Post-spring breakdown: Quarterbacks
Missouri concluded its spring football practices with the Black and Gold scrimmage on Saturday. Before settling in for the summer and shifting our focus forward to fall camp, we will take a look back at what we learned during the spring for each position group, as well as where the depth chart currently stands. We begin, of course, with the quarterbacks.
DEPTH CHART
1. Kelly Bryant, Sr.
2. Taylor Powell, RS-So. OR
2. Lindsey Scott Jr., Jr.
4. Connor Bazelak, Fr.
5. Shawn Robinson, Jr. (not eligible this season)
THE SKINNY
Since he announced his intention to transfer from Clemson to Missouri in December, the starting quarterback position has been and continues to belong to Kelly Bryant. Bryant only added to the hype surrounding his senior season by showcasing his accuracy and mobility during the Black and Gold game. Bryant completed each of his first eight passes, albeit against the third-team defense. He may not have the arm talent of former starter Drew Lock, but Bryant’s running ability should compliment running back Larry Rountree III, and the coaching staff has spoken highly about his ability to digest the playbook. Head coach Barry Odom even said more of the offense has been installed now than at the end of spring practices a year ago.
Behind Bryant, the backup spot is a bit murky. Taylor Powell served as the No. 2 quarterback behind Lock a season ago, and he was listed as Bryant’s backup on Missouri’s depth chart to open spring practice, but Odom said after the spring game he wouldn’t feel comfortable naming either Powell or Lindsey Scott Jr. as the primary backup to Bryant yet. The Tiger coaching staff will hope it won’t matter. If Saturday is any indication, there is a pretty steep drop-off between Bryant and his backups.
Incoming freshman Connor Bazelak will arrive on campus in June, but is expected to redshirt this season. Shawn Robinson will sit out this year after transferring to Missouri from TCU, then will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
SPRING TAKEAWAY
As stated above, the primary takeaway is that Bryant better not get hurt. Even though the playcalling was admittedly vanilla Saturday, it appears that offensive coordinator Derek Dooley will tailor his offense to Bryant’s strengths, with a healthy dose of run-pass option plays and roll-out passes. The two backups, and especially Powell, don’t quite match Bryant’s skillset. Plus, while Bryant appeared accurate Saturday, Powell largely struggled against the same unit of reserve defenders. A pair of late, long passes to Kam Scott helped pad his stats, but Powell completed just 10 of 20 passes with one touchdown and one interception. Bottom line: Based off spring practices, we are not yet ready to declare that Bryant will live up to the considerable hype or carry Missouri to 10 wins this season, but it’s obvious he’s far and away Missouri’s best option at quarterback.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
The primary concern will be how well Bryant continues to build chemistry with Dooley and his offensive teammates. But since it will be difficult to get a sense of progress on that front until the season begins on August 31, we will keep an eye on the competition between Powell and Scott to serve as Bryant’s top backup. It’s still possible one of the two could transfer, too, which would provide the answer for us.
QUOTABLE
Head coach Barry Odom, on Kelly Bryant’s learning the playbook:
“I think right now we probably have maybe a little bit more in than we had last year at this time. He’s got a high football IQ and he wants more, but also we’ve gotta make sure that the balance there is let’s do what we can be good at, and not try to just throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks.”
Offensive coordinator Derek Dooley on Bryant:
“Certainly when you have a new quarterback who is just now getting dropped on campus, that’s a work in progress. I was pleased. You could really see Kelly improving. He really had his best week the last week so that’s encouraging as you roll into the summer.”
Odom on the backups:
“Taylor and Lindsey battled all spring, and if you go back and look at the entire body of work, both made a lot of improvement, did some good things. We’ve gotta get that sorted out and kind of see how it goes. It would be foolish to think that Kelly is going to take every snap of the season, so the thing that both of them have done, they’ve made progress and I feel good about we’ve got (the backup) on our roster, now we’ve gotta find out really which one it is. I wouldn’t feel a right, truthful answer if I sat here and said, hey, if we were going to play this week, this is our backup.”