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On a critical two-point conversion last fall, he pursued the Mizzou ball carrier when — goodnight! — Stewart experienced his own 6-foot-5 nightmare.

Mizzou pulling left guard Cayden Green stymied Stewart. Green blocked and corralled the kid as a Tigers teammate scurried by for the score.

And then, Green shoved Stewart for good measure.

“To play offensive line, you’ve got to be mean,� Mizzou tight end Brett Norfleet said. “And I mean, he’s mean.�

Mizzou’s best football player? Mean Cayden Green. Pound for pound, here’s thinking he’s better than quarterbacks Beau Pribula and Sam Horn, running back Ahmad Hardy, safety Jalen Catalon or receiver Kevin Coleman Jr.

OK, so at an April event in St. Charles, Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz admitted: “We want to be a team that can score at will.� The skills of the skill players will be key, but having Green on the offensive line means meanness — and that means domination.

No, they don’t have five Cayden Greens on the line. Heck, there’s still a battle to see who the startling left tackle will even be (kind of an important job). But as the tight end Norfleet said, “When the five offensive linemen are out there on the field, they all kind of got to play as one, right?�

I’ll admit: It’s hard to zero in on a certain offensive lineman when you’re watching a game. There’s a swirl of compacted action — and our eyes are naturally drawn to the ball. But there is beauty in the muck of the trenches. of Green and you’ll see what SEC coaches see: a marquee mauler. That’s why Green was named to the SEC’s preseason first team; incidentally, so was South Carolina’s Stewart.

And Green was the only Missouri Tiger on the first team (receiver Coleman Jr. made the third team, while no Mizzou defensive players earned the honors).

So why is Green so great?

“I think it’s a combination of size and athleticism, in terms of flexibility up front,� Mizzou offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said of the Kansas City-area native who previously played for Oklahoma in 2023. “And being able to move guys, stretch guys, he just does a really good job in pass protection.

“There’s a lot of speed and size on the interior in this conference. And last season, I think that developed (with Green) as the season went on, playing against some of the guys he was. And obviously being with Armand (Membou), I think that helped him with his development, being high school teammates.�

Imagine playing quarterback for Lee’s Summit North High and having Green and Membou, the seventh pick in the 2025 NFL draft, on your offensive line.

Membou is now in green with the New York Jets, while Green still dons the black and gold of Old Missouri. And Green is coming off one of his best games: the hotly contested Music City Bowl game against Iowa. Per Pro Football Focus, he played on 41 pass-blocking snaps and didn’t allow a single pressure (and he earned a spectacular 82.7 pass block grade from the site).

And to think, he can be better.

“His attention to detail has improved quite a bit,� offensive line coach Brandon Jones said. “From a technique standpoint, really focusing on his pass protection, just being able to punch consistently in pass pro(tection) and his second steps in the run game. But really, that’s what has stood out the most — it’s been very, very specific with his technique and what he wants to improve on.�

As a blocker, Green is proud of his 2025 accomplishments already — that being blocking out accolades, such as making first-team All-SEC.

“That stuff, I try to block it out,� he said. “But you know, I’m always hungry. I want this team to win really bad. So that’s my motivation, every day — my guys in the locker room are my motivation to work every day. Yeah, that’s why I come to work every day and I give my all.�

Norfleet said his locker is next to Green’s, so he has a particular perspective on the budding star.

“He’s just super-smart,� Norfleet said. “Him and that whole entire group works their (butt) off. You know, I’m super-excited to play next to them and also watch them.�

Scoring at will? We’ll see. But the good news is it all starts with Mizzou’s best football player in the trenches.