On Sunday, March 3, Missouri will begin its march toward the 2019 football season with its first spring practice. Each day until then, we will preview the 2019 roster, one position at a time. Today, we take a look at the cornerbacks.
The starters: Senior DeMarkus Acy and junior Christian Holmes closed the 2018 season well, and they figure to be back in the starting spots to begin 2019. Despite a poor showing in the Liberty Bowl, Acy started every game last season and was named to the all-SEC second team. Holmes, who entered the starting lineup midway through last season, led the team with 13 pass break ups and also recorded 36 tackles. It would likely take an injury to one of Acy or Holmes for someone else to crack the starting lineup.
The backups: Aside from Acy, junior Adam Sparks has the most experience of Missouri’s cornerbacks. Sparks worked his way into a starting spot as a true freshman partway through the 2017 season, and he started the first few games of last season as well. However, he eventually saw Holmes take the majority of his workload and then missed the final five games of the season due to injury. Barry Odom characterized Sparks’ injury as “similar to a stress fracture,” and it was severe enough that Sparks had to have a rod inserted into his leg during the offseason, so he will likely be limited in spring practices. Sophomore Jarvis Ware impressed the coaching staff enough that he used up his first year of eligibility a season ago, and he could make a push for playing time. Junior Terry Petry struggled when he saw the field a season ago, but he and redshirt freshman Chris Mills provide the Tigers with some depth in the defensive backfield.
Potential storylines: What will be the pecking order behind Acy and Holmes? Seemingly everyone behind the two returning starters brings a question mark to the table. How will Sparks recover from his injury? Have Ware and Mills progressed since last season? How quickly can the two true freshman (more on them momentarily) adjust to college ball? Missouri will need to use more than two cornerbacks next season, so it will be important to get those players experience during spring ball and determine who can be counted on to play nickleback or spell one of the starters.
Help on the way: Missouri bolstered its secondary in the 2019 signing class, and two cornerbacks are already on campus. Louisiana native Ishmael Burdine and Florida prospect Chris Shearin will both participate in spring practices, which should give them a legitimate shot to carve out a role for the 2019 season, even if it’s largely on special teams.
Spring prediction: Acy and Holmes will maintain their starting spots, but there will be competition for the roles behind them. Sparks, Ware, Burdine and Shearin will all have a shot to earn regular playing time in the defensive backfield, and their roles won’t be determined until fall camp.
Previous positions:
- WDE
- WR
- S
- OT
- RB
- DT
- OLB
- PRO
- OG
- WR
