Mizzou’s cornerbacks are making life hard for MU’s offense — and that’s not a bad thing
After the Missouri Tigers boasted a top-ranked pass defense in 2019, they’re retooling, not rebuilding their secondary.
Mizzou brings back a top safety tandem in seniors Tyree Gillespie and Joshuah Bledsoe, while the third starting safety spot is down to a battle between sophomores Martez Manuel and Stacy Brown.
Even at cornerback, while the Tigers lost talent, they still have some playmakers at that crucial spot in the secondary. Mizzou saw DeMarkus Acy (eligibility) and Christian Holmes (transfer) leave, both of whom played a large role in defending the pass in 2019.
But Mizzou returns junior Jarvis Ware and senior Adam Sparks, players firmly entrenched in the two-deep depth chart last season. They’re the seasoned veterans in the MU cornerbacks room — but the talent doesn’t stop there.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys, got great competition,” MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz said of the cornerbacks. “Only thing better than a little competition is a lot of competition. There’s a lot of competition in that room, really good players. ... They whipped our tail pretty good, a lot of reason to be excited.”
The Tigers brought in some intriguing true freshmen into the mix at corner: Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and Jaylon Carlies. Mix in some Ish Burdine, a redshirt freshman who missed nearly all of last year, and the cornerbacks crops should be formidable this fall. And they’re already making some noise while breaking up passes in practice.
A typical practice goes like this: As Sparks and Ware go through their reps, the younger guys soak in all the tips and tricks they can.
“They’re just looking up to the older guys and they just got the will to work,” Ware said. “Whatever the older guys do, they take it and try to put it in real-life game situations when we scrimmage. Also their attitude and their hunger, all of them.”
By all accounts at practice so far, whoever lines up at cornerback has been making life difficult for Drinkwitz’s offense and the Tigers’ wide receivers. MU defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said earlier in camp that he believes Mizzou’s cornerbacks group can be even better than last year based on depth and talent.
“Acy did a lot of good things for us really the last four years,” Walters said. “But I like our younger guys. Those guys, I think, will have a chance to be really special. ... But I like their maturation, I like what Coach (David) Gibbs is doing.”
The Tigers lost a lot when Acy left for a shot in the NFL. He was a starter at cornerback for the past three seasons and was voted captain in 2019. But Ware and Sparks are stepping forward as resident upperclassmen.
Ware admitted he “never really expected to be looked at as a leader,” but now that he’s one of the older guys, the junior said he’s leaned on Acy’s advice from last year. Sparks said he tries to lead by example, adding that “leadership is more action than words.”
“(Acy) basically taught me, like, self-control,” Ware said. “How to talk to other people that’s on your team. Not to come at it in the wrong way, but how to talk to them. It’s not about what you said, it’s how you talk to people. Also understanding the game of football. The aspects of the game.”
The Tigers’ cornerbacks enjoy the luxury of having mostly the same coaching staff they had last season despite the coaching change at the top. Drinkwitz retained Walters and secondary coach Gibbs. Mizzou finished sixth in the nation in passing yards allowed last season, even with some bumps (against Wyoming) and bruises (vs. Tennessee) along the way.
“I definitely think we have a big leap to take,” Sparks said. “Everybody’s mindset is different before the preseason based on the COVID-19 situation.
“I feel like we have more time to stay together, stay with the coaches and fixing them things that we didn’t fix before last year. ... I feel like we can have a huge year if we decided to — it’s all on us.”