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Defensive coordinator Ryan Walters was surprised to get a text from David Gibbs this offseason. The Tigers had an opening on the coaching staff and Walters has known Gibbs for years, but Walters wasn't sure Mizzou would be able to add a defensive coordinator as a position coach. But that's what the Tigers did when they hired Gibbs to coach the cornerbacks.

"I thought he was joking," Walters said. "The thought of getting him on the staff, his expertise, especially on the back end and another set of eyes that has coordinated very recently, I thought it would be, selfishly, beneficial and everything he brings to the program."

The addition also took a little bit off of Walters' responsibility list. Last season, he coached the entire secondary and was the defensive coordinator. Now he's only got half the responsibility as far as position coaching.

"Being able to have the individualized attention that the safety group needs and the corner group needs," Walters said. "Obviously there's a lot of communication and we still do some things together, but they're also two different positions and need different details assignment-wise and technique-wise."

Nick Bolton drew widespread praise as a freshman last year. He contributed heavily on special teams and backed up Terez Hall, including a long cameo at Alabama when Hall was ejected for targeting.

"Getting put in the fire with them kind of helped me mature fast," Bolton said.

This year, Bolton is the leading contender to replace Hall as one of Missouri's starting linebackers.

"He's been practicing at a really high level," Cale Garrett said. "Watching film and even out here today, there's some really eyebrow-raising plays that he's making. I'm not expecting there to be any dropoff. Nobody is."

Elsewhere at linebacker, Jamal Brooks is among the Tigers hoping to make an impression this spring.

"This spring is huge," Brooks said. "Everybody's goal is to play. This spring's huge for anybody that wants to go play. Spring is when you show that you can play."

This is the first spring Brooks has been healthy at Mizzou. He missed most of last year's spring camp with a torn ACL and said mentally he didn't feel comfortable until about midway through the season.

"I felt like I was there physically, but mentally, I just needed to make a play for me to be good," Brooks said. "Now I think I'm able to showcase what I have and I think it's paying off."

Immediately after fulfilling his interview responsibilities, defensive tackle Chris Daniels headed back out to the practice field to start running sprints.

"It's really self-discipline," Daniels said. I've got a goal to get down to 305, get my body fat percentage down as well. I'm really just trying to have self-discipline and hit my calorie count every day."

Daniels weighs about 325 pounds right now and says he wants to get down to 305. So he's running every day after practice. He sat out last year at Co-Lin Community College with an injury and is working himself back in to shape.

"It was very humbling," Daniels said of junior college. "It wasn't easy. It was very hard.

"But, hey, I'm here now."

We'll have more with Daniels in a story over the weekend.

*Thursday's practice had quite a few familiar faces on the sidelines. Former Tigers Kevin Pendleton, Drew Lock and Paul Adams were all present for the workout, catching up with their old teammates and watching the workout. The former Tigers will go through pro day activities next Thursday.

*The only news on the injury front was sophomore running back Tyler Badie. Badie suffered a sprained knee in a recent practice and was out for the day. Odom said the Tigers hoped to have him ready to go by next week.

*Jalen Knox made one of the day's big plays, hauling in a long ball down the sideline from Kelly Bryant and running away from coverage. Emanuel Hall told us on the podcast today he thought Knox had a chance to go to the NFL before his four years of eligibility were up.