Three out, three in.
Missouri football lost three members of its safety room to graduation after the 2024 season, but made quick work in the winter transfer portal to replace all of those lost pieces.
The result? The experienced group of returners Mizzou does bring back now seemingly has some strong company in the secondary.
Mizzou's season-opener for the 2025 campaign against Central Arkansas on Aug. 28 on Faurot Field is now less than six weeks away. Fall camp is right around the corner, as the Tigers typically have players report to campus in Columbia over the final weekend of July.
Here is how Missouri 's safeties shape up heading into fall camp, including a projected (but not finalized) depth chart, the upside and possible questions for the room and some snippets of what the coaches said during the spring.
Starters: Free: Jalen Catalon , gr.; Strong: Marvin Burks Jr. , jr.; Star: Daylan Carnell , gr.
Primary rotation: Free: Santana Banner , r-so.; Strong:Mose Phillips III, jr.; Star: Trajen Greco , so.
Reserves:Caleb Flagg, sr.; Jackson Hancock, r-fr.; CJ Bass III, fr.; Rico Merriweather, jr.;
Drinkwitz noted in the spring that the three safety positions could be interchangeable, so don't get too hung up on the roles listed above. That's just a starting point.
We're quite confident that the three players we have listed as starters will see the most playing time for the Tigers in 2025. That group includes two returning starters — Carnell and Burks — and one of the most experienced players you will find anywhere in college football in Catalon, who transferred in from UNLV .
The Tigers made three portal additions in total here, replacing the three members of the rotation who graduated at the end of 2024: Joseph Charleston, Tre'Vez Johnson and Sidney Williams Sr.
Banner joins the squad from Northern Illinois, and Phillips is a newcomer from Virginia Tech . We expect both players to impact the rotation.
Greco and Flagg are returners who will likely see some playing opportunities after making strong impressions last season.
There is some excellent experience — both within MU's system and just from college football in general — in this safety room.
Catalon is a seventh-year senior who has spent the bulk of his career in the SEC before becoming an AP third-team All-American last season at UNLV. You won't find many college players with more career tackles (272) or interceptions (10), which he compiled over 43 games between Arkansas , Texas and UNLV.
Carnell has started for the Tigers at their hybrid linebacker/safety 'Star' position for the past two seasons and was involved in the lineup before that, too. He could have gone to the NFL after last season, so he was a big piece for defensive coordinator Corey Batoon to get back.
Burks is in Year 3 in Columbia, has appeared in every possible Mizzou matchup since arriving on campus in 2023 and now has a full year of starting experience under his belt.
Even down the depth chart, Banner was very productive at the Group of Five level last season with NIU. Phillips was Virginia Tech's third-leading tackler as a sophomore. Greco and Flagg saw the field a significant amount for MU last season, either as reserves or on special teams.
In terms of experience, that's about as ideal as it gets.
We'll see if all those in-game reps have paid off, because the Tigers have some wandering eyes to fix.
The major issue for Mizzou's safeties in 2024 was facing mobile quarterbacks, stepping into the box too frequently to attempt to hunt down a scrambling signal caller — losing sight of their assignment in the process, resulting in a number of chunk plays over the top of the defense to a wide-open receiver.
A middling Boston College offense caught MU doing this. Vanderbilt nearly stole a win in Columbia because of it.
And here's the thing: The opposing quarterbacks aren't getting any less shifty this season.
Kansas ' Jalon Daniels , South Carolina 's LaNorris Sellers , Vandy's Diego Pavia , Texas A&M's Marcel Reed and Arkansas' Taylen Green can all seriously move.
It's Missouri's job to make sure its discipline is better by the time they face up with those players.
As we noted above, the strength of this room is likely to be its experience. But, there's still room for some underclassman challengers.
Greco was one of the more impressive freshmen in Mizzou's Class of 2024, and he should find himself with a prominent role in his sophomore campaign. At least Catalon and Carnell will move on after this season, giving Greco a chance to lock down a future starting role on this team.
"I thought Trajen had an outstanding spring," Drinkwitz said April 8. "Probably led the team in takeaways in the spring, if I had to recount it."
Drinkwitz, April 8, on Catalon: "We are really, really glad we got him. Just a guy that's an instinctual player, violent player. Ball across the middle — I would hate to be a wide receiver with him around, because he did an excellent job. You can tell his veteran presence and understanding of the game by not taking some shots on our defenseless players. But, man, he is going to be a very impactful player."
More: Talking season: Top storylines as Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri football take on SEC Media Days
More: Is cornerback Missouri football's biggest defensive question mark? Where CBs are headed to fall
Drinkwitz, April 8, on Carnell: "I thought he had his best spring since he's (been) here. His sense of urgency, his command of the defense, his competitive spirit, his wanting to be a leader on that side of the ball I think really impacted him."
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Can Missouri football safety room anchor secondary in 2025 season?
