At long last, the 2019 Missouri football season is just a day away. Last year, Rivals began partnering with Pro Football Focus to provide a more in-depth look inside the Tigers' games. We are happy to announce we will continue to do so again this season.

One way we used the data from PFF a season ago was by taking a look at each team's grades in various phases of the game, as well as the top-graded players on each side of the ball. We will still be doing that this season, but this week, the preview will take a slightly different format. Since no data exists yet for this season, we will highlight the highest-graded returners on each team from a season ago, as well as the most important departures from each roster.

A season ago, these two units were a strength for both teams. Missouri's overall offensive grade of 79.4 was tied for No. 41 nationally, and Wyoming's defense tied for No. 30 with a grade of 91.9. (It's worth noting that Wyoming had its second-worst defensive performance of the season at Missouri, earning a 65.5 grade.) Here is a look at the five highest-graded returners and departures from each unit.

Takeaways: Missouri has the majority of its weapons back from last season's balanced offensive attack, with a couple exceptions. By far the most difficult players to replace will be quarterback Drew Lock and wideout Emanuel Hall, who were the team's two highest-graded offensive players a year ago. The losses should be mitigated by a couple factors, however. The Tigers brought in Clemson transfer Kelly Bryant (perhaps you've heard about him?) to replace Lock. While Bryant's PFF numbers aren't quite as good as Lock's he earned a respectable offensive grade of 70.7 in 2017, his lone full season as Clemson's starter. Plus, while Hall was clearly Missouri's best receiver a season ago, he only played in nine games last season, and he was either limited or completely ineffective due to injury in three of them. Missouri's passing production took a bit of a hit without him in the lineup, but the Tigers still showed an ability to win games, plus younger receivers such as Jalen Knox and Kam Scott should be better equipped to fill in for Hall in their second year in the program.

A couple other notes:

-- While Damarea Crockett was the team's highest-graded running back last season, his loss should be minimized by the presence of Larry Rountree III and Tyler Badie, both of whom also earned grades higher than 70 on the season.

-- PFF actually graded Paul Adams' replacement at right tackle, Hyrin White, significantly higher than Adams last season. Now the question is whether White can maintain that performance over a much greater sample size of snaps.

-- Missouri's three highest-graded returning receivers all line up in the slot: Dominic Gicinto, Johnathon Johnson and Barrett Banister. Look for the coaching staff to try to find ways to get more than one of them on the field at the same time.

Takeaways: Wyoming's defense will be anchored by four-year starting linebacker Logan Wilson, who was the highest-graded player on the unit a season ago. He will definitely be a name to watch. Aside from Wilson, however, the Cowboys lost most of their star power on the defensive side of the ball. Andrew Wingard finished his college career as the team's all-time leading tackler and Marcus Epps was a sixth-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in this year's NFL Draft. Youhanna Ghaifan and Carl Granderson combined to record 14.5 tackles for loss and four sacks last season. The Cowboys get three starters back in the secondary in Alijah Halliburton and the cornerback duo of Tyler Hall and Antonio Hull, but will be very inexperienced on the defensive line. Javaree Jackson, who missed five games last year due to injury, is one of just three defensive linemen returning from last year's two-deep.

PFF didn't have a particular high opinion of Missouri's defense last season, but the Tigers still faired better on that side of the ball than Wyoming did on offense. Missouri's defense ranked No. 91 nationally with a grade of 85.5 last season. Wyoming's offense, meanwhile, came in at No. 103 with a score of 70.5. The Cowboys graded out far better in the running game than passing, and the good news for Missouri is that the Tigers excelled at stopping the run but struggled at times against the pass. Once again, here are the top returning players and most notable departures from each unit.

Takeaways: Missouri lost a lot at defensive tackle last season due to the departure of starters Terry Beckner Jr. and Walter Palmore. But the position should still be a strength, as Jordan Elliott and Kobie Whiteside will each play a larger role this season. (And a third defensive tackle, Akial Byers, didn't miss the top five by much). Cale Garrett and DeMarkus Acy will still headline their respective positions. Even though PFF doesn't view it as such, the biggest loss will almost certainly be Terez Hall at weakside linebacker. Hall led the defense in sacks a season ago, was a force in the running game and served as the vocal leader of the defense. He will be replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore Nick Bolton, who earned a paltry 57.5 grade from PFF a year ago.

Takeaways: Wyoming lost its bell cow running back in Nico Evans and his one of his primary backups in Jevon Bigelow. That is not exactly ideal for a team that wants to run the ball as often as possible. Last season, Evans carried the ball 204 times for 1,325 — more than 900 yards more than the team's next-leading rusher, Xazavian Valladay. The good news for Wyoming is that Valladay returns and the Cowboy offense ran the ball more effectively when dual-threat quarterback Sean Chambers lined up under center. Chambers played in just three full games last season, but he topped 100 yards rushing in all three. He was also efficient in his limited passing attempts, earning a passing grade of 88.8 from PFF (for context, Locks' grade was 84.6, though Chambers clearly benefitted from a small sample size). Wyoming will miss Kaden Jackson, its highest-graded lineman last season, as well as Tyree Mayfield. Mayfield had 21 receptions for 342 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season; the most productive returning tight end had four grabs for 21 yards.