Missouri Spring Football Position Preview: Defensive line
After producing its best season in nine years and a win over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, Missouri's beeline toward a berth in the 12-team College Football Playoffs begins sometime in the next week or so when spring practice starts, with the Black and Gold spring game taking place on March 16.
Until then, we will preview the 2024 roster by doing position-by-position previews. Next, we'll look at the defensive line.
The starters: If this was a game of Spades, we'd have two books (starters) and two possibles (players we think will start but aren't sure about). Missouri has defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. and defensive tackle Kristian Williams, who will be starters or to keep up with the Spades analogy, our books.
The team brought in Florida transfer defensive tackle Chirs McClellan and Michigan state transfer defensive end Zion Young. They're the two possibilities we were talking about. The former makes sense as a starter since he has playing experience in the Southeastern Conference, while the latter played in the second-best conference.
Last season, McClellan recorded 23 tackles, a tackle for loss and 0.5 sacks in 12 games, while Young had 26 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in the same number of games.
The backups: The team is trying to replace defensive end Darius Robinson, who heads to the NFL Combine next week. He's been talked about as being as low as an early Day 2 to potentially being a Top 10 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
They're also trying to replace defensive end Nyles Gaddy and defensive tackles Josh Landry, Realus George and Jayden Jernigan. The latter three made up the defensive tackle rotation and were more or less starters because the top four defensive tackles usually play the same snaps whether they start or not.
So, along with McClellan and Young, the team brought in Georgia transfer outside linebacker Darris Smith, and he will almost certainly be moved to defensive end.
Last season, he recorded three tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass deflection in five games.
The team also has Austin Firestone, Joe Moore, Jahkai Lang, Serigne Tounkara, three-star signee Elias Williams, four-star signee Jaylen Brown and five-star signee Williams Nwaneri.
Fortunately for Mizzou, it still needs a DE2, DE3 and DE4. So, there's plenty of opportunity available.
Even though we have Young slotted as a starter that's a bit of an estimation right now.
Firestone went from practice squad player in fall camp to appearing in nine games in the fall.
Moore had a couple of moments.
Lang and Tounkara are well-liked soon-to-be redshirt freshmen the team likes and the defensive end signee class is a bit raw, but they're talented.
Nwaneri is going to play. He's a top-10 signee in the country. How much he plays is up to him and how quickly he develops, but he will get some reps.
At defensive tackle, it's a similar situation. The team still needs a DT2, DT3 and DT4.
Ky Montgomery, Marquis Gracial, Jalen Marshall and Sam Williams are all players who have been waiting and developing on the side for quite some time. So, this is as good as time as any to work themselves into the rotation.
New Mexico State defensive tackle Sterling Webb will also be in the mix after racking up 30 tackles, six tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks while earning All-Conference USA First-Team honors a year ago.
Storyline to watch for: The storyline for the defensive tackles is the same as it is for the EDGEs for the most part.
Who goes where on the depth chart?
The only real difference is the Tigers have the players on the roster at defensive end for sure. They just need to find the right ones to give snaps to.
The defensive tackles we aren't so sure. They absolutely could have them on the roster, but again, we aren't sure. Another thing is Mizzou could absolutely find their DT3 and DT4 and still want to go to the portal and look for someone they think can be their DT2.
Mizzou won’t look to the portal for another EDGE
PowerMizzou prediction: It'll be Walker, Kristian Williams, McClellan and Young as the starters but it's a very fluid situation on both fronts. It's almost like a free for all. Many players will see snaps with the ones and twos as the team tries to find out who deserves the most reps.
Again, keep in mind that starting at defensive tackle doesn't matter as much as it does elsewhere. You're just trying to see who the top four players are for that position. It's the same to a lesser degree for defensive ends.
Don’t be surprised or alarmed if the battle for the two-deep at both positions isn’t solved in the spring and continues into the fall.
Other previews
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