A sprained big toe on his left foot had Missouri tight end Chase Coffman limping around the team facility yesterday and earned him a spot on Gary Pinkel’s weekly injury report. Missouri’s coach listed Coffman as questionable for Saturday’s game against Kansas State.

Parker Eshelman photo

Chase Coffman, performing one of his patented hurdles of a defender against Colorado, is determined to face K-State on Saturday despite still being bothered by a sprained toe. •  MU FOOTBALL PODCAST

Chase Daniel begs to differ.

"He might be held out of practice a little bit here and there, but he’s such a competitor," Missouri’s quarterback said of the Big 12 Conference’s receptions leader. "It’s K-State, first of all, his dad’s team, his brother’s team. So, he’s going to play."

The Coffman family’s Kansas State lineage has been well-documented over the years: Paul Coffman was an All-Big Eight tight end for the Wildcats in the 1970s. His middle son, Carson, is the Wildcats’ sophomore backup quarterback.

Then there’s Missouri’s Coffman, who yesterday ditched the protective boot he’d been wearing since Saturday night. At some point in the fourth quarter of Missouri’s 31-28 victory at Baylor, Coffman said he felt a pain in his toe while planting his foot on a block.

Meeting with reporters yesterday, Coffman didn’t sound like he was planning to sit out his home finale on Faurot Field.

"There’s still a lot of time to get healed up, and I’m going to be in the training room a lot," Coffman said. "It’s going to be our last game at the ’Zou, and we’ve got to go out with a bang."

The 13th-ranked Tigers (7-2, 3-2 Big 12 Conference) will go for three straight victories over Kansas State (4-5, 1-4) for the first time since winning five straight from 1986-90.

Already the owner of Missouri’s career records for receptions (230) and touchdown catches (27), Coffman needs 213 receiving yards to surpass former wide receiver Justin Gage as the program’s career leader. Gage racked up 2,704 yards from 1999-2002.

Two weeks ago against Colorado, Coffman established the Football Bowl Subdivision record for career receptions for tight ends and needs just 18 more to set the FBS single-season tight end receptions record. Kentucky’s James Whelan set the mark in 1999 with 90 catches.

If Coffman can’t play Saturday, freshman Andrew Jones would be first in line to see his role expand - not that Pinkel is counting out his All-America candidate.

"He’s a warrior," Pinkel said of Coffman. "If there’s anyone that’ll play, he will."

● INJURY REPORT: Hobbled by a sprained foot suffered against Texas on Oct. 18, defensive end Tommy Chavis missed his second consecutive start on Saturday when Brian Coulter opened the Baylor game in his place. Chavis played sparingly - he wasn’t credited with a tackle - but Pinkel said he expects him to be healthier this week.

● DOUBLE DOSE: Coffman isn’t the only MU player related to a Kansas State quarterback. Freshman walk-on linebacker Caleb Freeman is the younger brother of K-State junior Josh Freeman, the Wildcats’ career leader in multiple passing categories, including yards and touchdowns.

"He’s a big competitor and doesn’t like losing," Caleb Freeman said of his 6-foot-6, 250-pound older brother. "They’re losing a lot more than he’d like, so he’s trying to do his best to get his team wins."

About 4 inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter than his older brother, Caleb Freeman was invited to walk on at both Missouri and Kansas State but favored the in-state tuition at Missouri. He visited with Josh after the Wildcats’ 52-21 loss at Kansas on Saturday but avoided the topic of Saturday’s game in Columbia.

"I try to stay out of his way, especially because he knew his next game was here at Mizzou," said Freeman, a Kansas City native who attended Rockhurst High School. "I don’t want to say anything or rub anything in his face about our success."

● TOLEDO TURNOVER: Pinkel was disappointed to learn Sunday night that his former colleague Tom Amstutz had agreed to step down after eight seasons as Toledo’s head coach. From 1991-2000, Amstutz, 53, was a defensive assistant under Pinkel at Toledo, including the last six years as defensive coordinator. He came with Pinkel to Missouri for about 10 days after the 2000 season to serve as the Tigers’ coordinator but returned to his alma mater to succeed Pinkel as head coach. Amstutz has a 57-38 record at Toledo.

"It’s a tough business," Pinkel said. "That place has won at a high level. He took them to four straight bowls. He was left with a pretty good infrastructure, but he did a great job."

● SCHEDULE SET: Kickoff times for Missouri’s final two regular-season games were announced yesterday. The Tigers will play at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 15 at Iowa State, a game that will be televised on Fox Sports Net. After a bye week, Missouri will face Kansas at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 29 at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, also to be televised on FSN.

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