Missouri enters 2024 with high expectations of making the College Football Playoff after it went 11-2 last season and got one of the more favorable schedules in the league this year. Not only that, but it retains over 70% of its production from a season ago.

Yet, there are still a lot of unknowns at a handful of positions. So, let's look at five positions with the most questions five weeks from the Aug. 29 season opener versus Murray State.

This position probably took the biggest hit in terms of lost production.

Kristian Williams, Realus George, Jayden Jernigan and Josh Landry had a similar snap count in 2023. The defensive tackle group was essentially playing four starters all season on its two deep.

Entering 2024, this position is in a bit of a re-tooling situation. Williams is the only player of the four to come back this year, and while he may be the DT1, there's no clarity on who will round out the rest of the depth chart.

The team brought in 6-foot-3, 320-pound Chris McClellan from Florida, who recorded 23 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery last season. He's the likeliest to be the DT2.

Sterling Webb transferred from New Mexico State and has a blend of youth and experience that the team likes. The 6-foot-2, 295-pounder racked up 30 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and four sacks last year.

Behind them are Marquis Gracial, Jalen Marshall, Sam Williams and Justin Bodford. This group combines for less than 20 career snaps.

Georgia Tech transfer Eddie Kelly can play defensive tackle but only played eight snaps at the position last year. He may be more suited to join the EDGE room.

So, even if McClellan and Webb join Williams in the rotation there's still one spot left to fill.

While not to the same caliber depth-wise as the defensive tackle group, the EDGE spot lost three key contributors from 2023.

Darius Robinson was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the first round of the NFL Draft in April. Nyles Gaddy ran out of eligibility and Austin Firestone retired. Only Johnny Walker Jr. and Joe Moore return to the EDGE room as contributors from last year.

Walker, the DE2 last year will be the DE1, but as for who replaces him as the DE2 that's undecided.

Moore was the DE4 last season, and will probably stick around the DE4 or DE5 range.

The team got Zion Young (Michigan State), Darris Smith (Georgia) and Kelly from the transfer portal, too. So, it’s possible all three finish above Moore on the depth chart.

What works in Young's favor is he was here in spring ball, unlike Kelly, and has more experience and production than Smith with 26 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in 2023.

For Smith, he is the athletic freak of the EDGE room drawing comparisons to DJ Coleman from the 2022 season, but the 6-foot-5, 240-pounder hasn't played much in his career. He has just six tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass deflection in 16 games.

Kelly has more position flexibility than both of them as previously mentioned and recorded 38 tackles, five tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a pair of pass deflections for Georgia Tech last season.

Not to mention the team has a talented freshmen class headlined by five-star signee Williams Nwaneri.

EDGE coach Brian Early said in spring ball he believes at least one of the new EDGE signees, including Jaylen Brown and Elias Williams, can break into the rotation.

There are more viable contenders to be in the rotation than there is spots in the rotation. But that’s a good problem to have.

Of the positions on this list, this one probably has the least worry surrounding it. Georgia State transfer Marcus Carroll and Appalachian State transfer Nate Noel both look the part of a starting running back.

Like Cody Schrader, Carroll is the north and south bruiser back, and Noel is the dynamic, quick and versatile running back.

Carroll was a top 10 rusher in the FBS last year with 1,350 yards and 13 touchdowns while Noel rushed for 834 yards and five touchdowns.

Noel shined bright in the spring with his speed and his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and Carroll also performed well, but his chance to shine will be when the pads come on.

Either back could be the starter and head coach Eli Drinkwitz has mentioned wanting a running back by committee. So, both of these two will play. Who will start is the first question.

The second question is who can take a few carries from both of them as the third-string back?

Jamal Roberts was the only running back not named Schrader or Nathaniel Peat to receive a carry in 2023.

Could he be in that role again or has Tavorus Jones finally shown enough to play? What about four-star signee Kewan Lacy?

Similar to EDGE, there’s more than enough talent in this group. At this point, it's just determining who goes where on the depth chart.

The main questions surrounding the cornerback group are can Dreyden Norwood and Toriano Pride hold it down ans starters and is the team comfortable with the depth behind them?

Norwood and Pride will start that seems clear. The former has been the CB3 the last two seasons awhile the latter was the first player to transfer to Missouri in the offseason.

Pride recorded 14 tackles, a tackle for loss and four pass deflections in 12 games for Clemson last year and showed some of what he could do by snagging an interception in the spring game.

No one expects them to play as well as Ennis Rakestraw and Kris Abrams-Draine. They just have to prove they are competent starters.

Behind them is Marcus Clarke, the only player outside of Abrams-Draine to record multiple interceptions last season. He's been the CB4 for the last two seasons, and his experience should firmly cement him in this role. However, there's a lot of inexperience behind him.

Shamar McNeil has 16 career defensive snaps. All of them came in the regular season finale against Arkansas last year. Ja'Marion Wayne has seven career defensive snaps.

After him, Nic DeLoach, Trajen Greco, Jaren Sensabaugh and Cameron Keys haven't played a defensive snap in their careers.

This position has been a consistent question mark for at least three years with no one truly being able to hold the starting spot from the start of the season to the end.

It's also one of the few positions where the position battle seems to last through the end of the season.

Last season, Riley Williams started the season for the first three games before Luke Bauer took over for several games and then lost his job back to Williams when the Cotton Bowl came around.

Williams isn't here anymore but Bauer is, and his competition is former Murray State punter Orion Phillips, who averaged 43.5 yards per punt on his way to an All-Ohio Valley Conference honorable mention selection in 2023.

In spring ball, Bauer usually led the drills and did well but Phillips didn't do too bad himself.

Even though Nick Quadrini is a part of this competition, it seems to be a two-man race between Bauer and Phillips.

So, who will be more consistent to snag the starting job and can they hold on to it throughout the season?

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