Coaches Brandon Jones and Al Woods spoke to the media
Mizzou completed its 10th practice of the spring football season Tuesday, the last before the final week of the spring schedule.
The practice was not open to the media, but offensive line coach Brandon Jones and defensive line coach Al Davis spoke about the team after the session ended.
Here are some of the notable tidbits and quotes from those interviews:
Brandon Jones | Offensive line coach
- At least one starting position seems to be a lock already – left guard Cayden Green. He’s been talked about as a possibility at left tackle, but Jones said Green is more comfortable on the interior and would only be used outside in an emergency situation.
- With Connor Tollison limited due to his recovery from surgery toward the end of last season, Michigan transfer Dominick Giudice has run the show at center this spring. Davis said there’s room for both players on the offensive line, with the possibility of one switching over to guard. The starting center battle will be one to watch heading into fall camp.
- On Guidice: “He’s done an unbelievable job of gelling with the guys, learning the offense. You see him up here countless hours every day, just really eager to learn. I’m glad we got him.”
- Tollison has been progressing well in his recovery, per Jones, and is currently on schedule with the timeline the team’s training staff set.
- On Tollison: “He sits in the meetings still, communicates and sees what helps Dom, what he sees, and all those things.”
- On Cayden Green’s role as one of the veterans along the line: “It’s really just [about] continuing to be steady. I think there’s a lot of parts of his game that he’s been working on. I’ve been proud of him really working on his weaknesses.”
- On the line’s goals and connectivity this spring: “I think that it’s always the same. I think for us, it’s really just getting those guys to continue to gel and get to know one another. I’ve been pleased with them, they hang out quite a bit off the field.”
- Continued: “It really comes down to just developing that trust amongst each other. And I think for us, it’s just them doing that outside of this building.”
- Wake Forest transfer and seventh year grad student Keagan Trost, who started 10 games at right tackle for the Demon Deacons last season, has taken nearly all of his snaps this spring at that position with Mizzou.
- On West Virginia transfer Johnny Williams IV: “Johnny’s a guy that has a heigh ceiling. [He] just has to continue to change his body and continue to work on some things technically, but he’s doing well, too.”
- Unlike Trost, the coaching staff has gotten Williams notable reps at both tackle positions. Williams will be a name to watch at swing tackle, a role filled last year by Mitchell Walters, if he doesn’t get one of the starting nods.
- Jones credited Tristan Wilson, Curtis Peagler and Jayven Richardson as the returning players who have made the biggest jump or impressed him the most in spring ball.
- Jones said returning player and former blue chipper Logan Reichert has been dealing with some injuries during the spring. He also mentioned that Reichert, considered as a possibility to step into a starting role given his pedigree, is being looked at more as a depth player this year – with starting potential down the road.
- What Jones is looking for from the starting five: “Being able to communicate amongst each other, and that trust factor.”
- What Jones sees to show the linemen are progressing this spring: “Just the comfortability in the offense. The offensive line, it doesn’t change – just continue to improve on their technique and their fundamentals, which we spend quite a bit of time on. That’s really the next step that you take, you’re going to continue to get a little big stronger, and I think your technique just has to improve as you get older.”
- What he’s told NFL coaches and scouts about Armand Membou: “He’s just got a tremendous upside, physically he’s really gifted. I think he turns 21 in a few days, so for him to be able to accomplish what he’s done to this point at the age of 20, that’s what has teams really salivating over him. I think his ability to play inside and out, possibly play on the left, just makes him really, really appealing for those guys that have those top picks early on.”
Al Davis | Defensive line coach (defensive tackles)
- On why the staff didn’t add any d-tackles in the portal: “The biggest thing is the development of that guys that [have] been in the room already. Right now, you’ve got some guys that aren’t as experienced as you’d like them to be, but we’ve seen that development come along.”
- On the keys to that development: “It starts with recruiting. We had to flip the room two years ago, so we had some transfer portal guys that gave us a bridge and kind of gave us a break for Marquis [Gracial] and Jalen [Marshall] and Elias [Williams], who’s a young guy who’s come along. Now those guys are out of the room and it’s these guys’ time to kind of rise to the top, and we’ve been able to do that. Some of it was in the weight room with Coach Russell being able to build up the bodies, cutting some fat on some of the bigger guys, but then also on the field, developing some of those fundamentals and techniques. And then in the pass rush, trying to build up a toolbox.”
- On who’s stood out besides returning starter Chris McClellan: “Jalen and Marquis are two guys that have been here for three years. They’ve build the foundation, they’re starting to compound on that foundation, and now it’s their time to kind of sprout out and spring out. Elias Williams is a young guy that we think very highly of, he’s showing some stuff in the pass rush game; we’ve got to fine-tune him in the running game. And then also Sam Williams, who’s another guy that’s been here for a while.”
- On where Gracial grew last season and this spring: “The foundational play; get the call, get in line, do your job, right? Obviously he’s a big guy, he’s going to be a first and second down player for us. But he showed us some pass rushing through this spring, and that’s what we needed out of him. We needed him to show us that he can play first, second and third down.”
- On the new leaders in the room: “I think him [Chris McClellan] and Sterling [Webb] both have taken it upon themselves to be the new Kristian [Williams]. Obviously, Kristian was a very unique human being, he did a great job pouring energy into those guys. So now they understand, ‘it’s my time, now I’m the upperclassmen. It’s my turn to lead the room.’”
- On the long-term strategy for the position: “The kids always tell us what we need, right? So if the guys that we have here are showing us we don’t need new guys, then we don’t have to go to the portal. If those guys aren’t working out, then we have to go to the portal. Whatever is best for the football team, that’s what we’ve got to do.”
- On Elias Williams’ move from edge rusher to d-tackle: “Initially, it was his weight. He was heavy, right? Our field ends aren’t going to be 290 pound guys. Now, he’s lost weight since, but he’s been able to show us that he can handle staying inside. If we need him to go out there we can put him back out there, we’ve just go to re-teach the calls to him. But I do think that the kid has handled the move really well, and he’s starting to show us some promise.”
- When asked if there were any defensive ends who could move inside on certain packages: “I can’t tell y’all our secrets, man! He’s trying to get us [joking about the reporter], he’s trying to me. Yeah, we’ve got some good pass rushers. That’s all I’m going to say – we’ve got some pretty good pass rushers.”
There are three practices remaining in the spring schedule, Tuesday through Thursday, before Mizzou’s pro day on Friday. We’ll have coverage of the final two open practices and pro day next week.