Spring Stories to Watch

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Barry Odom saved everyone the charade of pretending there's a competition at quarterback when he said the graduate transfer from Clemson was his starting quarterback. While Bryant's got a heck of a pedigree, he's also a significantly different quarterback than Drew Lock. Derek Dooley came into a largely plug and play offensive system a season ago. There were definite changes, but a lot of what Missouri did under Josh Heupel remained. We're likely to see more changes this season in a system that will be tweaked to fit what Bryant does well and minimize his weaknesses. Also, who is Bryant's backup and which of the quarterbacks are still around when fall camp opens?

The Tigers got a big boost when Albert Okwuegbunam opted to return for his senior season. He'll be the starter when Missouri travels to Wyoming on the last day of August. But he is going to be limited in spring football (still recovering from a very severe "day to day" shoulder injury) so we'll get to learn quite a bit about the guys behind him. Does Daniel Parker take on a more diverse role in the offense or is he still a blocker 95% of the time? How ready is redshirt freshman Messiah Swinson? He was making plenty of noise last fall camp before a torn ACL that forced him into a redshirt season. And what to make of Brendan Scales, who drew rave reviews from Odom for his work in the offseason. Kendall Blanton has moved on, but the Tigers might be deeper at tight end this season than they were last.

Missouri has plenty of bodies, but a lot of unknowns on the defensive front. Akial Byers is going to start somewhere, but who knows where? Odom said he can play all four positions on the line. Common sense says he'll be at defensive end because Missouri doesn't have a lot of proven depth there, but he'll move inside at times too, probably mostly on third down. Jordan Elliott is going to start at one of the tackle positions. The other spot is wide open with Kobie Whiteside and Chris Daniels as the leading contenders. At the other defensive end spot, Chris Turner begins spring ball as a starter, but his production has to vastly increase from the first two seasons. He should get a strong push from sophomores Trajan Jeffcoat and Jatorian Hansford.

Missouri's coaches talked about Nick Bolton in nearly reverential tones last August. But once the season started, Bolton didn't see that much action. Part of that was due to Missouri's experience at linebacker. Bolton will enter spring as the starter on one side of Cale Garrett. On the other side, Gerald Nathan Jr. opens spring ball as the starter. Cameron WIlkins (middle) and Chad Bailey (outside) fill out a four-man class that the coach staff raved about last year. The playing time for those two will likely be more limited this season, but both should be factors on special teams and could work their way into the rotation. Wilkins or Jamal Brooks will be the apparent when Cale Garrett is done after this year.

It's easy to argue that if nothing changed other than having average special teams, Missouri would have been a 10 or 11-win team last season. Outside of Corey Fatony's punts, the Tigers weren't particularly good at anything on special teams. The coverage units weren't very good, the return units weren't very good, Tucker McCann was still up and down kicking the ball, Missouri allowed all kinds of blocks and committed all kinds of penalties. Oh, the Tigers really couldn't snap the ball very well either. The entire thing needs to do a 180. Odom said this week that Andy Hill is still coordinating the special teams, but everybody on the staff is going to have some input because Odom realizes the urgency of the situation. McCann is currently listed as the starting punter, but it's very unlikely that's the case come next fall. Josh Dodge should get that spot. Return positions and long snapper should be wide open. And this is a great time for young players to lay a claim to playing time by doing well on the protection and coverage units.