the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect. ESPN was only slightly lower on him, ranking Green-Beckham the third overall recruit in the country.
With his immense talent came an equally large persona. Green-Beckham became known as D. G. B. on campus and quickly drew comparisons to former standout receivers A.J. Green of Georgia and Julio Jones of Alabama.
But the results were not as quick to come.
Green-Beckham finished his freshman season with a modest 28 receptions for 395 yards and five touchdowns as Missouri stumbled to a 5-7 record during its first year in the SEC.
Through six games as a sophomore in 2013, the results have been significantly better for both Green-Beckham and the Tigers. No. 14 Missouri (6-0, 2-0 SEC) is undefeated and coming off a shocking 41-26 victory on the road against No. 15 Georgia.
“We earned a little more respect,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “The respect level just went up a couple notches.”
Green-Beckham was already widely respected. Now his production is matching his potential. The sophomore has already surpassed his receiving yardage from last season and needs just one reception and a single touchdown to match his production as a freshman.
A matchup with the No. 22 Gators on Saturday at 12:21 p.m. in Columbia, Mo., provides the biggest test of the season for Green-Beckham and the Tigers’ receiving corps.
Missouri will be without starting quarterback James Franklin, who is expected to miss 3-5 weeks after suffering a shoulder injury against Georgia. With Franklin at the helm, Green-Beckham and L’Damian Washington were seventh and fifth, respectively, in the SEC in receiving yardage as Missouri passed for an average of 276.3 yards per game.
Without Franklin, the Tigers will turn to redshirt freshman Maty Mauk at quarterback. Mauk, who is mostly untested, completed all three of his passes for 23 yards in relief of Franklin against Georgia. For the season, he has completed 5 of 6 passes for 41 yards.
“We were confident with him on Saturday,” sophomore center Evan Boehm said of Mauk. “He drove us down the field and scored a touchdown. That’s something special to do after sitting on the sideline all game.”
Establishing a connection with Green-Beckham and the rest of his receivers against Florida’s talented secondary will be critical for Mauk.
“We know what he’s capable of doing,” Green-Beckham said. “We just have to see it from him when he goes out there.”
Follow Phillip Heilman on Twitter @phillip_heilman.
Dorial Green-Beckham (middle) makes a catch as Georgia’s Shaq Williams defends during the second half of Missouri’s 41-26 victory on Oct. 12 in Athens, Ga. No. 14 Missouri hosts No. 22 Florida on Saturday.
