Believe it or not, the end of the 2024 college football regular season is just a couple Saturdays away.
Missouri football has three games remaining in the 2024 season, starting with a matchup at Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon in Starkville, Mississippi. The Tigers (7-3, 3-3 SEC) will close the regular season at home against Arkansas on Nov. 30 and will learn their bowl game destination Sunday, Dec. 8.
When this year finishes, Missouri football is poised to lose several starters on both sides of the ball.
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With that in mind, here are three freshmen — some of whom have already featured in prominent special teams roles — who we'd like to see some more down the stretch:
Lacy burned his redshirt after taking eight snaps against South Carolina last Saturday, and the freshman made the most of his limited action in one drive.
Lacy hung on to a swing pass from Brady Cook that was thrown slightly in front of him, bounced outside around pressure and picked up 10 yards and a first down with a dive to the line to gain.
He followed a Brett Norfleet block right up the middle and tumbled forward for seven yards, only stopped after a safety stepped up to make a play. He got the leftover three yards to move the chains again after almost getting bottled up, making a second effort count. That series, plus a yard on another carry, set up Marcus Carroll to punch in MU's first touchdown.
There was a lot to like in the rookie's brief appearance.
With both Nate Noel and Carroll set to run out of eligibility at the end of the season, Mizzou again will be looking to replace lost production at tailback. Jamal Roberts likely will be one of the players staking a claim. Lacy, too.
But how much more opportunity will Lacy get this year?
"The role is what he earns," MU coach Eli Drinkwitz said Tuesday. "We had a couple of specific plays that we wanted him in the game for, and we had repped him all week. We weren't quite sure how long Nate (Noel) could go, … but if Nate couldn't go, those were going to be Kewan's plays, because we felt like we needed a little bit more explosiveness to it.
"We want to continue to integrate Kewan into our offense and continue to get him going, so we'll see how that plays out."
Greco, a four-star true freshman out of Buford, Georgia, has already played in every game for Missouri this season. He's the only freshman who can say that. A majority of those reps — 129 of his 165 snaps this season, per PFF — have come on various special teams units.
Missouri has three games left with key secondary members Joseph Charleston, Tre'Vez Johnson and Sidney Williams Sr., who each will exhaust their eligibility at the end of the season. Hybrid linebacker/safety Daylan Carnell may opt to explore NFL opportunities after this season, too.
So, there's a need coming soon. Mizzou will likely seek out some replacements in the portal.
But, the Tigers seemingly have been preparing for Greco to compete for a prominent role on defense next season. With all the change coming soon, and perhaps when the bowl game comes around, there's a developmental case to let him test the defensive waters some more in 2024.
"I always have high expectations for myself," Greco said Tuesday. "So, I thought I could have a pretty decent role, and I'm just glad the coaches put me in a good opportunity just to fill my role for the team."
Reps are stretching thin at linebacker for Missouri.
Mizzou lost Khalil Jacobs to injury at outside linebacker midseason, which has left Triston Newson to man the position solo. He's taken 50 snaps or more in three of the four games since Jacobs went down. At middle linebacker, the Tigers have leaned heavily on Corey Flagg while Chuck Hicks ' participation has dwindled. Flagg has not taken less than 42 snaps in a game since Auburn on Oct. 19.
All three of Newson, Flagg and Hicks are out of eligibility at the end of the season. That makes Jacobs, once he returns from injury, the lone returning member of the core rotation.
Mizzou, in all likelihood, will chase at least one linebacker when the transfer portal opens Dec. 9. That does not mean it couldn't do with developing one of its freshmen.
Rodriguez and Beasley have already burned redshirts, so there's no lingering question whether the Tigers should try to save those or not.
Rodriguez already has taken sparing reps at OLB, but a majority of those came in a blowout win at UMass. Missouri asked Newson to take a step up in production at about this time last season when Ty'Ron Hopper was dealing with injuries. If Rodriguez is up to the task, more of a true rotation with Newson could spare some legs late in the season and get the freshman ready for an increased role in 2025. The same applies for Beasley behind Flagg and Hicks.
Nicholas Rodriguez, linebacker
Trajen Greco, safety
Kewan Lacy, running back
Jeremiah Beasley, linebacker
Jaylen Brown , defensive end
Defensive end Williams Nwaneri , after appearing on MU's final drive against South Carolina, has now appeared in four games and is one regular-season game from burning his redshirt. If he does not appear against Mississippi State or Arkansas, he can play in the bowl game without losing his redshirt.
Bowl games no longer count toward the four-game maximum for freshmen looking to preserve redshirts.
If all other participation numbers on the Missouri team website are accounted for correctly, no other Missouri freshman has appeared in more than two games this season. That means, even if they play in all three of the Tigers' remaining games, that no other MU freshman can burn a redshirt this season.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football freshmen who could get more playing time this season
