Missouri Football: Tigers add 4 star DT, Jordan Elliott, from Texas
On Saturday, four star defensive tackle, Jordan Elliott, announced his intention to transfer from the University of Texas, to Missouri in 2017.
Elliott, who played for the Longhorns in 2016, had an unremarkable season as a freshman. He played in six games where he recorded eight tackles; one-and-a-half for loss.
While Elliott’s season was unremarkable, it wasn’t for lack of trying. The true freshman suffered a medial collateral ligament tear during what was turning into his most successful game against Iowa State last fall.
What Elliott brings to Mizzou is size, speed, more talent, and added depth. Unfortunately, he will be ineligible to play this fall, so we won’t see him on the field until 2018, due to NCAA transfer rules.
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Elliott is listed at 6′ 4″, and 318 pounds. He had also considered playing for Florida, South Carolina, and Texas A&M.
Probably one of the biggest reasons he chose Missouri, was due to the fact that his positional coach from Austin, Brick Haley, will coach him at Mizzou.
An added bonus to Elliott’s decision to play for Missouri is the Tigers’ recent string of success at putting defensive linemen in the NFL – many in the first round of the NFL Draft.
In a recent interview with Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Elliott stated that the SEC offers a higher level of play, and Missouri has produced some really good defensive linemen.
"Looking at the statistics and how over the years Missouri has been producing some really good D-linemen, first-round picks every year consecutively, so you know they’re doing good things. Also, the SEC is a higher level of play. Why not push myself to compete?"
Even though Elliott won’t play in 2017, he is a great addition for 2018. It also gives him a full year to rehab his MCL injury, learn the Missouri defense, and build a rapport with his new teammates and the coaching staff.