5/8/2023 football Edit

Ten Thoughts for Monday Morning presented by Will Garrett

Gabe DeArmond • PowerMizzou

Publisher

Gabe has covered the Tigers for PowerMizzou.com since August of 2003 and been the site's publisher since 2006.

1) Let's start off with the good news because we all know message boards to be a beacon of optimism. Missouri picked up two football commitments in the span of 15 minutes on Saturday afternoon at positions of major need. First came Jackson State defensive end Nyles Gaddy who took an official visit this weekend. He was followed by Houston offensive lineman Cam'Ron Johnson, who is slated to move to center for the Tigers as things stand right now.

For whatever it matters, Missouri now has 82 players slated to be on scholarship next season. There are three scholarship spots remaining. Missouri could use another offensive lineman (though it's not an absolute necessity), could use a tight end (though we don't really know of any it is pursuing) and will likely look at a running back (there are currently only four on scholarship and two are freshmen) and could still potentially bring in another defensive lineman.The roster is mostly set, but not completely. There are the potential additions above and grad transfers can enter the portal at any time so it's not out of the question that someone on the current roster would choose to leave. However, moving to another school this late in the process might be tough if you're not already in the portal because most teams will pretty much have their rosters set.

2) Johnson's addition to the offensive line is massive. Eli Drinkwitz was pretty forthright in spring football that the offensive line wasn't good enough and specifically the center position was lacking. Johnson is the likely starter at that spot if things go as planned. Some will say it's not an ideal plan to be moving a guard to center to shore up the line, especially in May. And it may not be ideal. But it's also not impossible. Mitch Morse didn't come to Missouri as a center, he's doing just fine. Connor McGovern played three positions on the line at Missouri and none of them were center...now he's an eight-year veteran in the NFL as a center. This is hardly unprecedented.

So if we slate Johnson at center, we know Javon Foster is going to play left tackle. The other candidates to start are Xavier Delgado, E.J. Ndoma-Ogar, Armand Membou and Marcellus Johnson. Johnson is a tackle and ideally will start at RT. However, that's the spot Membou played last year as well. Membou certainly could move inside and displace one of the other two at one of the guard spots. But we'd expect three of those four to start with the sixth as the primary backup offensive lineman. We've heard great things about redshirt freshman Valen Erickson and there's a lot of optimism for Tristan Wilson as well. Here's our best guess at a two-deep:

LT: Foster/Erickson

LG: Delgado/Wilson

C: C. Johnson/Connor Tollison

RG: Membou/Ndoma-Ogar

RT: M. Johnson/Membou

3) With Gaddy coming in, Missouri adds another option on the edge, which became a little more important when Arden Walker entered the portal.

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