10/8/2021 football Edit

Transfer Chuck Hicks cleared, immediately eligible

Gabe DeArmond • PowerMizzou

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

A beleaguered Mizzou defense got a bit of good news on Friday afternoon. Linebacker Chuck Hicks, who transferred in from Wyoming on August 26th, has been ruled immediately eligible by the NCAA, he tweeted on Friday evening. A department spokesperson confirmed the ruling to PowerMizzou.com.

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Hicks entered the transfer portal on August 24th. He got a call from Eli Drinkwitz and Steve Wilks that night and took just a couple of days to decide on Mizzou sight unseen.

“They said they needed a linebacker and I was really excited about that," he told PowerMizzou.com at the time. "They talked about how they would coach me and that’s the way I want to be coached. They really kind of made me feel secure about going there since day one.”

Missouri filed a waiver requesting immediate eligibility, but the expectation at the time was that Hicks would have to sit out the season. That reversed course with the news on Friday.

"“I’m coming in to learn playbook and learn the system, coming in to work," Hicks told PowerMizzou.com in August. "Obviously I’d love to play but either way will be okay.”

Hicks had 27 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and an interception in five starts for Wyoming in the shortened 2020 season. He could be eligible as soon as Saturday afternoon's game against North Texas, though there is no word whether he would be ready to play that quickly. But Missouri's defense could certainly use a boost from somewhere.

The Tigers currently rank dead last in the country in run defense, allowing 308 yards per game. They're also 127th out of 130 teams in total defense. Last Saturday was the bottom of the barrel for the struggling unit. Tennessee ran for 458 yards and scored on ten of 11 drives--the lone stop coming inside the one-yard line--on its way to a 62-24 blowout.

The day after the game, Drinkwitz fired defensive line coach Jethro Franklin--who was, ironically, also in on Hicks' recruitment--and replaced him with analyst Al Davis. The defensive line has been problematic for the Tigers, but the linebacker play hasn't been much better. Rice transfer Blaze Alldredge and returning starter Devin Nicholson have played the vast majority of the snaps and combined for 58 tackles, but have had their share of issues. Chad Bailey and Jamie Pettway have gotten limited time as the only reserves.

“I mean, we really wish we were playing five guys at linebacker," Drinkwitz said between the Kentucky and SEMO games. "But the reality of it is, nobody’s stepped up in practice to prove that they deserve the opportunity to play. And that’s just the reality of it. This isn’t open tryouts. The tryouts are on Sunday and Tuesday and Wednesday. And whoever has been playing has shown us on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday that they deserve the opportunity to play. Or they showed it during fall camp. So this isn’t, well, those guys, we’ll just try somebody else. Like I told them, you don’t like your role? Practice better. It’s not like we’re trying to hold anybody back. It’s not like we’re trying not to play the best players. Like, sure, we would love not to give up 340 yards rushing. So other people will play when they can earn the opportunity to play.”

So far, those players have yet to emerge. Whether Hicks can become one is unknown, but on a defense searching for answers, another body can't be bad news. Drinkwitz said on Tuesday that there was no depth chart and playing time would be earned in practice. Neither Wilks nor any defensive players were available to the media this week.

Hicks redshirted in 2018 and has three years of eligibility remaining, including this season.