2018 Camp preview: Defensive backs
With SEC Media Days in the books, it’s finally time to start looking ahead to the 2018 football season. Missouri will begin its preseason camp on Aug. 3. Each day until then, PowerMizzou will evaluate the roster one position group at a time, breaking down the depth chart and the outlook for the season. Today, we look at the secondary.
The starters: Perhaps Missouri’s greatest area of concern entering the 2018 season is its secondary, particularly the safeties. The Tigers lost both of their starting safeties from a season ago when Anthony Sherrills graduated and Kaleb Prewett was dismissed from the team. In their absence, the team will likely utilize a mixture of players. The coaching staff appears to be the most excited about sophomore Tyree Gillespie, who saw some action on special teams in 2017. Another sophomore, Joshuah Bledsoe, played primarily linebacker a season ago but was moved to strong safety during the offseason and was listed as the starter there on the team’s first depth chart of the offseason. Senior Cam Hilton, who has struggled in his limited playing time thus far in his career, was listed as the starting free safety. The other player who could contend for a starting spot is graduate transfer Khalil Oliver, who spent his first three seasons at Oregon but who opted to transfer after playing just one game a year ago due to injury.
The situation at cornerback is a bit more stable. Sophomore Adam Sparks and junior DeMarkus Acy both played frequently during the second half of last season, and they were listed as the starters on the team’s initial preseason depth chart. In addition, redshirt sophomore Christian Holmes could push for starting time and also serve as the team’s nickelback. Holmes sat out all of last season due to a shoulder injury suffered before the season began.
The backups: Obviously, at safety, one or two of Gillespie, Hilton, Bledsoe and Oliver will end up serving as a backup. The one other player who could contend for a spot on the two-deep is sophomore Jordan Ulmer, who struggled in the season-opener against Missouri State last year and never saw the field again. At cornerback, redshirt freshman Terry Petry reportedly impressed during spring practices before he suffered an ankle injury that kept him out of the Black and Gold game. There’s a chance he could even challenge for a starting spot during camp. Senior Finis Stribling IV hasn’t yet broken through, but he’s an explosive athlete who could see some playing time if anyone in front of him on the depth chart gets hurt.
Camp outlook: Missouri’s success in 2018 could largely depend on its pass defense improving from a season ago, when the Tigers ranked No. 107 out of 130 FBS schools in passing yards allowed. Defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, who also coaches the secondary, has said that several of the young defensive backs have shown glimpses of their potential, but the group still lacks consistency. Camp will provide another opportunity for Walters to build that consistency by giving the inexperience players repetitions against the Tiger offense. Whichever players show the most consistency during the next few weeks will likely win the starting jobs; however, we won’t know until the games begin whether their improvement will have been enough to actually stop opposing passing attacks.
Projected Week One depth chart:
1. Adam Sparks (CB)/ Tyree Gillespie (SS)/ Cam Hilton (FS)/ DeMarkus Acy (CB)
2. Christian Holmes (CB)/ Joshuah Bledsoe (SS)/ Khalil Oliver (FS)/ Terry Petry (CB)