SOTC Update: Missouri Tigers

This is the State of the Chart update for Eli Drinkwitz' Missouri Tigers.

Feb 11, 2025

State of the Chart™ Recap Edition

Live All-In Ranking: 17th
Offense: 15th
Defense: 20th
2024 Results: 10-3 (5-3 in SEC)

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|||||| STATE OF THE CHART™ SUMMARY

Eli Drinkwitz’ program was at a crossroads heading into the 2023 season. They have since responded with back-to-back double-digit wins seasons. This 2024 version feels a bit underwhelming after coming in with some big expectations and a schedule that seemed friendly-enough to make a run at the first 12-team College Football Playoff. It ended with a feeling that the Tigers just weren’t quite up to snuff when it came time to compete on the big road stages in the SEC. They were manhandled by both Texas A&M and Alabama on the road. And, even though, they ended up with those ten wins, the advanced metrics point to that being a mirage with two wins in particular that should have went the other way. “Coach Drink” is becoming quite adept at this transfer portal game as he has done a fine job bringing in needed talent early in the off-season to offset a bunch of impact losses. Overall, the kids are thinking its cool to play for Mizzou, and that’s where you want to be. As long as the talent continues to run through Columbia and there is cohesion with the coaching staff, double-digit win seasons can become the new normal under Drinkwitz at Mizzou. And, that’s a great place to be.

|||||| HEAD COACH AND COACHING STAFF

Eli Drinkwitz has done a remarkable job at Mizzou and is now fully entrenched with a vision to continue to keep the program moving forward. He is combining strategic portal additions with solid recruiting classes and making solid hires at the coordinator positions. He has the program on the radar as a top destination despite its relative smaller stature to the top of the SEC. 2025 should be no different.

Coaching Staff Notes/Changes:

Drinkwitz hired linebackers coach Derek Nicholson away from Miami after the Hurricanes landed Corey Hetherman (Minnesota) as their new defensive coordinator. The move was unsurprising as Nicholson, who had spent two seasons in Miami, as Hetherman is/was most likely to take on coaching the linebackers.

Note: This is a “dynamic” article; meaning we will update any information that comes in this “off-season” and post a note when impactful moves are made or news breaks.

|||||| 2024 SCHEDULE / RESULTS ANALYSIS

The Tigers didn’t leave Columbia until week six when they traveled to College Station. And, it looked like it. They were wide-eyed and fell behind early without much of a chance in that one at any point. They snuck by both Boston College (deserved the win) and Vanderbilt (did not deserve the win) before the bye ahead of that trip to Texas A&M. The Auburn game was another mirage according to post-game win expectancy (PGWE) as the visiting Tigers had a chance to put that one away. Then, the trip to Tuscaloosa had this team looking like little brothers to the SEC’s biggest and baddest. They took the bye week to calm the nerves and still realized that with a win-out, despite a relative easy schedule by SEC standards, they could have an outside shot at sneaking in the CFP. They snuck by OU before the loss to South Carolina in Columbia (SC) ended any distant hopes. They finished up with solid wins over some of the doormats of the SEC in Mississippi State and Arkansas before beating Iowa in a bowl game. There you go. Ten wins (again) for the Tigers.

As mentioned earlier, this was considered the easiest of the schedules you could ask for in the SEC and the Tigers did not take full advantage. They also didn’t deserve ten wins according to deserved wins (dWIN) metric, which had them at 7.5 mainly driven by the “lucky” wins and a +8 turnover margin.

||||||| POSITION GROUP CHECK-INS

OFFENSE: Offensive coordinator Kirby Moore did a solid job extracting some good numbers and results from a pretty talented offense. The offensive line was one of the better run blocking units and he deployed a two-headed monster at running back with solid efficiency between Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll. Veteran quarterback Brady Cook was good again before an injuries slowed him towards the end of the season. Things could have been better had they not stalled out and settled for so many field goals. They finished at 28.9 points per game (55th in FBS). There is a lot of talent leaving the program and this staff has done a fine job reloading with new, fresh faces. This will be the test for the offensive staff to have it all mold together and at least stay within a similar production level in 2025.

||| QB

Brady Cook was a great Missouri Tiger for his three seasons starting. He overachieved from what was expected but also set a standard for what is expected from this position in an Eli Drinkwitz offense. They bring in Beau Pribula from Penn State to “compete” for a starting job with Drew Pyne who is set to return and was called into action when Cook suffered an injury late. This is very likely Pribula’s job to lose. Sam Horn was once thought of as the up-and-coming prospect here, but his focus is turning to baseball. It is now Matt Zollers who will take up that title as he comes in the ‘25 class and fits the mold.

||| RB

The loss of the duo of Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll will sting, but Drink brings in prized portal pick-up Ahmad Hardy from ULM. He’s likely to take on a lead role. Losing Kewan Lacy to Ole Miss via the portal does hurt as he would have been a great compliment. Jamal Roberts is likely to play second-fiddle and this offense isn’t afraid of a bellcow if that is the role Hardy plays himself in to. Having multiple backs contributing and staying fresh is always the plan A.

||| WR

It will be tough to replace the duo of Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr. who accumulated 121 catches for over 1,550 yards and 10 touchdowns. Though, Marquis Johnson appears set to take on a “go to” role if the bowl game against Iowa was any indication (7 catches for 122 yards and one TD). Joshua Manning will also be expected to take on a larger role, but they also hit the portal to bring in Kevin Coleman (former Louisville/Miss State) to primarily operate out of the slot and provide a reliable target for Pribula. Other internal candidates should also emerge and while there will be a step back, this group should remain solid.

||| TE

Brett Norfleet has emerged as the top tight end in this room. He’s a reliable pass catcher but is certainly not dominant at this point. He also shows well in pass protection when needed to play a role there. Jordon Harris should return as the backup and see plenty of snaps. He is more of a quality blocker in both the run/pass games. Tyler Stephens is graduating. They hit the portal to bring in Vince Brown II as an option to backup Norfleet and provide depth but he is unlikely to play a major role.

||| OL

This was one of our highest rated (10th) offensive lines in terms of pure talent. Led by right tackle Armand Membou, who now heads to the NFL a year early. RG Cam’Ron Johnson came over from Houston for his final year, as did Marcus Bryant (SMU). Those three are big losses. Keeping LG Cayden Green and C Connor Tollison around is important. They will lose a key backup/part-timer in Mitchell Walters as well. They hit the portal to bring in two new bookends, Keagen Trost (Wake Forest) and Johnny Williams IV (West Virginia). Both will be slight downgrades, but do provide experienced (more so in Trost’s case) players to those important positions on the line.

DEFENSE: Corey Battoon took over as defensive coordinator in 2024, following the Blake Baker successful run. He did a fine job despite a lot of talent leaving the program. They allowed 20.4 points per game (20th in FBS). It was their success on third downs, getting off the field that really helped keep opposing offenses suppressed this season. The Tigers held opponents to just a 30.2% success rate on third downs this season. They came up with stops when they needed them and ended up fielding another solid unit.

||| DL

Johnny Walker Jr. developed into a sack master for this squad, racking up ten of them in 2024 and becoming the leader of this group. Zion Young and Chris McClellan played important roles and everybody seemed to chip in well on run stopping as well. The rotation went pretty deep with nine players playing in double-digit games. Walker Jr. is leaving early for the NFL and Williams has run out of eligibility. They hit the portal for reinforcements, that includes Nate Johnson (Appalachian State) and Damon Wilson II (Georgia) and they should remain a driving force on this side of the ball.

||| LB

Corey Flagg was the leader of this group from his middle linebacker spot. He developed into a solid overall player, mainly staying home and focusing on stopping ball carriers. Triston Newson is more of an outside linebacker who brought some pressure into the backfield. Khalil Jacobs played that role on the outside. With both Flagg and Chuck Hicks moving on, they addressed the losses via the portal with Mikai Gbayor (Nebraska) and Josiah Trotter (West Virginia) coming in.

||| DB

This ended up a solid group boosted by the emergence of Daylan Carnell playing the STAR role. He did just about everything, other than rush the passer. Two Clemson transfers chipped in with Joseph Charleston as a well above average cover corner and Toriano Pride Jr. solid if not inconsistent. They lose a few pieces, but with Carnell returning and another starter in Dreyden Norwood making his way back, and with the addition of four solid transfers-in, this should again be a solid secondary for the Tigers.

SPECIAL TEAMS: They needed to find a replacement for the “thicker kicker” heading into 2024 and Blake Craig was more than capable as their primary place kicker. Punter Luke Bauer was good (not great) and hit the portal following this season. Daniel Blood split punt return duties with the great Luther Burden III and actually grades out a bit better. It is expected that he’ll return as the primary returner for the 2025 season. A solid, if not, unspectacular group of specialists here.

Reader feedback is requested and encouraged! Who knows these teams better than their passionate fan bases? We don’t pretend to know it all and would love your feedback. We will update/edit based (and credit) for anything that is brought to our attention. Let’s do this together…

|||||| TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER

Drinkwitz is throwing his hat in the ring as a potential “Portal King” this year with some really impressive work being done here to strengthen the roster. Most of the additions are replacements for already high-level players leaving the program. That includes quarterback Brady Cook, who will graduate. They get Beau Pribula from Penn State to “compete” as the new quarterback here. There is little doubt he wins the job and he showed what he could do in limited action replacing Drew Allar at times for the Nittany Lions. The prized pick-up is ULM’s Ahmad Hardy, who seemingly came out of nowhere to put up a monster 1,351-yard season as a true freshman for the Warhawks. The Tigers need new runners with both Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll — the dynamic duo from 2024 — also graduating. They get a high-upside receiver to help ease the losses of both Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr. on the outsides, with Kevin Coleman (former Louisville/Mississippi State) coming in. They didn’t forget about the defensive side of the ball either, bringing in reinforcements at all three levels including DL Nate Johnson (Appalachian State), LB Mikai Gbayor (Nebraska) and DB Jalon Catalon (UNLV). They made a splash, getting unproven but highly-regarded EDGE Damon Wilson II from Georgia. If he lives up to the hype; big things are on the way for Corey Battoon and this defense.

Below is a screen shot of the full, live Transfer Portal Tracker over at CFBDepth.com. Click the image or the button below to view it in its entirety…

Missouri Portal Tracker >

|||||| 2025 RECRUITING CLASS

While a lot of time and effort is put into that transfer class, Drink and company are still getting a solid haul in the 2025 class as well. Mainly focused on some offensive weapons, the highest rated is a defensive lineman named Javion Hilson out of Florida. A consensus four-star recruit, Hilson is an edge defender with room to grow and the early projections have him as an early round draft pick in the future. Mizzou has a history of developing defensive linemen. Quarterback Matt Zollers is out of Pennsylvania and fits the Drinkwitz mold of a signal caller with the athletic ability to improvise and make plays out of the pocket. We saw that a lot from Brady Cook and we should see it again with Beau Pribula. Zollers will be given a chance to learn & develop, but could be the next in-house option at quarterback, ala Cook.

Here is a snapshot of the 2025 Recruiting Class+ with a link to the live page with updates throughout the cycle

Missouri 2025 Recruiting Class+ >

|||||| 2025 SCHEDULE LOOK AHEAD

This is a similar slate to the 2024 version with a couple of early potential landmines with the addition of Kansas and Louisiana. Kansas essentially replaces Boston College and with it being a “rivalry” renewal game it will have some bigger impacts and, well, Kansas will be very good in 2025. They then replace Louisiana, a top Sun Belt team, to replace the sleepy Buffalo game from a year ago. The SEC slate remains the same, but they get Alabama and A&M at home and the toughest road trip will be to The Plains at Auburn and playing in Norman, Oklahoma will be no picnic. This time they don’t leave CoMo until that Auburn game on October 18 (!) with their first six games taking place at Faurot Field.

There is a lot of movement and decisions to be made throughout the off-season, including more portal moves, winter workouts and spring ball. Get all caught up with the full-on State of the Chart Magazine coming in July. If you missed the ad before, get more information and give us your e-mail to stay in the loop on everything SOTC!

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