In most iterations of an elite defense, the foundation is built on prior production and experience.
But in all honesty, those are two traits that much of Missouri's 2026 roster lacks. Heading into the 2025 season, Missouri's defense returned seven of its top-10 snap leaders from the 2024 season, including each of the top three. Heading into 2026, that number shrinks to just one of the top 10, and three of the top 14 - the latter of which assumes Sterling Webb stays rostered. To reach the eighth-leading returner in snaps, you'd need to sift down to the No. 21 spot in 2025 snaps, Trajen Greco. He's the last of eight returners to play triple-digit snaps in 2025.
Missouri didn't exactly prioritize experience in the transfer portal either. Former Ole Miss cornerback Chris Graves Jr. and former Auburn linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr. are the only transfers who's snap counts would've ranked in the top 10 for Missouri's defense last season.
Eli Drinkwitz didn't shy away from Missouri's lack of prior production and substantial amount of roles to fill, neither of which are outright bad, but both of which are in stark contrast to last offseason.
"We have a lot of questions that need to be answered," Drinkwitz said Sunday. "We have a lot of roles that need to be taken on our football team. We have a lot of potential. We need to turn that into production."
One of the biggest questions Missouri needs to answer is the now-vacant slots at edge rusher, as last seasons' starters - Damon Wilson II and Zion Young - are no longer with the team. The pair combined for 15.5 sacks and 65 tackles, leading Missouri's pass rush to be among the best in the Southeastern Conference.
Dec 27, 2025; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Missouri Tigers defensive end Zion Young (9) warms up before the Gator Bowl against the Virginia Cavaliers at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Travis Register-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
How do you replace that much production from just two players? Missouri edge coach Brian Early thinks you don't.
"You don't try to replace those guys," Early told Missouri On SI in a one-on-one interview. "You don't want the people that are that are in that room now to feel like that's what they've got to be. You want them to be uniquely themselves and bring the best version of themselves to the field every day. You just try to assemble as much talent as you can, you know, in recruiting and through the transfer portal, and and get in and start developing those guys."
Early touched on garnering talent on the recruiting front - which Missouri did, adding Florida State veteran Jaden Jones, Miami transfer Malik Bryant, juco transfer Demarcus Johnson and a pair of former four-star prospects entering their second season in Kamauryn Morgan and CJ May. Early, however, listed the three returners as potential candidates for a breakout season.
"Langden Kitchen, Daeden Hopkins, Darris Smith - any one of those three players could have a breakout type season," Early said. "It's more strength in numbers when you look at that room than than it is on paper. Looking at having an outstanding single player like Zion (Young) may have been you know preseason last year."
His citing of the three returners follows a pattern that he's created in Missouri's edge room in recent seasons: Johnny Walker Jr . leapt from 5 to 9.5 sacks from his second-to-last to final season, then Young leapt from 2.5 to 6.5 in the same frame a season after.
Smith, specifically, is a top breakout candidate for the transformation he underwent in the offseason, bulking up from 240 pounds to about 265. Despite the bulk, Early said Smith "hasn't lost any of his mobility or speed or athleticism." If that doesn't provide preseason nightmares for SEC quarterbacks, not much else will.
Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer (10) carries the ball beside Missouri Tigers defensive end Darris Smith (19) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Missouri Tigers at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. Oklahoma won 17-6. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
But for now, those nightmares are based on what's yet to be seen. Smith, like many members of Missouri's defense, will need to turn that potential into production, like Drinkwitz previously said.
Missouri safeties coach Jacob Yoro believes one of the biggest factors in converting potential into production is to have experience, which, obviously, can't be spawned out of thin air. In doing so, he's turning to unconventional methods to prepare his young unit for a daunting season.
"I think the biggest thing is experience, and that's not something that you can just create," Yoro said. "I think we've done some unique things in regards to this defense this year to try to be able to create - for lack of a better term - create experience without actually experiencing it. We spent a lot of time watching last season's film, especially the highlights and the lowlights of last year, and try to give them the ability to gain experience by by watching others. And so Coach Drink always talks about it. You can either live and learn, or you can listen and learn. And so these guys are going to have to be able to listen and learn, learn from you know guys from last year's mistakes, and we got to be able to hit the ground running."
The staff and players can spend all the time in the world in the film room and on the practice field, but it won't equate to the challenges they'll face on Saturday's. Once the season starts Sept. 3, Missouri only has a few games before diving into a grueling SEC schedule. How does Yoro balance letting players play through mistakes with turning to another option to remain competitive in every instance?
"I think if I knew the exact answer on that, I'd make a lot of money," Yoro said. "But that's something that that we need to be able to determine. We understand that they're going to have to play through some mistakes. You know, we don't have them long. It's a nine-game SEC schedule, and so we got to be getting ready soon.
"I think that competition is going to continue its way through those first couple of weeks as we really be able to see what guys are, you know when the lights come on and Faurot field is rocking," Yoro said.
Oct 11, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers safety Santana Banner (15) hits Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson (15) during the first half of the game at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
There are key members of Yoro's room that do have prior SEC experience, though, which provides value in a few fronts. First, in the sense of having a reliable individual piece of the puzzle, and second in the sense of having an in-house option that can continue the culture set in place seasons prior.
"I think every year is completely new and unique, and you have to treat it as such," Drinkwitz said. "You have to lean into the guys that you retain and help them to maintain and demonstrate the culture and behaviors that you want on your team from a year-in and year-out basis."
Santana Banner, who may be the prized possession of the safety room, logged the most snaps out of any returning defender (710) while also logging 59 tackles, three passes defended and an interception. Banner debuted in 2025 as a transfer from NIU joining a crowded safety room featuring two graduate students and a returning starter, yet by the end of the season, he became as reliable as any of an option in Yoro's unit.
Now in his second offseason with the Tigers, Banner has taken steps as a leader. So has Greco, who's returning for his third season with the Tigers after playing in all 26 games in his first two.
"We stepped up a lot," Greco said. "Seeing Santana's growth from when he first got here to now is amazing. You know, when he first got here, obviously he transferred in, so maybe he wasn't trying to step on anybody's toes or anything. But at the end of the day, when you transfer in, like you can correct whoever you want. You could say whatever you want. And now, from that point on, he's he's been a very good leader. And then I would say, for me, it's just been just kind of being able to show everyone what the Mizzou way is... like no matter where you're from or where you previously were, this is what we're gonna do at Mizzou."
Banner, who's relatively new to the leadership role, has already developed a quick understanding of what leadership means to him, and it too falls directly in line with Drinkwitz's aforementioned comments about relying on returners to instill culture.
"Everybody can lead by example, but if you can't motivate other people to do the same, then that's not really leading," Banner said. "That's just you holding yourself to the standard."
Oct 11, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Lotzeir Brooks (17) runs the ball against Missouri Tigers safety Trajen Greco (4) during the second half at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Greco, along with Banner's, willingness to install the culture into Missouri's new-look safety room is a huge help in keeping a stream of continuity in a unit facing so much turnover. But as far as schematics go, it's Greco's incredible football IQ that makes the junior a safety net for Yoro.
The 5-foot-11, 193-pound returning safety logged seven tackles last season but appeared in every game. According to Yoro, he's had an offseason worth keeping note of.
"I'm really excited about what Greco has done over the last six months," Yoro said. "He's put himself in position now to have the opportunity to be a bona fide guy for us, he's put in the work. I don't think there's another smarter DB in the country than Trajen, and so this camp's going to be big for him."
For what it's worth, Greco shouted out his former high-school teammate, Caleb Downs , as one of the biggest factors for his tremendous football IQ. Downs was widely regarded as the best safety in the nation before being selected by the Dallas Cowboys with the No. 11 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Don't be surprised if you see a few flashes of Downs' game sprinkled into Greco's successful moments later this season.
While the safety and edge rooms are working on converting potential into production, the cornerback room is looking to turn back the clock. It's helmed by Graves, the former Ole Miss Rebel with multiple seasons of starting experience, but the rest of the room is largely comprised of former starters looking to return to the role.
There's Nick DeLoach, who started eight games for the Tigers in 2024 before his role was diminished to a backup and special teams contributor in 2025. Then there's Jahlil Florence, who started nine games for Oregon in 2023 and played over 200 snaps for the Ducks in 2022 before being sidelined for almost the entire next two seasons with injuries. Joining him as an Oregon transfer is Sione Laulea, who starred at the juco level at San Mateo College in 2022 and 2023 before playing a reserve role with the Ducks the past two seasons.
Nov 18, 2023; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Oregon Ducks defensive back Jahlil Florence (6) against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
Cornerbacks coach Al Pogue is working to get the room back into tip-top shape.
"Just knocking the rust off," Pogue said. "All reps, any reps, any meaningful snap on what you need to gain that experience. But most for those guys, it's just going to be knocking the rust off. Because if you go back and you look at the film, they played at a high level, and we just got to knock the rust off, get the technique, get the timing back, and man, before you know it, those guys they look like they hadn't lost a beat."
In all, Missouri's will need continuity enforced by returners, a few transfers to turn back the clock, and jumps from around the board. From conversations with the coaches and players, it seems like there's promising candidates to check off each of those boxes, especially the last.
"I've seen Darris Smith make a big jump," Nicholas Rodriguez said at SEC Media Days. "Marquis Gracial (make a jump). I've seen Jeremiah Beasley make a big jump. Rob has made a big jump even though he just got here. Santana Banner's made a big jump. Trajen Greco made a big jump. I mean, I could just keep naming them. The whole death row, all in all, has been working hard, and we're excited for the season and fall camp."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/missouri as How Mizzou's Defense is Working to Turn Potential Into Production .
