Who can Mizzou target now that we have names in the portal?
With only a few days left for football players to enter the transfer portal (the window closes on April 30), it’s clear that this iteration of transfer season is much more subdued than the December/January window. There are fewer athletes entering the portal than this past winter and the Mizzou staff appears like they are looking to add fewer players to their roster as well.
One big reason contributing to this slower transfer season is the SEC rule that prohibits transfers from SEC schools from being immediately eligible at other SEC schools. While the NCAA allows all transfers to be immediately eligible, the SEC has a conference-specific rule meant to reduce intra-conference transfers this late in the spring. Athletes can still transfer between SEC schools this spring, but if they do they are required to sit out a year before they are eligible.
Prior to the portal opening, I outlined the three areas of need that I felt Mizzou should target this portal season. Eli Drinkwitz and offensive line coach Brandon Jones must read Rock M, because they went ahead and took my advice this week by landing a player I had suggested in my article in Marcus Bryant. By nabbing the top-rated offensive lineman in the portal (for the second time this calendar year,) Mizzou has effectively filled out it’s starting lineup entirely with experienced talent and further bolstered the depth of the unit pushing any other prospective starters into back-up roles.
While I will always advocate for adding offensive line depth whenever possible, NIL dollars are finite and it may make sense for Drinkwitz to invest the remaining funds he has in other areas of the roster this spring. Further, with recent roster losses to the transfer portal there is a new need on the roster. Let’s take a look at a few positional groups that the coaching staff may still be looking to bolster, as well as who some of the best available options might be:
Linebacker
The Tigers have two returning starters at linebacker in Tristan Newsom and Chuck Hicks, as well as winter Miami transfer Corey Flagg, however injuries last year to both Ty’Ron Hopper and Chad Bailey showed how important it is to have depth at this position. Thankfully, the Tigers had reliable back ups last year, but this year Hicks and Newsom are the starters and there is little behind them in the way of proven depth.
It appears that the coaching staff is interested in building depth here, as they have sought-after transfer Nikhai Hill-Green coming in for a visit on April 26.
Mizzou Tomorrow! #MIZ pic.twitter.com/oyXzc7Pmus
— Nikhai (@Nhillgreen) April 25, 2024
Hill-Green is a former Michigan Wolverine who transferred to Charlotte last year. For Michigan, he had 50 tackles in 2022 and had 73 tackles, including two sacks, for Charlotte last year. While not an all-conference level talent, Hill-Green would move the Tigers’ linebacking depth to a solid four players with experience.
[Editor’s note: Hill-Green has since announced that he will decide between Mizzou and Colorado on Sunday.]
I don’t expect Mizzou to take more than one linebacker in this window, but if Hill-Green chooses to go elsewhere, here are a couple more potential options:
- Kyle Moretti (CMU)
I mentioned Moretti in my portal preview piece and he is still on the market. Moretti is a two-time third team MAC all conference linebacker at Central Michigan. He has 207 career tackles, including six sacks and seven pass break-ups. He is by far the most productive linebacker in the portal, though with one year of eligibility remaining he may be looking for a place where he will be a sure-fire starter.
- Treylin Payne (Houston)
One of the few linebackers in the portal with decent playing time under his belt, Payne has 48 career tackles and a sack in two years at Houston. While he’s not a guy that will come in and win a starting spot in 2024, he could provide some depth the position. Plus, there may be a connection with new Mizzou EDGE coach Brian Early, who was on the Houston defensive staff just a few months ago.
- Demouy Kennady (Colorado)
Kennedy played very seldomly last year as a freshman, only racking up eight total tackles. However, he’s a former four-star recruit and might be a good depth add for Mizzou, since at least two of the Tigers’ top three linebackers will be leaving after this year.
EDGE
Mizzou addressed a need for more EDGE players in the previous transfer portal window, bringing in exciting players like Darris Smith from Georgia and Zion Young from Michigan State. Due to these additions plus returning starter Johnny Walker, Jr. and the experienced Joe Moore, I didn’t even mention the EDGE spot in my spring transfer portal piece. However, the portal giveth and the portal taketh away, and Mizzou recently lost two EDGE players in Serigne Tounkara and Austin Firestone.
While Tounkara and Firestone weren’t going to compete for a starting role in 2024, they provided depth behind the four contributors listed above. Mizzou isn’t desperate to bring in any starter-level EDGE talent this spring (though they won’t turn anybody away), but they do need to add at least one more serviceable player that can fill in in the case of injury. Here are a few options currently in the portal:
- Tyler Baron (Tennessee)
Baron enters his fifth year of eligibility as one of the most productive EDGEs in the portal. Since 2020 he has 102 tackles and 13.5 sacks, including six sacks last year. He seems to be bouncing around a lot the last few months, however, as he entered the portal from Tennessee first in December and committed to Ole Miss. He then decommitted and committed to Louisville in January. Now he’s back in the portal again as of April 24 and should be eligible to transfer to an SEC school.
- J’Mond Tapp (Texas)
Tapp played sparingly last year as a redshirt freshman at Texas, but he was a four-star recruit out of high school with good size (6-3, 255 lbs). Even though Texas will be in the SEC come July, they are not in the SEC now, meaning players from Texas and Oklahoma should still be eligible to transfer to SEC programs and play this year.
- Bai Jobe (Michigan State)
Jobe also played sparingly as a freshman last year. However the Senegalese four-star athlete was the top-rated high school recruit in last year’s class for Michigan State. After spending a year on the same defensive line as Zion Young, it might be worth putting out feelers to see if he would be interested in joining Young in the black and gold.
Interior Defensive Line
Like offensive line, the interior defensive line is position where it is impossible to have too much depth. Similar to both the linebacker and EDGE positions, Mizzou isn’t in desperate need of starting-level talent this year, but with the loss of Ky Montgomery to the transfer portal last week, the second wave of defensive linemen is looking thin. Here are a few players that might be worth exploring in the trenches:
- Damonic Williams (TCU)
Perhaps the highest-rated defensive lineman in the portal, Williams will bring some serious production with him to wherever is new team will be. He still has two years of eligibility remaining and has 60 tackles and 4.5 sacks in his first two years in college football. He was a freshman all-American in 2022 and an all-Big 12 selection last year. Landing Williams might be a stretch, however, since he is coveted by Texas, Oregon and just about every other top program in the country.
- Derrick Harmon (Michigan State)
Like Bai Jobe mentioned above, Harmon is another member of the Michigan State diaspora in recent months. Unlike Jobe, however, Harmon has seen significant playing time over his three years with the Spartans, nicely earning 69 tackles and 3.5 sacks. He has two years of eligibility left and may also be interested in joining former teammate Zion Young in Columbia.
- Jamil Burroughs (Miami (FL) and Alabama)
I had mentioned Burroughs in my portal preview and he’s still available due to some off-the-field issues. Burroughs has some pedigree, playing his first three seasons at Alabama where he saw the field in 11 games in 2022. He has some baggage though, as he was kicked off the Crimson Tide for an altercation with a coach last summer. He transferred to Miami, but was ineligible to play for them in the fall since he missed the transfer portal window. He’s back in the portal and could be a good piece to add if Al Davis is comfortable with his character questions. He has at least two years of eligibility remaining.