Spring Ball Check-In with Mizzou’s 2024 Opponents (Part 2)

College football’s long haul of an offseason is turning the corner, as we are beginning to talk actual ball on these pages, and not just boardroom drama, and roster construction. Missouri has a football schedule to play this fall, and we are going to check in with all 12 teams on it. We started with the first six yesterday, and wrap up with the next six today, going in alphabetical order instead of schedule order. What? I needed more time to research Murray State and UMass. Alabama is easy.

Murray State

Ja Morant is not walking through that door. The Racers are a bad football program at the FCS level, going 2-9 last season and firing head coach Dean Hood. They were not competitive in either FBS game, losing 59-0 to Louisville and 35-14 to common opponent Middle Tennessee State. Their best player was tight end Cole Rusk, an FCS all-American and their leading receiver, who is now playing for Illinois. They will replace starting quarterback DJ Williams, who also hit the portal.

New head coach Jody Wright was coaching tight ends on Shane Beamer’s South Carolina staff when he was tabbed to lead this program. He has an impressive resume, working in the NFL and on Nick Saban ‘Bama staffs, mostly as TE coach, run game coordinator, and recruiting coordinator roles. He has received praise for his recruiting organization and hard work; most of the press around this Murray State team is focused on his energy and charisma. He carried an open mic during the spring game, for instance. His career doesn’t point to any schematic overhaul; just competent ground games. If he can bring that to his Racers, that will be a step up from recent campaigns.

Oklahoma

The Sooners visit Columbia for the first time since 2010, and what a party that was for the home team. While this isn’t much of a rivalry on Winsipedia, it’s got some juice to it in online recruiting and message board circles. A win over an old Big 8 bully would be massive for the program’s bona fides.

How likely is that? The Oklahoma defensive line whipped their counterparts in the spring game; that’s good news for their defense but bad news for an offensive line that is replacing all five starters from last year. Blue chip quarterback Jackson Arnold will be driving the bus this year, but he will actually need to have time to get the ball to an excellent wide receiver corps. Oklahoma quietly won ten games last year, mostly with an excellent, efficient offense. It’s possible they step back this year on that side of the ball while improving on defense, as Brent Venables continues to re-install what was lost during the Lincoln Riley era.

South Carolina

It is getting close to put up or shut up time for Shane Beamer. Unfortunately, I don’t think he has a good enough roster for “put up,” and he has no desire to ever “shut up.” Coach Skits n Bits has so far failed to capitalize on the promise of his high school recruiting efforts, and his program has became somewhat of a transfer portal turnstile. Once again, it is a parade of talent out, and a parade of talent in.

The keys to the car are going to be given to redshirt freshman Lanoris Sellers, a talented runner but inexperienced passer. The offensive line again looks shaky. Arkansas’s Rocket Sanders is the new lead back and Nyck Harbor is back at receiver, but these groups are thin. Perhaps this is the year it all comes together, but if it doesn’t, how many more of these seasons does Beamer get?

Texas A&M

For years the college football world got off their jokes about Jimbo Fisher doing “less with more,” building elite rosters at Texas A&M and letting them go to waste. New head coach Mike Elko proved his ball-coach chops at Duke and has a chance to properly capitalize on all this assembled talent.

A few big names are gone, like Ainais Smith, Evan Stewart, Walter Nolen, and Edgerrin Cooper. But a lot of really talented players remain. The Conor Weigman breakout is long overdue, and Reuben Owens and Le’Veon Moss will be an elite backfield. Missouri will be facing the Collin Klein offense for the third season in a row, as the former Kansas State coordinator is now calling the plays for these Aggies. Defensive end Nic Scourton, a Purdue transfer, is a pass-rushing nightmare and has a chance to be one of the best defensive players in the league.

One day this program will put it all together — will it be when they appear on the Tigers’ schedule?

UMass

UMass might field the worst program overall in FBS. Their final season as an independent will be cruel, as they face three SEC opponents. Longtime defensive coordinator Don Brown leads this program, which projects to be 118th in the country in preseason SP+. Quarterback Taisun Phommachanh is back, but thousand-yard rusher Kayron Lynch-Adams transferred to Michigan State. The Minutemen are in for another long year, even if the fiery Brown is slowly bringing a little more fight to the defense.

Vanderbilt

Clark Lea is entering year four at the toughest power conference job in the country. After a promising 5-7 step forward in 2022, the ‘Dores regressed to 2-10 last season — then lost a wave of contributors. It’s hard to run a good portal program at an academics-first school, but Lea did go shopping in that store in earnest this off-season. The biggest name is new quarterback Diego Pavia, a fearless gunslinger who you might remember from our game against New Mexico State in 2022. But a good wide receiver room has completely emptied out, and it’s hard to see a path to competitiveness in the SEC.