Who doesn’t love a good whodunnit?
On Friday night, the eve of Missouri football’s ranked matchup against Texas A&M on Saturday morning in College Station, one of the Tigers appears to have received a not-so-welcoming gift.
Theo Wease Jr., Mizzou’s leading receiver this season, posted a story to his Instagram account from what appears to be the Missouri team hotel, where he had a gift waiting for him.
In the picture, there was a Texas A&M-emblazoned blanket and a note with the visage and, seemingly, the signature of Aggies corner Will Lee IV.
The note appears to read: “Get used to this blanket … It will be real tomorrow.”
Wease posted the picture with the message, “warm welcome to College Station.”
Kirkwood product (and Kansas State transfer) Will Lee III doing some of the gnarliest trash talk I’ve ever seen, my word
(per Theo Wease’s Instagram story) pic.twitter.com/ij1JPXAv9U
— Adam Busack (@Kingbus5) October 4, 2024
A screenshot of the picture quickly circulated on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Several posters speculated that Lee sent the note to Wease, as the pair are likely to match up against one another during the game.
The cornerback, however, denied sending the note, quoting a post from the Columbia Missourian’s Adam Busack, replying with a succinct: “Wasn’t me.”
Lee is commonly referred to as “the blanket,” a term used to describe a defensive back locking up a receiver in coverage. The nickname has stuck so much, it’s in his X profile display name.
So if not Lee, then who?
It’s not the first distinctly college football drama of the week, either.
During his Wednesday radio show, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko responded to a comment made by Brady Cook on Tuesday, when the Mizzou quarterback said that a massive loudspeaker placed directly behind him in practice had helped him get prepared for the noise of the 104,000+-capacity Kyle Field.
“The noise at practice is actually louder,” Cook said. “You know, they put these big speakers pretty much two feet right behind me. I mean, you can’t hear anything. It’s loud in stadiums. It’s loud, but it’s like a surrounding, kind of more distant loud.”
Per a post from 247Sports Aggies beat writer Carter Karels, Elko said, “It has been interesting that we’ve had people call out Kyle Field a little bit. I heard their quarterback say today that it’s louder in practice than it is at Kyle Field. To me, that’s a challenge to the 12th Man.”
Perhaps a slight misinterpretation. Certainly a little bit of a stretch. But you can’t blame a college football coach for a free bulletin board item.
The game between No. 9 Mizzou (4-0, 1-0 SEC) and No. 25 Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0) is the lone ranked matchup on the college football slate this weekend. With a win, the Tigers will move into a favorable position in the race for a berth to the 12-team College Football Playoff.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football WR Theo Wease Jr. seemingly gifted blanket by Aggies corner
