Mizzou Depth Chart Impressions: Week 1

Missouri will open the season Thursday night (7 p.m., ESPNU) against Louisiana Tech. On Sunday afternoon, Eli Drinkwitz released the Tigers' first depth chart of the season.

Drinkwitz said he feels pretty settled on the rotations the Tigers will use on Thursday, but also emphasized that things can change and the depth chart is not a direct correlation to who will play when.

Below, we'll list the depth on offense, defense and special teams. We'll offer up some thoughts on each spot.

QB: Brady Cook is the starter. No clue who the backup is. Drinkwitz has said it could be situational. Maybe the three backups are just listed in alphabetical order. But that isn't true anywhere else there's an "or" situation. They're not listed by seniority or jersey number either. It's our guess if Cook were to go down and Missouri were to need a replacement for any significant amount of time, they'd go in the order listed.

RB: Drinkwitz said that Peat probably isn't healthy enough handle all the carries. But he indicated Peat, Young and Schrader would all play. Unclear on the order. Missouri has seven scholarship running backs and six are listed here. The only exception is true freshman Tavorus Jones, who Drinkwitz said just returned to practice last week after pulling a hamstring on his first live carry of camp. Jones certainly won't be in a position to help early in the season, which would indicate a likely redshirt.

TE: Missouri will definitely play two and quite possibly three.

WR: There's a pretty clear top six. Burden will start. Dove and Luper are basically in competition for the other outside starting spot, but both will play. Mookie Cooper is the fourth outside receiver. Lovett and Banister will man the slot. Are there enough snaps to warrant using Miller in more than spot duty up to four games? Probably not unless there's an injury.

OL: In an ideal world, the top five are going to take every snap. You've got to think Bobby Lawrence is the swing tackle and could move to the right side is necessary before burning Membou's redshirt. It's impressive the true freshman is on the depth chart at tackle, but we can't see him playing too much. Griffin and Ndoma-Ogar have seen the field before, but are behind guys who aren't going to come off the field much.

DE: There are zero surprises here. Tyrone Hopper is probably a little more of a situational guy and the fifth defensive end. The first four have been apparent.

DT: Again, not a lot of surprises. Landry being even with (or ahead of) George might be a bit of a surprise, but it looked that way at the open practice last weekend. Our guess is that Landry and George would be the fourth and fifth DTs with Robledo, coming off an injury, a bit behind.

LB: The two guys we knew would start are starting. After the injury bug bit, the backups aren't a surprise either. It appears Will Norris is the fifth linebacker.

STAR: Exactly as anticipated. It will be interesting to see if anyone else rotates in with Manuel and Carnell.

CB: Rakestraw held off Jackson and Norwood for a starting spot. Our guess is that those are the top four and will see the vast majority of meaningful reps.

S: Hibbler making an appearance on the depth chart is a good thing as it indicates significant progress. Blake Baker has said Wayne will help this year, but how much is unknown. The only question in the starting lineup appears to be Charleston/Williams. That speaks well to the camp Williams must have had, but we'd expect the nod to go to Charleston.

The first three spots here were automatic, so we'll move on from there.

P: Koetting won a camp battle over Stonehouse that was very competitive. There's not much separation between the two from what we've heard. So if Koetting slumps, don't be surprised to see Stonehouse get a shot.

LS: We believe it will still be Hawthorne on placekicks and Hoffman on punts

KR: It will be interesting to see if Peat can garner some opportunities here as he gets healthier.

PR: Drinkwitz said KAD would get the first return against Louisiana Tech. Burden is likely to see some opportunities throughout the season.