Missouri fans can exhale.

Two days after three starters — quarterback Kelly Bryant, tight end Albert Okwuegbunam and defensive tackle Jordan Elliott — left the Tigers’ practice due to injuries, all three were back on the field participating fully in Wednesday’s practice. In the case of Bryant and Okwuegbunam, both of whom were taken away from Monday’s practice on a cart, it appears leaving practice was simply precautionary.

Bryant said he “pretty much just slipped” on the play that caused his injury, which the coaching staff diagnosed as a hamstring strain. He said he felt fine during practice Wednesday.

“It was just like kind of a weird feeling that happened Monday,” he said. “It was just like one of those, like a weird feeling, I didn’t really know what was going on, just wanted to make sure everything was clear. Everything checked out good.”

Likewise, Okwuegbunam hyperextended his knee during Monday’s practice and the training staff decided to play it safe. He didn’t appear limited Wednesday, at one point taking flight to haul in a high pass over the middle of the field.

“The training staff was just being really precautious about it,” Okwuegbunam said. “Took the full measures assuming the worst, but luckily it’s a very minor deal. Nothing really inhibited me today. I felt great.”

Following Bryant’s exit Monday, head coach Barry Odom said the injury illustrated his message that the reserves, and especially the backup quarterbacks, have to be ready to enter the game at a moment’s notice. However, the injury scare didn’t change how the team allocates reps to its quarterbacks during practice. Offensive coordinator Derek Dooley said it is a difficult balancing act to give a newcomer like Bryant enough playing time to learn the offense while also making sure the backups are ready, but he plans to err on the side of giving Bryant more reps.

“That’s the hardest thing in college football,” Dooley said. “In the pros, the (number) two guy doesn’t even get a rep. The one gets every rep. And I kind of would like to give Kelly every rep, but you can’t do that. So we gotta get the next guy ready, Taylor’s our next guy right now, and you always have to have one more guy ready.”

“Hopefully we don’t need (the backups),” Odom said. “But also, you know, you’ve been around the game long enough that you’ve gotta do a great job of getting your next guy ready to go play. And that position is so important, and more than anything they’ve got to spend so much time in the classroom and mentally training to be ready, and when their number is called to be ready to go and we can’t miss a beat.”

When Bryant left Monday’s practice, redshirt sophomore Taylor Powell took over as the starter. Powell, who appeared in mop-up duty a season ago, said he feels equipped to take over the starting offense whenever called upon.

“I played last year, so it’s just ball,” he said. “Just go in there and execute and run the plays. It’s just football.”

In another bit of positive injury news, defensive tackle Akial Byers was a full participant in Wednesday's practice. Byers had been limited each of the past two days due to an ankle injury. Only four players appeared at all limited. Defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat, who has sat out since spraining his elbow on Friday, watched practice from the sidelines with his arm in a sling. Linebacker Jamie Pettway, who is still recovering from an offseason knee procedure, and defensive backs Aidan Harrison and Mason Pack all wore pads but sat out the majority of drills.

Kam Scott didn’t make many catches last season, but when the ball came his way, he made it count. The Texas product burst onto the scene with an acrobatic catch and run for a 70-yard touchdown in his first college game last year. He went on to average 26.8 yards on eight receptions, which would have been the highest figure in the NCAA had he caught enough passes to qualify.

At least once per camp practice, it seems, Scott continues to make head-turning plays. He had one catch Wednesday that might have been his best yet.

During the team’s 11-on-11 drills, Scott ran deep down the sideline, and Powell’s pass to him hung in the air. Cornerback Chris Mills appeared perfectly positioned for an interception. But Scott leapt into the air, reached back, tipped the ball over Mills’ head and corralled it before stepping out of bounds.

“I tipped it and I seen it go up and I seen that it was still in the air, so I just made a play on it,” Scott said.

With a full offseason under his belt, Scott said he feels more comfortable in Missouri’s offense than he did a year ago, and that has allowed him to showcase his physical gifts. He may not crack the starting lineup, but expect the Tigers to find ways to get him the ball downfield.

“Last year when I was here it was kind of like I was timid and still asking, not knowing everything,” Scott said. “But this year I’m kind of more comfortable and I feel good being on the field knowing what I’m doing. It’s more like just making a move on somebody now. So it’s just back to regular football.”

For three years, some around the program have been waiting for linebacker Aubrey Miller Jr. to break into the regular rotation. Miller has always possessed the athleticism to do so, and he’s shown impressive, albeit brief, flashes of his ability, such as when he led the team in tackles during the Black and Gold game in 2018.

The wait could finally be over.

Miller spent extensive time working with the first team during Wednesday’s practice, alongside middle linebacker Cale Garrett. That doesn’t necessarily mean the starting spot is his — just Monday, linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves made it seem as if that is sophomore Nick Bolton’s spot to lose — but defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said Miller has impressed the coaching staff with his maturity this offseason.

“He’s gotten a lot more mature,” Walters said of Miller. “Today we were just trying to fabricate a little bit of adversity and see how guys responded, and I was happy with today, and we’ll get on the tape and get better.”

Dooley has never been one to give away many specifics about his plan for Missouri’s offense, but the always entertaining offensive coordinator did offer a point of clarification Wednesday. Asked about how he would tailor the Tiger offense to fit Bryant’s strengths, Dooley said the scheme wouldn’t look vastly different than it did a season ago with Drew Lock at the helm. Last year, Missouri ranked No. 13 nationally in total offense and No. 18 in scoring, averaging 36.6 points per game.

“Everyone thinks we’re running some new offense,” Dooley said. “We’re not. We’re running the same offense we ran last year, and we do what we do every year: We see who our playmakers are, who our quarterback is, and then we fine-tune and shape the plays to try to utilize their strengths and minimize what they don’t do as well.”