A post-spring football game look at Missouri Tigers’ most crucial position battles

The Missouri Tigers lost 14 key contributors from a 2023 squad that went 11-2, and spring football offered a first glimpse at their plans for the 2024 season.

Before spring practices started, we identified five crucial position battles that stood above the rest.

With Missouri’s Black & Gold game wrapping up the Tigers’ spring schedule on Saturday, here’s how they’re shaping up:

Missouri football has ongoing position battle at running back

With star tailback Cody Schrader off to the NFL, transfers Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll seem to have cemented their positions ahead of in-house talents Tavorus Jones and Jamal Roberts.

Both were on separate teams for the Tigers’ spring game, but Noel and Carroll took first-team reps.

It’s possible that Noel or Carroll could lock down the featured-back job between now and the Aug. 31 season opener, but MU’s coaches aren’t ruling out a by-committee option.

“We could be running back by committee,” running backs coach Curtis Luper said. “It could be whatever our players determine it to be, because they’re the ones that are going to really dictate to us who plays and how much they play.

“So we have an open mind about it. We had an open mind last fall. If you would have asked me this time last year, I had no idea that the year would turn out the way it did.”

Luper said the dynamic of Noel’s speed and pass-catching ability combined with Carroll’s strength between the tackles reminds him of the thunder-and-lightning tandem of Larry Rountree and Tyler Badie in 2020.

Linebackers

Head coach Eli Drinkwitz wasted no time in declaring that Missouri is sticking with its 4-2-5 defensive alignment.

That means it’s likely Chuck Hicks and Triston Newson will reprise the roles they played in Missouri’s 14-3 Cotton Bowl win against Ohio State.

But Miami transfer Corey Flagg has made a strong impression during his introduction in Columbia.

“(Flagg’s) a stud, man,” MU linebackers coach DJ Smith said. “High football intelligence, really good guy, really good motor. He’s a man’s man (and) a great leader for the room.”

After Missouri’s first scrimmage of the spring on March 8, wide receiver Theo Wease identified Flagg as someone who’s always around the ball.

Soon-to-be redshirt sophomore Brayshawn Littlejohn started alongside Hicks for the Black team during Saturday’s spring game and appears to be the next man up after Flagg.

Defensive end

Perhaps the most interesting positional development of Missouri’s spring practice period is the introduction of the “joker”.

Missouri envisions this position playing opposite a traditional defensive end, lining up on the side closest to the sideline.

Cotton Bowl defensive MVP Johnny Walker Jr. is slated to occupy the role. First-year defensive ends coach Brian Early said Joe Moore III and Georgia transfer Darris Smith will also play some joker.

Michigan State transfer Zion Young was quarterback Brady Cook’s first defensive pick of the intrasquad spring game draft and is making noise at the traditional defensive end spot.

“Every play feels like (Young’s) first rep,” Cook said. “And you can feel that pre-snap — you can feel obviously post-snap. So you know he’s a dude for sure. (He’s) high motor. He’s disrupting plays. He’s in the backfield.”

Cornerback

Dreyden Norwood was expected to be the guy to beat among MU’s cornerbacks, and he’s done nothing to dispel that notion this spring.

“Norwood’s a dog. He’s been a dog since last year when I would go against him,” Wease said. “I think he’s definitely emerged as the top guy in the room.”

The question entering spring practice was who would join Norwood in replacing the NFL-bound duo of Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. Marcus Clarke and Clemson transfer Toriano Pride are the top two candidates, and Pride stood out at Saturday with an interception on a Cook jump-ball to Joshua Manning.

Backup quarterback

Brett Brown emerged this spring as the top internal option to back up Cook, and he started for the gold team in Saturday’s spring game.

“I do think Brett Brown is a guy who’s made the most of his opportunities,” Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said recently. “He has to continue to do that, but he’s made some big throws the last couple practices.”

Brown will have competition for the backup spot after the Tigers landed Arizona State transfer Drew Pyne in the transfer portal. Pyne also played 11 games for Notre Dame in 2022, throwing for 2,021 yards and 22 touchdowns with six interceptions.

The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.