Who is Mizzou’s next big time pass rusher?

Elite defenses person elite walk rushers and projecting sack totals is not a one-to-one exercise.

Like galore things successful football, individual accomplishment contributes a batch but luck besides plays a large factor.

Did you play a batch of mobile quarterbacks? Did you look a slate of peculiarly lackluster walk protecting violative lines? Did you extremity up going against a bunch of offenses that emotion to propulsion nan shot successful little than a second?

All of this tin lend to nan “luck” information of walk rushing that is mostly retired of nan power of individual walk rushers.

That’s why you tin look astatine “pressures generated”, successful summation to sacks, to get a amended thought of nan caliber of walk rushing talent connected nan roster.

Just for illustration really you tin get a bully thought of a protect secondary’s likelihood of intercepting nan shot based connected deflections, truthful excessively tin you get a amended thought of sack procreation based disconnected of pressures generated.

Lets look at, say, Zion Young arsenic an example:

Young was capable to create a bully magnitude of unit successful ‘24 but wasn’t capable to present connected nan hits aliases sacks. But nan centrifugal and accomplishment was there, and nan adjacent year, he exploded pinch 8 times nan QB hits and complete double nan sacks.

So, which separator rushers person nan chance to make a akin leap successful ‘26? Let’s return a look:

Let maine opportunity upfront, “Defensive End” successful nan Corey Batoon parlance is not your accepted walk rusher. Batoon does utilize a 4-2-5-ish alignment, but his protect statement is much intimately related to a 3-4 protect statement than your emblematic 4 man front. And successful a 3 man alignment, your protect extremity is simply a bigger feline who plays over/around an violative tackle and sets nan separator successful tally plays. They tin still upwind up generating unit connected a backmost successful a passing situation, but it’s not really their main focus.

Anyway, Kitchen and Jones are nan projected two-deep for Missouri’s lone DE position and their walk rushing numbers backmost up their roles. Kitchen is nan much prolific of nan 2 successful position of rushing nan passer and could beryllium a acheronian equine campaigner to make nan walk rushing leap, but neither of nan gentlemen listed supra logged a sack past year. Besides, it’s bully to spot what they’ve done but that position is much of luxury successful nan walk rushing section and we’re not really looking to them to make nan walk rushing leap.

However, to wholly undermine everything I conscionable wrote, Zion Young was technically playing nan protect extremity position past twelvemonth and was awesome astatine rushing nan passer. Anyway.

The JACKs, connected nan different hand, are your extracurricular linebacker/edge rushing hybrids whose (nearly) sole occupation is to unreserved nan backmost and create pressure, deed nan passer, and bring him down. And Missouri’s existent roster has 2 guys pinch documented imaginable to leap to elite walk rushing territory: Darris Smith and Kamauryn Morgan. Both person unit complaint percentages that are superior to what Young did successful his first twelvemonth astatine Mizzou which is nan cardinal stat we’re looking astatine here. Obviously, some Smith and Morgan person a higher pedigree than Young coming retired of precocious schoolhouse but it’s bully to spot nan walk rushing imaginable present. Daeden Hopkins and Malik Bryant didn’t do overmuch from nan walk rushing section successful ‘25 but they besides mixed for 77 snaps full truthful I’m little concerned astir nan deficiency of accumulation there.

This is nan group we should look to for nan adjacent awesome walk rusher and Smith has nan concealed stat that flashes “UPSIDE”. Assuming he tin scope that upside this year, nan Tigers will person their signature walk rusher to anchor nan havoc efforts. If they person different (or, heck, 3 total?) past you tin spot a defense that won’t spot overmuch driblet disconnected successful statement production. If Smith (or anyone) doesn’t make that leap past this statement will beryllium successful problem and will request nan interior statement aliases linebackers to prime up nan slack connected thing that they’re usually not asked to do.

Mizzou has candidates to supply nan walk rushing “oomph” that they mislaid erstwhile Damon Wilson transferred to Miami and Zion Young graduated. There are galore parts of a defense that request to click successful bid for nan full effort to activity and rushing nan passer is surely 1 of them. Doing this workout made maine consciousness amended astir nan potential of this group successful 2026 (and overmuch much appreciative of nan unit nabbing Morgan retired of nan portal) but, until it is seen, it will stay a mobility people of precocious value that must beryllium answered successful nan affirmative this fall.