COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥 And finally, the best athletes of the past 25 years.
Over the past few days, the Post-Dispatch has looked back at the first quarter of the 21st century in Mizzou sports, picking out the best football and men鈥檚 basketball games of that span. Next comes the most competitive and most debatable list: the best 25 athletes to come through Missouri since 2000.
It鈥檚 difficult to weigh performances from different sports and eras, making this a highly imperfect science. These rankings largely ignore athletes鈥 professional accomplishments to highlight what they did as Tigers.
Here鈥檚 this beat writer鈥檚 rundown of the most impressive Mizzou athletes of the past 25 years, ranked from No. 25 to No. 1.
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25: Martin Rucker (football, 2004-07)
Rucker earned All-American honors during Mizzou鈥檚 remarkable 2007 season in which the tight end caught 84 passes 鈥 a program record at the time 鈥 for 834 yards and eight touchdowns.
24: Chase Coffman (football, 2005-08)
Coffman鈥檚 247 career receptions and 30 touchdowns are both MU records. He was an All-American in 2008 and won the Mackey Award, given to the nation鈥檚 best tight end.
23: Helen Hu (gymnastics, 2020-25)
Specializing on the balance beam, Hu was twice an All-American in the event and won the individual national title in 2025.
22: Danario Alexander (football, 2006-09)
Mizzou鈥檚 career receiving yards leader put together one of the most statistically impressive seasons in 2009 when the wideout caught 113 passes for 1,781 yards and 14 touchdowns 鈥 all three records.
21: Cody Schrader (football, 2022-23)
After walking on as a transfer with the Tigers, Schrader became one of the best stories in college football in 2023. The running back posted a Missouri record 1,627 rushing yards during that breakout season for the program.
20: Rickey Paulding (basketball, 2000-04)
A prolific dunker, Paulding started every game during his final two seasons in Columbia. He averaged 17.4 points per game as a junior during the Tigers鈥 2003 Elite Eight run.
19: Aaron Crow (baseball, 2006-08)
Crow鈥檚 2008 season earned him the designation of the best pitcher in college baseball: 11-0 with an ERA of 2.35, 127 strikeouts, four shutouts and a 43-inning scoreless streak. As a freshman in 2006, his first win was a complete game to beat Pepperdine in a postseason elimination matchup and make Missouri the first No. 4 seed to ever win an NCAA Regional.
18: DeMarre Carroll (men鈥檚 basketball, 2007-09)
The 鈥淛unkyard Dog鈥 transferred to Mizzou from Vanderbilt, where he became a first-team all-Big 12 pick with 16.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in the Tigers鈥 2008-09 Elite Eight season.
17: Shane Ray (football, 2012-14)
Ray was an All-American in 2014, when he notched 14 1/2 sacks, three more than the next closest pass rusher in the Missouri record books. The year prior, his 73-yard scoop-and-score gave MU a Cotton Bowl win over Oklahoma State.
16: Rhea Taylor (softball, 2008-11)
Taylor stands as one of collegiate softball鈥檚 best leadoff hitters, a three-time All-American who led the Tigers to three straight Women鈥檚 College World Series appearances. She hit a Mizzou-record .452 as a junior and finished with a .402 career batting average.
15: Sean Weatherspoon (football, 2006-09)
鈥淪poon,鈥 pronounced by Missouri fans with more vowels than appear on the page, was twice a second-team All-American and thrice an all-Big 12 pick. The linebacker made 413 career tackles, including 155 during the 2008 season.
14: Keegan O鈥橳oole (wrestling, 2020-25)
O鈥橳oole was the first MU wrestler to earn All-American honors five times, with his most recent coming with a torn ACL this past season. He won two national titles and four conference championships at 165 pounds and is second in program history in career win percentage (108-5).
13: Arthur Johnson (men鈥檚 basketball, 2000-04)
Johnson started 123 games as a big man and came just shy of averaging a double-double with 16.1 points and 9.6 rebounds per game during the 2002-03 season. He holds the Missouri record with 245 blocks.
12: Drew Lock (football, 2015-18)
There are two quarterbacks atop most Missouri passing records. One is later to come on this list, and the other is Lock, who overcame a rough debut season to finish with 12,193 career passing yards and 99 touchdowns. He was the SEC鈥檚 most efficient and productive passer in 2017, when he threw for 3,964 yards and 44 touchdowns.
11: J鈥橠en Cox (wrestling, 2014-17)
Cox holds MU鈥檚 best winning percentage, with 136 wins and only five losses during his collegiate career. He was a four-time All-American and won three national championships, never finishing worse than fifth in the country.
10: Brad Smith (football, 2001-05)
Mizzou鈥檚 first star of the Gary Pinkel era, Smith started every game from 2002 to 2005. When he left MU, he held 69 school, Big 12 and NCAA records, including what was at the time the most rushing yards by a quarterback: 4,289, which is still the most of any Missouri player at any position.
9: Chelsea Thomas (softball, 2009-13)
Mizzou鈥檚 best-ever softball pitcher finished her career 111-31 with a 1.23 ERA, 1,174 strikeouts, eight no-hitters and three perfect games. She was a three-time All-American and the Tigers鈥 ace during their three Women鈥檚 College World Series appearances.
8: Max Scherzer (baseball, 2004-06)
Scherzer went on to become one of the most successful pro athletes to come out of Mizzou, and his 2005 breakout season with the Tigers was one of the best the program has seen. He led the Big 12 in ERA (1.86) and strikeouts (131) to be named the conference鈥檚 pitcher of the year and an All-American.
7: Marcus Denmon (men鈥檚 basketball, 2008-12)
Denmon was an All-American who led Missouri with 17.7 points per game during the 2011-12 season that saw the program leave the Big 12 with 33 wins and a conference championship. He is one of two MU men鈥檚 basketball players this century to be named first-team all-conference twice in their career.
6: Jeremy Maclin (football, 2006-08)
Is Maclin the most electric football player to ever don the black and gold? He鈥檚 the only Mizzou player to ever be a two-time All-American and did so with just two seasons of action. Maclin finished with 5,609 all-purpose yards. During his freshman season in 2007, he notched 2,776 all-purpose yards: 1,055 receiving with nine touchdowns, 375 rushing with four scores on the ground, 1,039 yards of kickoff returns and three overall return touchdowns.
5: Sophie Cunningham (women鈥檚 basketball, 2015-19)
Cunningham left MU after leading the program to four NCAA Tournament appearances as the Tigers鈥 all-time leading scorer with 2,187 career points. She was an All-SEC player three times and All-American once, posting career shooting splits of 50.1% from the field, 40.3% from 3 and 83.9% from the free-throw line.
4: Ben Askren (wrestling, 2004-07)
Askren finished his collegiate career as a four-time All-American and two-time national champion. He went an incredible 87-0 over those final two seasons and won the Dan Hodge Trophy, given to the nation鈥檚 top wrestler, in 2006 and 2007 鈥 just the second in NCAA history to earn the award twice. In positive news after his recent health scare, Askren鈥檚 wife Amy shared he has received a double lung transplant.
3: Karissa Schweizer (cross country/track, 2014-18)
Schweizer, a distance runner, is Missouri鈥檚 only six-time national champion and has 10 All-American honors to her name. She won individual championships in the indoor 3,000 meters, indoor 5,000 meters twice and outdoor 5,000 meters twice. She holds eight MU records, plus one NCAA indoor record.
2: Kareem Rush (men鈥檚 basketball, 1999-2002)
Rush is one of three players in Mizzou history with 1,500 points, 200 made 3s, 400 rebounds, 100 assists and 100 steals 鈥 and his career 3-point percentage of 43.9% is still a school record. He averaged a Big 12-best 21.1 points per game as a sophomore, then 19.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game on the Tigers鈥 2002 Elite Eight team.
1: Chase Daniel (football, 2005-08)
Daniel owns the two best passing seasons in Missouri football history, plus the career passing yards (12,515 yards) and touchdowns (101) records. As the Tigers climbed to No. 1 in the country in 2007, Daniel threw for 4,306 yards and 33 touchdowns, finishing fourth in Heisman Trophy voting.

Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel runs in the open field ahead of Kansas defensive tackle James McClinton (93)) and safety Sadiq Muhammed during the second quarter of a game Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
Mizzou women's basketball coach Kellie Harper speaks with Post-Dispatch columnist Benjamin Hochman on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at Busch Stadium on Mizzou Night. (Video by Ethan Erickson, Post-Dispatch)