September 23, 2023

By Fred Liggett
[email protected]

The Missouri Tigers football team is off to its first 3-0 start since the 2018 season. The Tigers that season was led by Drew Lock a starting quarterback from Lee’s Summit. This season the Tigers are being helped to the victory column by more than just a single player from Lee’s Summit.

The Tigers two deep roster shows OL Armand Membou as the team’s starting right tackle, WR Joshua Manning as a backup WR and TE Max Whisner a backup TE. Other players from Lee’s Summit include WR Logan Muckey, WR Micah Manning and QB Tommy Lock. Membou and Muckey are from Lee Summit North, Whisner, both Mannings and Lock are all from Lee Summit High School.

In reaching the 3-0 mark the Tigers defeated Kansas State, a top 15 ranked team, at home thanks to an SEC record breaking field goal by Harrison Mevis that sailed 61 yards before going through the uprights in a 30-27 Mizzou victory. With victories like this one the hard working Tigers are seeing their hard work pay off on game days.

Having so many team members from the same community Whisner says “shows Lee’s Summit has extremely hard workers, have grit and determination.” Whisner, a Lee’s Summit High graduate, states “credit to those coaches who spend time with kids.” Helping everyone feel more comfortable is thanks to so many familiar faces around on the team. Whisner admits “a lot more fun in practice and really nice to have someone from back home in the same shoes as you.” Players now coming to Missouri when they see so many from the same area Whisner, in his redshirt freshman season, feels “gives me faith in the Kansas City area, know how high the standards are.”

Only three weeks into the season there is plenty of time left for more success for the Tigers as well as the players from Lee’s Summit helping them achieve their team goals. The 2023 regular season ends with a game at nearby Arkansas over Thanksgiving weekend. Then the Tigers, if bowl eligible, will learn where they are headed to play in a bowl game. Until then Tigers fans can continue to look up at the jumbotron or down on the field to see a former Lee’s Summit player playing a part in a winning effort at Mizzou.