Missouri will hold its Black and Gold spring football game at 3:00 this afternoon. The most important thing you need to know is that this is the least important of the 15 spring practices. No overarching conclusions should ever be drawn off of a spring football game.
College football coaches are a special breed of paranoid humans. They all believe that opposing teams are sending enemy scouts dressed up as fans of the home team to video tape the spring game from the stands and spend the next six months dissecting grainy iPhone video for the edge that could turn the tide in a mid-season game. Now that the SEC games are televised (Missouri's in on the ESPNU), that feeling of paranoia has been heightened.
In other words, the action you see on Saturday is not going to in any way be reflective of what you will see during the 2019 regular season. That said, we'll be there and you'll be watching, so here are some things that you should keep your eye on.
What's the new quarterback look like?
The main story for the Tigers this spring and next season is the addition of Kelly Bryant, who is replacing Drew Lock. Again, you shouldn't draw any long-lasting conclusions off what Bryant does tomorrow. You're not going to see the offense he's going to run. Speaking of running, when he takes off, he doesn't have to be tackled so his effectiveness as a runner will be tough to gauge. But, still, it's the first look at Bryant as a (Missouri) Tiger for most of the people who will be there, so how he looks will certainly be noted and dissected.
What's in line behind Bryant?
Taylor Powell is currently the backup quarterback. But he was the backup last year and Missouri brought in a well-regarded freshman and another transfer, which means if the line of succession goes as planned, Powell won't ever be Missouri's starter. Micah Wilson moved to wide receiver, Jack Lowary became a coach and Shawn Robinson can't play this year, so the only other quarterback who might see action during the season who will play in the spring game is Lindsey Scott Jr. It's no secret that SEC quarterbacks tend to get hurt sometimes. If Bryant does, what do the Tigers have behind him to keep the offense's head above water?
Whoever is throwing, can the defense stop him?
If you want to know what happens in an ideal world as a Missouri fan, Bryant looks good and completes a good number of passes, but the defense overall comes out ahead in the matchup and dominates all the backups.
Missouri's pass defense was atrocious last year. That was a result of the combination of no pass rush and poor coverage in the back seven. It's one of the biggest problems the Tigers have to fix to take another step in 2019. Again, you're not going to get definitive answers, but if Bryant and the other quarterbacks are out there throwing for 600 yards on Saturday, it's not going to give many fans the warm fuzzies.
Who steps up at linebacker?
We know Cale Garrett is going to start in the middle. But Terez Hall and Brandon Lee are gone and Missouri is using more of a 4-2-5 lineup as the base formation. Khalil Oliver and Ronnell Perkins will get most of the reps at that hybrid linebacker/safety spot. Replacing Hall, Nick Bolton has drawn repeated praise going back to the fall and as recently as Thursday from Barry Odom. The Tigers have quite a few other young linebackers, notably Jamal Brooks, Aubrey Miller and Cameron Wilkins, who could see significant action in 2019. Will any of them make a splash on Saturday?
Should Missouri ever punt?
Placekicker Tucker McCann entered the spring as the starting punter. Odom said at the beginning that the Tigers needed Josh Dodge to step forward. It doesn't seem like that's happened. A couple of people we talked to after the last closed scrimmage said the punting was a legitimate concern.
Generally, special teams doesn't really go live during the spring game. So we may gain absolutely no knowledge on this one. A better indication might be in the months before fall camp to see if Missouri is scouring the ranks of available players for a punter to add to the roster.
