The Tigers' spring practices are in full swing, and both staff and players are getting used to seeing dozens of new faces this year.
With over 25 new transfers and a handful of new coaches, Missouri is set to look much different from their 2025 squad. Mizzou has hosted five practices so far, but a lot of the time has been used get familiar with one another and working how to actually practice. Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon gave that as a big reason to why he hasn't noticed an standout performers just yet.
"I mean, nobody in particular," said Batoon when asked if any of the new guys have stuck out to him.
"We're just five days into it, right? I mean, it is, like, how do we take the field? What is tag tempo, and what is thud tempo? All those things. It's learning how to go about doing those things. We spend a lot of time foundationally so we don't have to go back and re-teach those type of things as we get into the ending of spring, in the summer, OTAs. But effort-wise, we've been very happy with regards to that, and understanding how we do things here, and those guys buying into those things. Those are the important things right now."
Mizzou still has a lot of issues to address on defense after losing several key starters
After losing Zion Young to the draft and Damon Wilson II to Miami, all eyes will be on the edge rushers this spring. There's over 15 sacks that left with those two players to try and reproduce, and it's still unclear as to where they might come from. Malik Bryant, CJ May, Jaden Jones and Cavan Tuley are the newest transfers at edge. The Tigers may employ a committee approach, and Batoon emphasized again he's not worried with where that group is right now.
"I think all of them are very eager," he said of the edge rushers. "Right now, five practices in, we're still learning how to do things, right? That's the goal of spring: how do we practice, how do we take the field, how do we leave the field, what's the tempo of the drill, those types of things. Right now, very eager group. Tremendous buy-in thus far. Very happy with the effort."
The Tigers have a lot of questions to answer before fall, so hopefully somebody starts grabbing the coaching staff's attention sooner rather than later.