New look Missouri Tigers defense doesn’t want to pick up where it left off
The 2020 season, as complicated as it was for all college football teams, was breaking nicely for Missouri after eight games.
A three-game winning streak, punctuated by a stirring walk-off triumph over Arkansas, pushed the Tigers to 5-3 and thinking New Year’s Day bowl game.
The final two contests put a pin in those plans. Mizzou surrendered 100 points and more than 1,000 total yards in losses to Georgia and Mississippi State.
The late defensive crash put a damper on a season that exceeded expectations under first-year coach Eliah Drinkwitz. Now comes the promise of an improved unit shaped by new coaches, some personnel and approach that gets its first test in Saturday’s opener when Central Michigan visits Faurot Field. Kickoff is 3 p.m.
Unknowns abound for the Tigers. But no fear of the unknown, first-year defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said.
“I definitely think it’s an unknown,” Wilks said. “I really don’t like to use the word fear, because when you have the proper preparation, that eliminates fear. And we’re trying to do everything we can to prepare these guys the right way, so when they step on the field they’re very confident.”
Wilks returns to the college sideline — and he’ll be stationed there and not in the press box on game days — after not coaching last year and spending the previous 14 years in the NFL, including one as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
He’s favored a base 4-3 defense, but in his final NFL season, as the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator in 2019, the Browns operated out of the base less than any NFL team. Look for the Tigers to run a 4-2-5, with five defensive backs.
“I feel very comfortable with the scheme that we’re trying to install,” Drinkwitz said. “I feel like our defense is very comfortable in what we’re asking them to do and the rules or adjustments that they have. But we haven’t been tested by fire yet. We haven’t had the adversity of being down or given up points on a scoreboard. We’re gonna have to see how all that comes together.”
Safety Martez Manuel sees plenty of changes from last year’s scheme under Ryan Walters.
“It’s a different defense in a very good way,” Manuel said. “It’s a lot more schematic, a lot more disciplined defense, I believe, a lot more NFL-style defense. We’ve been preaching physically and effort all off season.”
The major losses losses are at linebacker — Nick Bolton became a second-round draft pick of the Chiefs — and safety. Tyree Gillespie and Joshuah Bledsoe also were NFL draft picks.
But Missouri returns established players like defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat, who recorded six sacks in an All-SEC 2020 season. He leads what might be the team’s strongest position group, along with ends Isaiah McGuire and Chris Turner.
The interior is anchored by Kobie Whiteside, a breakout star in 2019 with 6 1/2 sacks who battled injuries last season.
Transfers help fill out the back end.
Linebacker Blaze Alldredge twice was named team MVP at Rice and was a two-time All-Conference USA selection and finished second nationally in tackles for loss with 22 in 2019.
Among the cornerbacks are Allie Green IV and Akayleb Evans, who were teammates at Tulsa last season. They transferred to Missouri soon after their position coach Aaron Fletcher was hired by Drinkwitz.
Green and Evans could have declared for the NFL Draft but elected to use the additional season provided by the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re expected to be among several to get snaps in the secondary.
A leader on the defensive side? Manuel was elected by teammates as one of three captains. He collected 64 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks and five pass deflections last season.
“Last year on game days I was a lot more to myself, locked in,” Manuel said. “This year I’m going to have to be more of that vocal leader, talk to my teammates, get them ready mentally. I don’t think I’ll be a hoo-rah guy...but I’m going let my guys know that everything I do on Saturdays is for them.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 11:52 AM.