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Read the full transcript of Mizzou beat writer Eli Hoff's weekly chat
Read the full transcript of Mizzou beat writer Eli Hoff's weekly chat
The 25 most important Mizzou football players in 2025
Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula takes his position during a practice drill on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at the Mizzou Athletics Training Complex in Columbia, Mo.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Who’s more important to a college football program: a star safety or a leading wide receiver? A punter or an edge rusher?
These are the kinds of questions on this beat writer’s mind as the summer sun burns hot upon the start of talking season. The Southeastern Conference’s media days are a couple of weeks away. Then comes fall camp and, in less than two months’ time now, actual games.
So what better time than now to identify and rank the 25 most important players on the Missouri football roster heading into the 2025 season?
Two notes before getting to the names, numbers and logic behind their rankings: First, this is most important, not best. There’s a difference. Second, this is the first in an occasional series of Mizzou-related “top 25” rankings that will come out over the next week or so. Some will be present-minded like this one. Others will look back at the past quarter-century of MU sports as 2025 is a convenient year for that kind of exercise.
Now, ranked from No. 25 to No. 1, the most important Mizzou football players for this upcoming season:
Is this the year offensive lineman Logan Reichert (No. 25) finds a real role — maybe at right guard?
Fellow redshirt sophomore Johnny Williams IV (No. 24) is the left tackle of the future but could be ready sooner.
Josiah Trotter (No. 23) was a freshman All-American at West Virginia last season and will rotate at linebacker early on — until he breaks out as a star.
Safety Marvin Burks Jr. (No. 22) has played 865 career snaps through two seasons, but MU needs more after a rocky 2024.
Was wideout Marquis Johnsonâ€s (No. 21) 122-yard outing in the Music City Bowl a sign of what’s to come with more targets?
Don’t forget about one-time Georgia transfer Darris Smith coming off the edge. He’s No. 20 because he’s a relative unknown after missing 2024 with a preseason knee injury, but the athleticism and upside are still present.
Connor Weselman is the Tigers’ new punter and No. 19 here. The Stanford transfer hasn’t punted in a game since 2023, and Missouri won’t want to see rust.
What will starting cornerback Drey Norwood (No. 18) bring in his final season of college football? He notched two picks last season but is still a step shy of elite status.
If this was a ranking of biggest personalities, defensive end Zion Young would be a lot higher than No. 17. Maybe he’s the next top-end pass rusher to come out of Mizzou.
Defensive tackle Chris McClellan wants a say in that matter, too, at No. 16. He has three years of SEC experience at this point, and the Tigers could use a dominant force in the interior.
MU received a nice surprise over the winter when an eligibility waiver for junior college products allowed outside linebacker Triston Newson (No. 15) to come back for a final season. He’s got a nose for the ball and now a bonus season to star in black and gold.
Connor Tollison is one of the best returning centers in college football, back for one more season at Missouri after a leg injury cut short his 2024 campaign. He’d be higher in a talent ranking but is No. 14 here because of a surprisingly strong backup behind him.
At No. 13 is wideout Kevin Coleman Jr., who’s returning to his home state to don the No. 3 jersey and fill Mizzou’s slot position. He’s a proven talent, but the Tigers didn’t get as much out of Luther Burden III in that position as seemed possible. How much volume will they funnel to Coleman?
Entering his third season as the starting hybrid safety, or STAR, Daylan Carnell feels due for some dominance. Playing one of the centerpiece positions in coordinator Corey Batoon’s system, Carnell comes in at No. 12 here.
Replacing a first-round draft pick is no small task, but Wake Forest transfer Keagen Trost is taking on the challenge. No. 11 on this list, he locked down the job in the spring.
Time for the first real tricky pick: Where should quarterback Sam Horn go on the list? He’ll compete for the starting job in the fall but faces an uphill battle after spending key parts of the spring with Missouri’s baseball team. Even if he winds up as the backup, though, he’s still important — look at what Drew Pyne meant to the Tigers last season. That’s good for No. 10 on the importance ladder.
Damon Wilson II, at No. 9, was a splashy portal get from Georgia over the offseason and has the makings of an elite edge rusher. Think of some past pass-rushing greats to come out of Mizzou, and his value could be high if he can match that standard.
Is there a spot more important on the offensive line than left tackle? It’ll be up for competition going into fall camp, but Florida State transfer Jaylen Early (No. 8) stands a good chance of winning it. He’s a proven run blocker but the Tigers will need his pass protection to step up to give a new starting quarterback time to operate.
If there’s a dimension for the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ offense to grow into this season, it’s in tight end usage. Having Brett Norfleet healthy would help in that endeavor. The pass game just looks better when he’s available, which puts him No. 7 on this list.
One defensive player made life especially difficult for the starting quarterback suitors during spring ball: safety Jalen Catalon, who’s No. 6 here — and on his jersey. He’s been an All-SEC talent before. Now at Mizzou, he’s likely to be a top tackler and turnover machine.
MU’s projected next first-round draft pick will line up at left guard. Cayden Green (No. 5) is bringing in preseason All-American honors already, and if he can perform at that level, the entire offense ought to benefit.
What did the Tigers have in 2023 that they didn’t in ’24? Elite cornerback play, for one thing. Toriano Pride Jr. (No. 4) showed flashes of that potential early on last season. If the one-time Clemson transfer can become more consistent, a soft spot in an otherwise sound defense could become a strength.
No team in the country relied on their kicker as much as Missouri leaned on Blake Craig last season: His 34 field goal tries led the nation. While the Tigers want to improve their offense to need a little bit less from him, he’s probably going to be important enough to warrant the No. 3 spot. You know, for how many points a field goal is worth.
When the Mizzou offense is at its best, the run game is firing on all cylinders. And there’s no play more important to the rushing attack than the outside zone, which happens to be new tailback Ahmad Hardyâ€s specialty. He’ll need to translate a 1,350-yard season from Louisiana-Monroe to MU, but the No. 2 player on this list packs the kind of punch to pull it off.
Who else could be No. 1 on the list but Beau Pribula, the Penn State transfer now on track to win the starting quarterback job? To be clear, he still needs to lock down that role. But with a demonstrated rushing ability, he fits what the Tigers are looking for. It doesn’t take a gridiron genius to recognize that a good QB makes for a good team.
If Pribula can produce with his legs, show a satisfactory arm and avoid turning the ball over, ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ ought to be in good shape. If he can be more than that, the entire program’s ceiling goes up by a couple of wins.
Mizzou football offensive coordinator Kirby Moore speaks with the media on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as the team goes through spring practices. (Video by Mizzou Network, used with permission of Mizzou Athletics)
Ten Hochman: SLU’s TJ Hargrove, Mizzou’s Tamar Bates on same Nuggets’ summer league team
Webster Groves star Scottie Adkinson commits to Mizzou men's basketball
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Webster Groves guard Scottie Adkinson verbally committed to ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ on Tuesday, putting the St. Louis area's premier basketball prospect on track to star for his home state school.
Adkinson, who was the Post-Dispatch All-Metro player of the year after leading the Statesmen to a Class 5 state title as a sophomore, is a highly touted class of 2027 recruit. He's rated as a four-star prospect by 247ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ, which ranks him as the No. 2 player in Missouri and No. 37 nationally in that class.
For Mizzou coach Dennis Gates, Adkinson's early commitment is a recruiting win. Illinois, among other schools, was interested in the local standout's services.
Adkinson averaged 26.3 points per game during the postseason, including 59 combined points in the semifinal round and state championship game. He set Webster Groves' single-season scoring record with 783 points, adding on 185 rebounds and 70 steals.
Adkinson stands 6-foot-3 and projects as a combo guard at the collegiate level — though he'll have two more seasons of high school basketball to continue developing. He's one of just two 2027 recruits ranked inside 247ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ' top 125 prospects to have committed to a school.
Football lands in-state legacy recruit
In the end, it would've been more surprising for Braylon Ellison to go anywhere else. The three-star offensive lineman from Boonville committed to Mizzou on Tuesday, following his family's tendency to play in black and gold.
His father Atiyyah, a Parkway South product, played for the Tigers from 2002-2004 and is back with the program as the director of player and alumni relations. And Braylon's older brother, Tyson, walked on at MU as a linebacker.Â
Now, Braylon is the ninth player in the 2026 cycle to verbally commit to Missouri, picking the school over interest from Oregon State and others. He's listed at 6-foot-4, 285 pounds.Â
The Tigers now have three offensive linemen in their '26 recruiting class.
Harper lands first MU commit
New MU women's basketball coach Kellie Harper picked up her first high school commitment on Tuesday. Cecilie Brandimore, a post player from Franklin, Tennessee, announced her decision to join the Tigers.Â
She's listed at 6-foot-3 and is the first 2026 player to commit to Mizzou.Â
Mizzou men's basketball coach Dennis Gates speaks with the media on Thursday, March 20, 2025, after a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Drake. (NCAA/Veritone)
Dennis Gates promotes Kyle Smithpeters to Mizzou men's basketball's top assistant spot
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri men's basketball coach Dennis Gates made a slight tweak to his coaching staff Tuesday, promoting assistant coach Kyle Smithpeters to associate head coach.
Smithpeters, who has been on the MU staff for the entirety of Gates' tenure in Columbia, is now the top assistant for the Tigers. That spot was previously occupied by Charlton "C.Y." Young, who departed earlier this offseason for the same job at Miami.
“Kyle has played a pivotal role as we’ve restored Missouri basketball nationally and placed it among the top of the SEC,” Gates said in a statement. “During the last three seasons, his efforts in recruiting and development of student-athletes is one of the key reasons for our success at Mizzou. He has been tremendous at building relationships and locking down top targets before helping them reach their full potential on the court, in the classroom and in the community. He has exceeded all of my expectations and this promotion is well earned as we continue to chase championships.”
Smithpeters was hired after a 10-year stint as the head coach of John A. Logan Community College in Illinois, where he posted a 241-73 record. He's a product of Southern Illinois.
“I’ve enjoyed every aspect of my first three seasons with Missouri basketball and I couldn’t be more thrilled in my new role as associate head coach,” Smithpeters said in a statement. “I’m truly excited about the future as there is so much more that we can accomplish. I’m honored to work with so many great basketball minds on a daily basis. To learn from Coach Gates — from X’s and O’s to game management — has been very fulfilling and I’m looking forward to continuing to build off that as we elevate the Mizzou program even further.”
Missouri's four assistant coaches are David "Dickey" Nutt, Ryan Sharbaugh, Matt Cline and Steve Wright.
Mizzou coach Dennis Gates speaks with the media on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, a day before their NCAA Tournament game vs. Drake. (NCAA/Veritone)
What to know about Mizzou, revenue sharing as House settlement takes effect Tuesday
COLUMBIA, Mo. — College sports’ latest watershed moment is here.
There’s been a growing flow of change related to the landmark legal settlement in recent months, and it’s hardly the only turning point seen in college athletics over the last several years.
Still, Tuesday marks a critical juncture in how college sports work. It’s the date that the House v. NCAA settlement, more commonly referred to as the House settlement, takes effect and ushers in new rules and structures for paying college athletes.
How it’ll work at Missouri — and nationally, for that matter — can be confusing, especially for those of us who don’t have a law degree or full-time compliance staffers like an athletics department does. Here’s a rundown of what we know, what we don’t know and what could be coming next:
What will athletes receive?
If you’ve only just wrapped your head around the idea of college athletes receiving name, image and likeness compensation, get ready to learn something new. The pay landscape has changed.
The House settlement allows schools to “share” up to $20.5 million in revenue with their athletes this season, establishing a limit akin to pro sports leagues’ salary caps. That number will rise slightly from season to season.
Mizzou, like nearly every power conference program, will spend the full $20.5 million on its 2025-26 sports year rosters.
Functionally, though, it’s only $18 million: Southeastern Conference schools have agreed to count $2.5 million in added scholarships each toward the cap. Don’t sweat that detail too much, though. The key point is that the Tigers will be maxing out their revenue-sharing spending.
The more interesting revenue-sharing numbers may be the ones we don’t know: how MU will divvy up the money between its 18 sports teams.
Athletics director Laird Veatch has declined to specify, citing a competitive advantage. He has said that not all sports will receive revenue-sharing funds and that “the bulk” will go to football and men’s basketball.
That’s no surprise. Other schools that have shared their breakdowns often have football receiving 75% and men’s basketball 15% of the funds.
If Missouri uses the same split as its 2024 NIL spending, it may give a larger share to men’s basketball. But that remains to be seen.
Is NIL still a thing?
Yes, and it’s the next competitive frontier.
On top of the revenue sharing that will come directly from schools, athletes can receive third-party NIL deals, too. Schools could, for example, pay out $18 million in revenue sharing but have another $5 million in NIL funds.
It’s not that simple, though. Now, NIL deals worth more than $600 must be approved by a national clearinghouse that will vet them to make sure the athletes are doing a fair amount of promotional work to receive the money. In theory, the days of pay-for-play masquerading as NIL are over.
Finding this kind of NIL support will be vital for a program like Mizzou to compete in a conference like the SEC, where every school will meet the revenue-sharing cap and seek to stand out with extra NIL opportunities.
“We’re going to need our businesses, our sponsors to really embrace that as part of the new era,” Veatch said a few weeks ago when the settlement was approved.
Every True Tiger, the MU-affiliated marketing agency that has run the school’s NIL operations over the past couple of years, will also play a key role in helping arranging these deals — and in overseeing the distribution of revenue-sharing funds.
How will roster limits work?
The idea of roster limits held up settlement approval in federal court when U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken took issue with how they’d work. Scholarship limits will go away, but each sport will have a limit on how many players can be on the roster.
While that means more athletes will receive scholarships, there will be fewer overall spots for them — which was an issue many objectors to the settlement raised. The compromise to appease Wilken was that current athletes who’d stand to lose their roster spot could be grandfathered in and remain on the team, even if it pushes the roster above the limit, albeit at their school’s discretion.
Those players have been dubbed “designated student-athletes,” and a list of them must be submitted by July 6. As of a few weeks ago, Missouri was still having internal discussions about how to handle DSAs.
“It’s something that we work with our coaches on,” Veatch said. “They still have the authority and ability to determine their rosters.”
What’s next?
In one sense, college sports will enter a wait-and-see period. Will everyone play by these new rules? How strict will the NIL clearinghouse be? What will happen if (or when) there’s a breach of that procedure? How will schools’ cap management tactics evolve? What will the market for high school and transfer athletes look like? Which schools will be able to sustain the added expense of revenue-sharing?
There might not be as much patience in courtrooms, though. A legal challenge to the House settlement on the basis of Title IX and the vast majority of revenue-sharing funds heading to football and men’s basketball is in the works. Some legal experts have pondered whether the NIL clearinghouse could face an antitrust challenge. The courts are likely to continue shaping the future of college sports.
Is all of this good or bad for Mizzou?
It’s hard to say. The Tigers asserted themselves well during the NIL era, particularly after a progressive state law was passed in 2023. The recruiting success of Eli Drinkwitz and the MU football program since that point is not a coincidence.
Mizzou’s operational structure with Every True Tiger, which shifted from NIL collective to marketing agency a couple of years ago, ought to be a big benefit. There will be financial pressure on an athletics department that has run a deficit lately, but that’s not especially unique to Missouri.
Veatch and his department have been confident about MU’s plan of attack in the revenue-sharing era. It’s not a guarantee that recent success will continue, but the Tigers have momentum headed into this latest shift in the rules.
Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz speaks with the media on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. about the NCAA House settlement lawsuit. (Video by Mizzou Network, used with permission of Mizzou Athletics)
Hochman: Mizzou's Sophie Cunningham is now a star as Caitlin Clark's WNBA enforcer
She chased her down, and suddenly, it was “Wrestling at the Chase.”
Sophie Cunningham viciously yanked Kacy Sheldon onto the hardwood.
Sheldon and a teammate both shoved Sophie, who grabbed the back of Sheldon’s hair and taunted: “Do something!”
Players and officials quickly broke up the fight, and while Cunningham stood coolly and chomped on her gum, the crowd chanted: “Soph-ie! Soph-ie! Soph-ie!”
The state of Missouri has produced pro wrestlers Randy Orton, Harley Race, Lou Thesz and more as well as the beloved TV program filmed at the Chase Park Plaza. And here’s the emergence of a new wrestling-like villain — and she has gone viral.
Missouri Tigers basketball legend Sophie Cunningham, dubbed “The Mayor of Columbia,” is now the WNBA’s most famous enforcer. Cunningham is Indiana Fever teammates with the world-famous Caitlin Clark. In a recent game, Sheldon poked Clark in the eye — and Sheldon’s teammate then knocked a wobbly Clark to the ground. Because officials didn’t properly penalize the players, Cunningham stood up for her teammate.
She took matters into her own hands.
Literally.
And what happened next was “the most 2025” thing: Sophie has become a brand. Fans loved what she did — and Clark has the most fans. Cunningham is now a social media star.
It’s been eye-popping, especially considering she’s not a starter and averages 5.6 points per game. Before the incident, Cunningham had 300,000 followers on TikTok — as of Sunday, she had 1.4 million followers. And this past weekend, she cracked the 1 million mark for Instagram followers (for comparison, here are the follower totals for the 2024 All-WNBA team: Clark (3.4 million), A’ja Wilson (1.3 million), Breanna Stewart (476,000), Napheesa Collier (246,000) and Alyssa Thomas (77,000)).
Cunningham’s No. 8 Fever jersey reportedly sold out. And numerous websites have started to sell Sophie shirts.
“She now is known,” Mizzou women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper said. “We already knew Sophie, right? And now the whole world knows who Sophie is. ... You know, Sophie is not going to back down to anybody. And she’s just a tough competitor. She’s one of the most competitive people that I’ve ever coached against (while the head coach at Tennessee). She wants to win, she loves it and she’s the kind of person that is going to do whatever she needs to do. ...
“I think she does love Mizzou and represents it well. She always cares about the program. What I love about her? I think she’s a great story. I think here’s a Missouri kid that went to Mizzou, and I’m telling you, she’s self-made. I mean, she worked her tail off. Ad her grit and toughness that defined her? That’s what made her. When she was in high school, I remember watching her — she wasn’t the best shooter back then, she wasn’t the most skilled, but she was going to find a way to win. And there’s such a value in that.”
I covered Cunningham during her days at Mizzou — she was one of my favorite players to watch because of her rare combination of grit and grace. Her games were events. She scored a bunch and bruised a bunch of opponents. She would raise her arms to raise the arena noise level. And after the game, she would sign dozens of autographs for young girls.
In a 2017 column from Columbia, Cunningham’s sister, Lindsey, told me: “I guess people obviously in the past have referred to (her physical play) as dirty, but I don’t think she ever plays dirty. And the perception on the court is totally the opposite of the person she is off the court, once people get to know her. Dirty doesn’t come into their minds — more goofy, dorky and all over the place. But it’s really cool how she’s able to flip that switch ... and turn into a total beast on the court.”
Now, obviously, what Cunningham did to Kacy Sheldon was dirty. It was a flagrant foul. And Cunningham, 28, has racked up her share of tough fouls given in her previous seasons, all with the Phoenix Mercury. Along the way, Cunningham has evolved into a player who other players like to play with.
And she also knows how to play the game.
Even before the famous foul, Cunningham had more followers than many WNBA players, notable considering the 6-foot-1 guard has averaged just 7.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in her pro career. In her social media posts, Cunningham flashes a lot of personality and goofiness — she doesn’t take herself too seriously. Yet when she makes her game-day entrances at arenas, she takes it particularly seriously.
For those who don’t know, arena arrivals go viral. Teams record video of players who walk in wearing fashionable outfits — some over the top and showing a lot of skin.
Cunningham has fully embraced these pregame opportunities. There is money to be made with these impromptu fashion shows. And the businesswoman is a business, man.
It will be fun and fascinating to follow Cunningham through this WNBA season. The Fever entered the day 8-8 and third in the Eastern Conference — and an injured Clark has missed some of the season. Cunningham could very well be that X-factor that the Fever needs to storm through the postseason.
“She’s the kind of player that you hated to play against because she wanted to win so bad,” Mizzou’s coach Harper told me earlier this summer.
“I know a lot of people here at Mizzou talk about the will to win. Sophie is the definition of that, and her teammates were better because of her.
“I mean, she rose that program, she rose that team to another level, and I’ve always admired her.”
