Five Mizzou Spring Football Stories to Watch

As Mizzou begins spring football practice this coming week, it’s been just over two months since the team’s 27-17 Gasparilla Bowl loss to Wake Forest. Since then, players have moved out, while others have moved in. A handful of players declared for the NFL draft, while some others decided they wanted one more go at Columbia.

There are several storylines coming into spring football practice and the Black & Gold spring football game on March 18th, but here we’re going to highlight the five storylines we think are the most important.

Going into spring football, it seemed that way Sam Horn and transfer to Miami Jake Garcia would be jockeying for a spot in the team’s quarterback competition, while last season’s starter, Brady Cookis recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right throwing shoulder.

Now, it appears Garcia likely has a chance to get a leg up on both after Horn left the Missouri baseball game with discomfort in his right pitching arm after throwing 25 pitches in 1 1/3 innings against Florida International on Saturday.

“Obviously he felt something,” the Missouri baseball coach Steve Bieser said after the game. “We have to get him out. Right now I really don’t want to say anything. We really don’t know.”

Of course, this changes things if Horn has to miss some or all of spring football.

Since Horn was in the system last season, he likely had a leg up on Garcia in first-team reps. Now, with practice starting next week, Garcia will likely be at the helm with the first teams as the JUCOs transition Dylan Laibleas well as others walk Brett Brown and Tommy Lock, male second and third team representatives.

This was already supposed to be the No. 1 story if all three quarterbacks were healthy, but now that one is out indefinitely and the other’s spring football availability is uncertain, this becomes something that could affect the Tigers’ fall camp plans.

The most important position on the offensive line is the blindside tackle, which is typically the left tackle for a right-handed quarterback. Mizzou has a left Tackle Javon Foster returns, and now likely has his right tackle spot in former Eastern Michigan coverage Marcellus Johnson coming to the village.

Johnson, who started more than 30 games for the Eagles at left tackle, will likely be in the driver’s seat to be the team’s new starting right tackle to begin spring football.

So Mizzou’s bookends are in place, but the questions at left guard, center and right guard remain.

Connor Tollison struggled mightily at center all season and was matched up with right guard Mitchell Walters most penalties among returning players in 2023 with seven. Tollison also had to be helped off the field in the first half of the bowl game, so it’s unclear how bad the injury was and what his condition is.

I think Polgar transferred to Mizzou from Buffalo last year but was ruled ineligible for the season by the NCAA. It’s very possible that Polgar will start as the starting center on the springboard, so that may be an easier short-term fix than the guard spots, but it’s still something to consider.

Polgar and all the other inside linemen have yet to earn their spot in the rotation, as it’s possible that when the transfer portal reopens on the 1st-15th. May, the Tigers may still be looking for inside linebackers.

At left guard, Xavier Delgado is probably still penciled in as the Tigers’ starter with 30+ starts at that position, so obviously his experience works in his favor, but experience doesn’t equate to good play. He knows what he needs to do and has manned the position to Foster’s right for some time, but it’s hard to imagine his position as a starter being secure.

EJ Ndoma-Ogar pitched well in his first start at South Carolina before getting injured early the following week against Kentucky. If healthy, he might be able to compete for the left guard spot alongside Luke Griffinwho started the lone game Delgado missed last season against Abilene Christian.

Armand Membou played well at right tackle last season, but could be better on the inside and could root for position battles alongside Walters for the starting right guard spot. Valen Erickson, Ma’Kyi Lee, Curtis Peagler and or Tristan Wilson familiarize yourself with these plans.

The Tigers lost three defensive ends in the offseason. Isaiah McGuire and DJ Coleman declared for the NFL Draft Trajan Jeffcoat transferred to Arkansas.

McGuire and Jeffcoat had been mainstays in the starting lineup for the past year and a half to two years, with the former racking up 39 tackles, 13 for a loss, 7.5 sacks and a pair of fumbles in 2022. Jeffcoat, on the other hand, struggled and lost his starting spot to Coleman in Week 11 and never regained it. On the season, Jeffcoat recorded 21 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack, while Coleman had 37 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.

The production totals 97 tackles, 24 for a loss, 13 sacks and five forced fumbles, and will not return in 2023.

Former Arizona State and Cardinal Ritter (MO) defensive end Joe Moore decided to transfer back to his home state to play for the Tigers and looks likely to fill one of the starting spots after posting 24 tackles, six tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks last season. So that’s likely one spot filled, but whoever fills the starting spot on the opposite side of the defensive line is anyone’s guess.

It could be Arden Walker, Johnny WalkerNorthwest shift Austin Firestone, Ian Matthews, Ky Montgomery or defensive tackle Josh Landry who played most of his snaps at defensive end last season.

Remember, the Tigers need to fill not only a starting role, but at least a double role at that position. Aside from Moore, it doesn’t seem like anyone is much better than the others right now.

A similar situation to the Tigers defensive end happened at wide receiver. They lost three starting wide receivers who played a lot of snaps, though none of them declared for the draft, instead entering the transfer portal or using up all of their eligibility.

All-Southeastern Conference second-team wide receiver Dominic Lovett transferred to the reigning national champion Georgia Bulldogs, Tauskie Dove transferred to Memphis and Barrett Bannister eligibility ended after six seasons.

The Tigers still have Luther Burden III from a good rookie campaign as their No. 1 wide receiver. They have too Mookie Cooper, Peanut Houston, Good luck Luper, Mekhi MillerOklahoma transfer Theo Wease and the Ole Miss transfer Danny Jackson.

Luper missed all of last season with an undisclosed medical issue, so his participation would apparently depend on whether he is cleared to participate in football activities.

With the defensive ends, it feels like spring is the time to learn what some of these players can do. The receivers have decent depth at the position and it looks like there is an understanding of what they can do. So now it’s time to see how the head coach So Drinkwitz and offensive coordinator Kirby Moore you want to assemble the puzzle in this place.

Ten receptions for 112 yards and two touchdowns was a combined stat line Tyler Stephens, Kibet Chepyator and Ryan Hoerstkamp last season. Even if the team didn’t want to exploit the tight end in the passing game, 10 receptions in 13 games is quite a few.

It also doesn’t help that Stephens and Chepyator ranked among the worst run blockers on the team. PFF College. Of all the positional battles, this is probably the one that should be the most open.

Chepyator graduated, so he’s out of the lineup, which leaves Stephens, Hoerstkamp, Gavin McKay and Max Whisner at hand. McKay and Whisner were redshirted last season and the team’s four-star signee Brett Norfleet, who is already a pretty good run blocker, is still finishing high school and won’t be in spring football. This position is basically starting from scratch, and it’s unknown if Stephens’ experience will give him a leg up in the eyes of the coaching staff, but that will be in a couple of days.

The Tigers can’t draft a tight end or multiple tight ends in 2023 who don’t consistently make a positive impact in the passing or run blocking game.

This is a race that could easily be broken for the first week. Someone has to stand out and someone has to win the job, but it starts with spring ball first.