Newcomer Profile: Zion Young
In addition to the 21 players the Tigers signed during the Early Signing Period, they've added 12 more via the transfer portal, as they look to build on last year's 11-2 campaign.
PowerMizzou.com will profile the 12 transfers to help fans familiarize themselves with them. Next up on our list is Michigan State transfer defensive end Zion Young.
Last spring, Mizzou entered and left spring ball with questions about how it would replace its top four defensive ends. The Tigers seemed to have a couple of answers, one of which included moving Darius Robinson from defensive tackle to defensive end during spring ball and then when the spring portal opened up, they'd get Nyles Gaddy formerly of Jackson State to sure up the rotation.
Even then, it took the Tigers well into fall camp for them to feel really comfortable about their defensive end room.
Entering spring ball this year, it was a bit of the same thing. How would the team replace Robinson, a potential first-round pick in this month's NFL Draft, and Gaddy, who was a key contributor off the bench?
One solution was to bring in Young from East Lansing to Columbia to give Johnny Walker another starting-caliber veteran opposite of him.
Young, who is currently ranked as a three-star transfer and the No. 211 overall player in Rivals' transfer tracker rankings, racked up 26 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in 2023.
He also had a PFF College run defense grade of 69.4, a tackling grade of 54.6, and a pass-rush grade of 55.1.
The run defense grade would've been the ninth-best grade among Mizzou defenders last year.
"(I'm) very happy with a couple of the new EDGE pieces that we have in Zion and Darris (Smith)," Missouri defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. "(They're) are going to be very complementary. They figured some things out pretty quickly and you start to see some of the physical tools that they have."
Batoon and EDGE coach Brian Early believe Young could also fit into the "Joker" role that they want to re-introduce.
Essentially, a "Joker" is an EDGE who can rush the passer but is capable of taking on some coverage responsibilities as well.
The Tigers have done a little bit of this over the past couple of seasons with Isaiah McGuire, Trajan Jeffcoat and Walker but they didn't have too much success.
However, the versatility that Young and his fellow edge rushers makes the team think they can revisit the role.
The feeling coming out of fall camp is that Young has a decent chance to start opposite of Walker, and at the least, be in the rotation.
When you combine the addition of Young with the addition of Smith and a strong signing class that includes five-star Williams Nwaneri, the Tigers feel like are sitting pretty entering fall camp at EDGE.
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