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A year ago, Aubrey Miller was roaming all over the field in the Black and Gold game at linebacker. Virtually everyone who saw the game thought he was one of the best players on the field. Miller did too.

“After the spring game, I thought I did what I had to do,” Miller said. “Obviously I didn’t so I’ve got to go harder.”

Ultimately, Miller saw mostly special teams duty, playing in ten games and making two tackles. That followed a freshman season that was interrupted by a leg injury. After two years, the 2017 signee is still looking to break through with major playing time.

“Those two years have been very tough,” Miller said. “I had to really get the bigger picture. I’m still living, I’m still at an SEC school. All I got to do is just keep fighting.

“I put myself in a hole so I got to dig myself out of it.”

But for Miller, the last two years have forced him to see the bigger picture. He said he has come to realize that there’s more to life than football and that he needed to prepare for his future whether it is on the field or not. He made the SEC’s academic honor roll last season and now takes as much pride in his work in the classroom as he does on the football field.

“When you kind of get (football), I’m not going to say taken away from you, but it’s like you’re not being able to produce on the field like you’re really used to doing, sometimes you’ve got to find a different route,” Miller said. “I really just had to start taking school more serious and actually seeing the bigger picture. I’ve been here two years and two years flew by. So I’ve got to get ready to live real life, just take things more seriously and be a grown man.”

People around the program have said Miller could see a breakthrough for the Tigers this season.

Shortly after arriving on campus last summer, linebacker Nick Bolton blew the coaching staff away with his football knowledge and work habits. Seemingly every day during fall camp, a different coach sang Bolton’s praises. However, even though he appeared in all 13 games, Bolton didn’t end up seeing too much time at linebacker last season due to the steadiness of senior starter Terez Hall.

Now that Hall has graduated, Bolton, who positioned himself as the heir-apparent at the weakside linebacker spot, has spent most of the spring playing with the first-team defense. He continues to draw rave reviews from the coaches.

“He’s been awesome,” defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said of Bolton. “Like I said, he played a lot last year and so it wasn’t nothing new to him. ... He’s been exactly what we thought he was so far this spring.”

Bolton’s position coach, linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves, said something similar: He had high expectations for Bolton following last season, and at least so far, Bolton has met them. Hargreaves said Bolton’s knowledge of the defense truly sets him apart.

“I just think there are certain guys who have a little bit more awareness, they have a little bit better understanding when you talk to them about football, their football IQ is at a higher level,” Hargreaves said. “So those are the guys that have a chance to play, because at least you know they’re going to be in the right spot. And so that’s the thing that will separate a guy from being able to get on the field or not.”

Missouri’s first depth chart of the spring included 12 defensive positions, which has resulted in a bit of confusion. Despite Barry Odom’s joke that the team is going to play 12 guys at once this year, one of those positions obviously won’t be on the field when the team is in its base defense.

Walters offered some clarification Thursday. He said that the players listed at the strong safety spot, Ronnell Perkins and Khalil Oliver, will play a role most similar to the strongside linebacker spot that Perkins and Brandon Lee manned a season ago, which is a hybrid between an outside linebacker and a safety. That player will be joined by the free safety and new “boundary” positions in the Tigers’ base defense.

As a result, even though there are three linebacker positions listed on the current depth chart, only two will see the field in most situations — the weakside linebacker, which, as discussed above, will likely be manned by Bolton, and the middle linebacker, which belongs to returning starter Cale Garrett. The players currently listed at the third linebacker spot, including redshirt freshman Gerald Nathan Jr., are being coached as traditional linebackers by Hargreaves (rather than Walters, who coaches Perkins and Oliver).

In short, Missouri’s base defense will consist of four down linemen, two linebackers, two safeties and one hybrid, plus the two cornerbacks. Hargreaves said that hybrid spot could be filled by a traditional linebacker rather than Perkins or Oliver in some situations. He also stressed that, although the depth chart may look different, the scheme will be similar to last season.

“The guys that I have, they’re still doing the same thing,” Hargreaves said. “It just determines what we’re playing against, which will determine whether it’s a linebacker or a safety (in the hybrid position).”

For the first time in two years, the Missouri offensive line faces a new adjustment: incorporating new starters. All five starters from the 2017 season returned a year ago, but this year, the Tigers must replace right tackle Paul Adams and left guard Kevin Pendleton in the starting lineup.

While starting left tackle Yasir Durant said it’s never easy replacing multi-year starters, a promising replacement appears to have emerged in Adams’ spot. Redshirt sophomore Hyrin White has been working with the first team throughout spring practices. Durant, who served as a mentor to White last season when White backed up Durant on the left side of the line, said he’s been impressed but not surprised by what White has shown since getting a crack at the starting lineup.

“I always knew since he stepped on campus that he was going to be a starter here, he was going to help us,” Durant said.

Durant said the 6-foot-6 White has continued to add size and strength to his frame, but the biggest jump he’s made during the offseason has been his understanding of the playbook.

“He’s gotten bigger, more faster, athletic, and the mental part, he keeps on improving,” Durant said. “That’s the big thing about Hyrin, he needs to keep on improving the mental part of his game every day, and that’s going to be big for him.”

Angel Matute is working at left tackle for the Missouri Tigers this spring. Without doing a survey, it’s likely Matute is in a club with very little company: SEC offensive linemen who used to play quarterback. But that’s exactly what the Mount San Antonio CC prospect was doing as a high school senior. He had an offer to play QB for Arkansas State and got looks from several Power Five programs, but went the junior college route.

He moved to tight end, then defensive tackle and finally offensive line.

“I’m still learning,” Matute said. “I’m comfortable and learning at the same time. I’ve only been playing (OL) for six, seven months now. I’ve been switched over since August of last year. It’s been awesome. Learning every day, trying to get better every day.”

The switches paid off as he caught the attention of Mizzou offensive line coach Brad Davis late in the recruiting process and rounded out the Tigers’ 2019 recruiting class. Missouri is pretty set at left tackle for this season with all-conference candidate Yasir Durant. Matute is getting his feet wet and keeping his goals short-term for now.

“Just to compete every day, just to earn my spot,” Matute said. “If it happens, it happens. If not, just keep on working, get after it every day and try to make this team better overall.”