Missouri football will lose freshman RB to portal. But Tigers added 3 more transfers
Mizzou took another hit in the transfer portal Monday morning when On3’s Hayes Fawcett reported that promising freshman running back Kewan Lacy planned to enter the transfer portal.
In 2024, the true freshman played sparingly behind Nate Noel, Marcus Carroll and Jamal Roberts, but when Lacy did see the field, he showed exciting flashes. He finished the season with 104 yards on 23 carries and appeared in six games for Missouri, meaning he surpassed the four-game redshirt threshold.
In the Tigers’ first two games of the season, against Murray State and Buffalo, Lacy carried the ball 11 times and ran for 69 yards, averaging more than 6 yards per carry.
In 2024, Lacy was a four-star recruit. He was the No. 184 player and No. 16 running back in the class. He chose the Tigers over Ole Miss and Alabama.
Lacy’s decision is one that stings for Missouri. The talented running back was expected to see an increase in his carries in 2025 thanks to the departures of both Noel and Carroll. Roberts, Tavorus Jones and Austyn Dendy are the only three scholarship running backs left on the team’s roster.
Mizzou is hosting former Army running back Kanye Udoh for an official visit Wednesday. The visit was first reported by Rivals the evening before Lacy entered the portal. Udoh ran for 1,117 yards and 10 touchdowns on 179 carries for the Black Knights in 2024.
However, there was some good news for the Mizzou football team...
Missouri lands safety Santana Banner & linebacker Mikai Gbayor
Mizzou added its second and third transfers of the cycle when Northern Illinois safety Santana Banner and Nebraska linebacker Mikai Gbayor reportedly chose the Tigers on Sunday night and Monday afternoon, respectively. They join former Mississippi State wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. in Mizzou’s transfer class.
Gbayor, who signed with Missouri on Monday, is the second-highest-ranked linebacker in the transfer portal behind Oklahoma’s Dasan McCullough. He is also the No. 117 overall player in the portal.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker out of Irvington, New Jersey, redshirted his freshman season in 2021 and did not appear in a game in 2022. Gbayor appeared in all 12 of the Cornhuskers’ games in 2023 and started in four of them. As a redshirt sophomore, Gbayor tallied 24 tackles, three tackles for loss and a half sack.
In 2024, Gbayor was a key piece on Nebraska’s defense, starting in 11 games and finishing the season with 49 tackles, six tackles for loss, one sack, three passes defended and two fumble recoveries.
Gbayor joins an extremely thin linebacker room and will likely slot into a starting role alongside returners Khalil Jacobs and Nicholas Rodriguez. All three of the Tigers’ starting linebackers — Corey Flagg, Triston Newson and Chuck Hicks — are out of eligibility, and redshirt freshman Brayshawn Littlejohn is in the transfer portal.
Banner is a three-star transfer prospect, according to 247Sports, and he received offers from Missouri, Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt and Arkansas before ultimately committing to the Tigers. 247Sports’ PowerMizzou was the first to report the news of his commitment. He has yet to officially sign with Missouri.
A redshirt freshman from Flint, Michigan, Banner entered the transfer portal last Monday after a 2024 season with the Huskies in which he racked up 54 tackles, four passes defended, one interception and one forced fumble. In Northern Illinois’ early September win over No. 5 Notre Dame, the 6-foot-3, 202-pound safety recorded six tackles, five of which came on the Fighting Irish’s first drive of the game.
The impending departures of MU safeties Joseph Charleston and Tre’Vez Johnson leave playing time up for grabs in Mizzou’s secondary, and Banner will be among those competing for snaps. Daylan Carnell, Marvin Burks Jr., Trajen Greco and Caleb Flagg are the other players currently in Missouri’s safeties room with eligibility remaining.
West Virginia linebacker Josiah Trotter picks MU
The Tigers added a fourth transfer later on Monday in West Virginia linebacker Josiah Trotter.
Trotter, the reigning Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year, visited Mizzou on Sunday after entering the portal following the Mountaineers’ dismissal of former coach Neal Brown. The redshirt freshman from Philadelphia is the son of former All-Pro linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, who played 12 seasons in the NFL, and brother of current Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr.
Josiah Trotter racked up 93 tackles (four for loss) and an interception across 12 games in 2024. The 6-foot-2, 238-pounder was ranked as the fifth-best linebacker in the portal.
Copyright 2024 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Missouri football will lose freshman RB to portal. But Tigers added 3 more transfers."