Spring football preview: Offensive line
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 round out the offense by taking a look at the offensive line.
The starters: Missouri will bring three starters back from an offensive line that performed well the past two seasons. Left tackle Yasir Durant, right guard Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms and center Trystan Colon-Castillo should all start again in 2019. Wallace-Simms earned first-team all-SEC honors from the media a season ago, and Durant as viewed as a likely NFL Draft pick next season. The remaining two spots remain a bit of a mystery. Hyrin White is probably the safest bet to replace Paul Adams at right tackle. White filled in for an injured Durant during Missouri’s Week Three win over Purdue last season and played well. Missouri also added junior college transfer Angel Matute to its roster this offseason, ostensibly to compete for that starting spot. Case Cook played quite a bit at left guard when Kevin Pendleton battled injury last year, so he might get the first crack at starting there in 2019, but he will likely face competition from the likes of Larry Borom and Mike Ruth.
The backups: Borom, mentioned above, can play multiple positions on the offensive line, so he could theoretically compete for either the opening at tackle or guard. The six-foot-six redshirt sophomore played in all 13 games on special teams a season ago. Matute is one of the more intriguing stories on the roster. The former quarterback and tight end believes he has finally found his true position at tackle, but he may need to bulk up in a hurry to contribute for Missouri this year. Ruth redshirted last season, but the coaching staff seemed high on him during fall camp a year ago, so he will likely be given an opportunity to play his way into a starting role. Senior Jonah Dubinski backed up Colon-Castillo at center last season, but it’s possible he could slide over to guard and compete to replace Pendleton. Fellow redshirt freshmen Javon Foster and Xavier Delgado could see action on special teams this season, but both figure to need another year of experience before they’re ready to contribute on offense. The coaching staff likes Foster at tackle and Delgado at guard.
Potential storylines: The biggest thing we’ll be monitoring is who gets the first crack at starting in place of Adams and Pendleton, and who finishes the spring in those spots. The likely candidates to fill those spots are listed above. One other area of concern for the coaching staff is getting the inexperienced players on the offensive line enough reps that they could contribute in case of injury. Missouri has been fortunate in that aspect the past two seasons; not only did the Tigers bring all five o-line starters from 2017 back in 2018, but the line stayed healthy last season, save for brief absences from Pendleton and Durant. As a result, Missouri has lots of bodies on the offensive line, but few aside from the returning starters who have seen game action.
Help on the way: In addition to Matute, Missouri signed three more offensive linemen in its 2019 recruiting class, all of which will arrive on campus over the summer. St. Louis native Jack Buford projects as a likely interior player, while Thalen Robinson and Luke Griffin could play tackle. It would be a surprise to see any of those players see action in more than four games this season.
Spring prediction: White begins the spring atop the depth chart at right tackle, while Cook gets the first crack at left guard. Barring injury, we predict White will shore up a starting role during the spring, but Missouri will enter fall camp with the competition still open for the last starting spot on the line.