Javon Foster knows Missouri's offensive line has a secret.
The two-year starter at left tackle has locked down the left side of Missouri's offensive line for the last two seasons. It took him two years in order to earn that spot. That's why he kept saying sophomore offensive lineman Armand Mebou was "special" during SEC Media Days.
It took Foster two years to earn his starting spot. Membou earned it after his freshman season.
"He's crazy," Foster said. "Y'all just don't know. He's crazy."
That's a secret that Missouri needed to bring to light, even if the team didn't want to this season.
The Tigers' offensive line struggled in 2022. The unit was one of the team's weakest units, but Eli Drinkwitz and the coaching staff recruited plenty through the transfer portal and the high school level during the offseason.
Foster shored up the blind side for MU's quarterbacks. The staff was impressed by Connor Tollison's improvement over the summer and in training camp. Xavier Delgado was seen as a consistent part of the line, and the right guard position had depth thanks to the staff's recruiting efforts.
That left the right tackle position, where Membou naturally fit into and started there during the first two weeks of the 2023 season.
Membou wasn't put at right tackle as a consolation prize or a last-second decision, either. He fits there as an athlete and a versatile football player, as well as where MU needed him to be.
While Membou might be MU's right tackle this season, he has the potential to be the anchor for the Tigers' offensive line for years to come.
"If he ain't a first-round pick, I don't know who is," Lee's Summit North head coach Jamar Mozee said. "He's that good."
That versatility will be on display, as the Lee's Summit native will be tasked with defending an active and productive Kansas State defensive front in one of the most important games of the Eli Drinkwitz era.
Before Membou was special in the eyes of his Tiger teammates, he was special in the eyes of his high school program at Lee's Summit North.
That high school program is where five-star MU commit Williams Nwaneri hails from, as did former four-star prospect Cayden Green. Between the years 2020 and 2023, Lee's Summit North had five players ranked on 247Sports' top composite rankings for the state of Missouri. All five signed to play Division I college football.
This includes Membou, who was rated as a three-star player and signed with Missouri.
Mozee spoke highly of the talent Membou displayed when he was at Lee's Summit North. However, Membou wasn't attracted to the recruiting process like some other recruits are.
"He's one of the best high school football players I've ever seen," Mozee said. "I thought Armand was very under-recruited, and that sounds crazy, but he wasn't into the recruiting piece either."
Membou was rated as the 10th-best prospect in the state of Missouri. He was one of seven players from Missouri to commit to MU in the Class of 2022. Once Membou committed to Missouri, he shut down his commitment and was firmly in MU's camp.
During his freshman season, Membou played in 11 games during the 2022 season and started in the Tigers' final five games. With that opportunity, he showed Missouri he deserved more.
"One of the regrets I have from last year is not playing Armand sooner, in a full-time role," Drinkwitz said last February.
That led to the 2023 season where Membou was going to start on Missouri's offensive line. It wasn't a matter of "if" he would, just where.
"I'm telling you, he is a special, special kid," Mozee said. "He's physically strong. He's smart. He's really, really tough."
After his freshman season, the plan for Membou was to grow.
Not really in the physical sense, his 6-foot-3, 314-pound frame already checks in at the proper size to be an SEC-caliber lineman. That growth was in the mental sense.
"Let's continue to grow," former Missouri offensive line coach Marcus Jones said last March. "Let's continue to understand the entirety of the defense. Let's understand what's going on at the third level with DBs and the body languages of linebackers."
Jones said this when the plan was for Membou to take over at right guard. In the time between March 2023 and August 2023, Jones departed for Purdue, MU hired Brandon Jones as its next offensive line coach and Cam'Ron Johnson transferred to the program.
Connor Tollison earned his spot at center and Johnson was moved to right guard. That did not create a problem for Membou, however.
The team shifted him to right tackle.
It was that easy for Missouri, mainly because Membou already has the versatility to play multiple positions on the offensive line. That's one part of what makes him special. The other part, the part Foster and the others see at MU, is how athletic Membou is as a 314-pound offensive lineman.
It's what earned Membou a spot on The Athletic's College Football Freaks List 2023.
"Being the size of an offensive lineman being able to move like a skill guy," Foster said at SEC Media Day in July. "When you have that ability it is you're special."
Foster is the unquestioned anchor for Missouri during the 2023 season. He's a preseason All-SEC player and has past accolades to showcase how talented he is.
But the future belongs to Membou.
Membou's rapid improvement in his freshman season is evidence of that, as is his ability to play anywhere on the offensive line. The 2024 season is a ways away, but who will play at left tackle once Foster departs? Membou might be the next in line.
He's already grabbed the attention of first-year offensive coordinator Kirby Moore because of his work ethic.
"It's probably a combination of athletic ability and determination and drive," Moore said. "There's not one thing, right? There's a number of things that make him who he is. And he just works really hard in the meeting room and on the practice field."
Membou is also beginning to feel comfortable outside of football, too.
He made the rounds on social media and through the eyes of fans when he spoke about the opportunity to finally play against someone aside from MU's defense in the hours before the Tigers' opened up their 2023 season.
"If it's an elementary school, the band, it don't matter," Membou said on Aug. 30. "Everybody's gonna get it."
It was a funny moment in the wake of the 2023 season, but it made Membou's intentions clear: he's ready to seize the moment.
After the 2023 season opened with struggles on the offensive line, Membou seized the moment against Middle Tennessee State. He even earned praise from his head coach after a sour game for MU's offensive line as a whole.
That didn't apply to Membou.
"I think Armand showed a lot of growth from Week 1 to Week 2," Drinkwitz said Tuesday.
As the clock ticks forward to MU's game against Kansas State, Membou will find himself at the front lines of the most important game of the Drinkwitz era.
He'll be opposite a defense that's fresh off a Big 12 Championship and has NFL-caliber players on its defensive line aiming to win every snap. Membou, after a year of growth and a summer of preparation, will be ready for that and the future that comes with it.
"I just want to see us dominate," Membou said on Aug. 8.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How Armand Membou grew into a player who could anchor Missouri football's future
