Missouri has been active in the transfer portal, but still needed fill some holes on defense coming out of the weekend. On Tuesday, the Tigers went out and got a potential starter and one of the top-10 players still available in the portal.
Per multiple reports, Mizzou has received a commitment from Ole Miss cornerback Chris Graves Jr. He was the No. 13 overall cornerback in the portal and the top defensive back still available.
Graves will have just one year of eligibility left, but he'll be an instant boost to the Tigers cornerback room that lost almost every major contributor from 2025.
Tigers get a lot better in the secondary with late portal addition
After losing Toriano Pride Jr., Drey Norwood and Stephen Hall, Missouri was in desperate need of re-tooling their secondary. Before the transfer portal even opened, head coach Eli Drinkwitz openly admitted, accidentally or not, that cornerback was a top priority for them. Now, they've added a ton of new talent and an experienced starter with Graves.
At 6-foot, Graves marks yet another lengthy defensive back that has been added to the Tigers secondary this offseason. JaDon Blair is 6-foot-5, Sione Laulea is 6-foot-4, Jahlil Florence is 6-foot-1
and Elijah Dotson is 6-foot-1. Whether intentional or not, Mizzou has added some serious size to the back end, and it should be fun to see some of these players high-pointing some balls in the air.
With the addition of Graves, the Tigers now have the No. 23 ranked transfer class in the country according to 247 Sports. Really, all that is still missing is an edge player who can come in and compete right away for a starting role. Former Tiger Damon Wilson II is still in the portal, but it feels very unlikely he returns to Columbia.