Mizzou hops back into the portal
Last week, Missouri landed North Carolina edge rusher Tyrone Hopper out of the transfer portal. Today, his cousin Ty'Ron Hopper announced he would also play for the Tigers next season.
Ty'Ron has played his first three seasons at Florida. After redshirting in 2019, Hopper appeared in 11 games and made 15 tackles in 2020. He broke out as a redshirt sophomore in 2021. Hopper started four games and saw action in all 13 for the Gators. He ended the 2021 season with 65 tackles, 10 for a loss, 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
After some confusion last week over whether or not he was officially in the portal, Hopper's intention to transfer became known on Monday. The Tigers pounced quickly with Hopper visiting Columbia on Tuesday which included the basketball game against Auburn.
Hopper becomes an immediate candidate to contribute at linebacker. Missouri struggled for much of the season at the position before settling on Rice transfer Blaze Alldredge and Chad Bailey as the starters. Bailey is back for 2022, but Alldredge exhausted his eligibility. Hopper could very well be.a starter for the Tigers next season.
Due to the extra COVID year of eligibility, Hopper could have as many as three years of eligibility remaining for the Tigers.
Out of high school in Roswell, Ga., Hopper was ranked as the No. 4 outside linebacker in the country. He was a four-star prospect who chose the Gators over offers from Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Miami and more.
He is the 24th member of the Tigers' 2022 class, which includes 16 high school prospects and now eight transfers. Following the latest release of the Rivals.com rankings, Missouri has the No. 17 class in the country for 2022.
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