Anchor in the storm: Replacing a Mizzou legend, he solidified the Tigers’ O-line

A ship’s anchor is vital ... yet often unseen.

The weight of an anchor’s work is monumental. Without it, boats and ships would become mechanized jellyfish, and bodies of water would be riddled with vessels floating astray.

But when anchors do their job, they’re underwater, invisible to those who rely on them. They hold down vessels that dwarf them in size. A titanic task - keeping vessels parked - is not only unseen but assumed.

The life of an offensive lineman is similar: plenty of guts, but little glory. Their efforts, while crucial to a team’s success, often go unnoticed. If they touch the ball, something terrible has likely happened. Successes are expected, and mistakes are magnified, as one or two bad reps out of 60 or 70 could equal a poor game.

This isn’t a very appealing job description, and yet Mizzou right tackle Keagen Trost absolutely enjoys it.

“In certain ways, you’re already kind of set up to fail,” Trost said. “You go against dudes that are faster than you, so you have to figure out ways to win, and you can’t lose a lot. If you had one or two bad plays, you had a horrible game. I like that part. If you can put together a whole game and not lose a bunch, that’s satisfying.”

Trost, in his seventh and final season of college football, has been MU’s anchor at right tackle. Replacing Armand Membou, Mizzou’s star right tackle in 2023 and 2024, was going to be a tall task. But Trost quickly won the starting job in the spring after transferring from Wake Forest, and through seven games, he’s been one of the highest-graded offensive linemen in the nation, according to Pro Football Focus.

“To fill in for the No. 7 pick in the (NFL) Draft and really not have us fall off at all,” Drinkwitz said, “has been very impressive.”

Like an anchor, Trost succeeds in silence. The only thing more reserved than him in Columbia might be a weekend dinner at Sycamore. Beneath the surface, Trost has fought battles that haven’t been seen by fans on Saturdays, including a succession of injuries while at Indiana State from 2020-23.

“After all the hardship he went through, he could easily just half-assed practice or the weight room,” said Tyler Funk, Trost’s offensive line coach at ISU. “It was the opposite, to me. His actions spoke louder than his words.”

While Trost has been an anchor for MU, the reverse also is true. Having a stable, successful environment to play has been especially valuable for a player who has floated for his entire college career.

As a standout high schooler in Kankakee, Illinois, Trost received a handful of offers from FCS schools, and he originally committed to Eastern Illinois. But then-EIU coach Kim Dameron’s contract wasn’t renewed after a three-win campaign in 2018, so Trost decommitted.

He thought about going to Iowa Central, a community college about 90 minutes north of Des Moines. But the lack of certainty surrounding the junior college ranks steered him away.

“I didn’t want to risk it,” Trost said. “If you get hurt in JUCO, you could just be stuck there.”

Trost ultimately went to Morgan State, one of the few FCS teams that had offered him. But his stint in Baltimore ended up being short-lived and forgettable. After appearing in just four games for the Bears, Trost entered the transfer portal. He didn’t even remember Morgan State losing to Howard in the last game of the season on a late touchdown.

When looking for another destination, Trost wanted to be closer to home. His mom, Shannon Bell, had been Trost’s anchor his entire life, as her constant presence had held him down. He reached out to Indiana State, which was about a 2½ drive from Kankakee.

Funk and the other ISU coaches looked beyond the lack of recruiting stars. When they actually watched film of Trost, they saw someone who could contribute instantly.

“I always think about the story of Josh Allen when he was coming out of high school. He sent all these emails, and the only one that took a chance on him was Wyoming, and that obviously turned out great for everyone,” Funk said. “It’s not the same, but it also is, because (Trost) had a lot of really good upside based on the tape.”

Trost seemed to have finally anchored down in Terre Haute, but unprecedented events had other ideas. ISU canceled its 2020 season because of COVID, and the following year, Trost got injured, which caused him to miss most of the 2021 season.

Beneath the surface, being away from the field for an extended period of time seemed to wear on Trost.

“It set me back a little bit,” Trost said. “It was actually pretty frustrating.”

The setback, however, simply set the stage for a massive comeback.

“He always attacked the training room like he attacked the practice field,” said Curt Malloy, ISU’s head coach. “He was very consistent in everything he did.”

For Trost, it was the little things that would pay massive dividends. Along with his efforts in the training room, he would watch extra film in between classes. Not only that, but Trost would bring then-freshman Jude McCoskey to watch film with him. McCoskey now plays at Purdue.

Eventually, the process turned into production. In the spring of 2022, with Trost finally healthy again, Funk moved him around the line to see where he fit best, as it was Funk’s first season as offensive line coach. Trost was noticeably the top offensive lineman on the team at stopping defensive linemen one-on-one, and entering the 2022 season, he’d earned the starting left tackle job.

“I made an example out of him all the time, almost to a point where I was beating a dead horse,” Funk said. “I would have a cut-up of his practice and game clips, and I would show them to the rest of the offensive linemen.

“I’d be like, ‘Hey, freshmen,’ or ‘Hey, guys that aren’t playing that think they should be playing. This is what I’m looking for, because a lot of you guys have injuries, and you make excuses, and you don’t see the field because you make excuses.’ Or, ‘You like being in the training room.’ This dude wanted to get out of the training room.”

During the season, Trost became Indiana State’s Swiss Army knife, an anchor in rough seas. While Trost primarily played right tackle, he kicked inside after Jose Velazquez IV, ISU’s standout right guard, went down with a season-ending injury in November. In the ensuing game against Western Illinois, Trost was named the Missouri Valley Football Offensive Lineman of the Week.

“He picked it up so fast,” Funk said. “He mauled people.”

It was also during this time that Trost had to play numerous roles off the field.

Back home, Bell was fighting health issues while Trost’s two older sisters, Mariah and Brianna, had young children they were raising. Trost would occasionally miss workouts to be with his mom or help babysit. His coaches never minded.

Just like in the training room, his work off the field manifested itself in front of coaches. At a community service event in 2023, Trost got a visit from several family members, the reasons he wanted to move closer to home. Funk closely observed Trost and his family interacting with one another.

“They looked at him like he was Superman,” Funk said.

After a successful 2023 campaign in which Trost fought through injuries once again, he transferred to Wake Forest. The decision didn’t catch the Sycamores coaching staff off guard. Just the opposite. Trost had told coaches well in advance that, while he would give his all to Indiana State, he desired a jump to the FBS at some point, especially with multiple years of eligibility remaining because of COVID and injuries.

“It’s not all the time you have that honesty in advance,” Malloy said. “He did exactly that.”

In his lone season with the Demon Deacons, Trost primarily played right tackle. The tape wasn’t squeaky clean (career-high 19 pressures, according to PFF), but when Trost entered the portal once again, Mizzou liked what it saw out of him. Trost transferred to Mizzou in December, hoping to become Membou’s replacement.

While that happened fairly quickly, establishing a strong relationship with his teammates wasn’t as smooth. For someone like Trost, who was quiet and on his fourth school in seven seasons, such a roadblock wasn’t surprising. Over time, however, bonds became stronger. According to Drinkwitz, the offensive line room is tightly knit.

“It took us a while to break down those walls,” Drinkwitz said. “But now he’s totally invested in the brotherhood.”

Trost has more than settled in. Through seven games, Drinkwitz called Trost Mizzou’s most consistent offensive lineman. In pass protection, he’s a nimble 6-foot-4, 316-pound giant, able to get his body square quickly. That allows him to invite contact and counter it rather than trying to catch up.

As a run blocker, Trost is a mauler, able to keep his pad level low and defensive ends away from running backs.

When asked to describe what’s effective about his blocking style, he replied with a phrase that fits what he means to Mizzou: “Being able to anchor.”

Since the spring, Mizzou has had its anchor. Naturally, Trost’s efforts have been harder to notice than others. While plenty of players deserve credit for MU’s offensive successes this season, No. 79 ought to be a part of that group.

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