Offensive line position battle update
The Missouri Tigers entered fall camp with a couple of questions along the offensive line.
Who would play left tackle? What about right guard?
But there were a few certainties coming in. All-SEC first-team preseason left guard Cayden Green was back to man his same spot, while three-year starting center Connor Tollison was back for one more season after recovering from an injury.
Add on that Wake Forest transfer Keagen Trost had solidified the right tackle spot in spring practice and the Tigers seemed to be in a good position to get the final two spots figured out. Especially after Michigan transfer Dominick Giudice seemed to win the right guard job through the first weeks of fall camp.
But after Missouri’s second scrimmage of fall camp, Tiger coach Eliah Drinkwitz sent a message.
“We’re gonna make a chance next week and see,” Drinkwitz said. “We’re gonna, we’re gonna make some, some adjustments next week and see if we can’t find, you know, the goal is to get the best five. And se we still got two more weeks to get there. And so next week, we’ll make a change and we’re going to see if we ot a different starting five next week.”
The change comes
Through the first two weeks of camp, redshirt junior Jayven Richardson was getting left tackle reps with the first team, while West Virginia transfer Johnny Williams was taking second team reps at left tackle.
Then came the next practice after Drinkwitz’s message.
And out came preseason All-SEC guard Green at left tackle.
Giudice had moved over to left guard and redshirt junior Curtis Peagler had jumped into the right guard spot.
“Just the way Curtis Peagler and (redshirt junior center) Tristan Wilson have been playing and performing,” Drinkwitz said of what led to the change. “… Tristan and Curtis are competing at the right guard position and Jayven’s competing at the left tackle position. And competition is a great thing.”
Which leaves the expected Tiger offensive line at:
- Green at left tackle
- Giudice at left guard
- Tollison at center
- Peagler at right guard
- Trost at right tackle
“Just hard work and dedication,” Peagler said of what’s led to this point after he started working with the first time. “It took me a minute. Obviously, I’ve been here a minute. But it took me a while to king of hone in, gather myself and work my technique. … I think I just had to take it upon myself and make that step.”
Where does that leave things?
Richardson has worked with the second team at left tackle, Williams has moved over to the right tackle spot with the second team.
Redshirt sophomore Logan Reichert has moved into the two-deep at right guard as he’s moved up to work with the second team, while Florida State transfer redshirt senior Jaylen Early has been working with the second team at left guard.
And Wilson has become the almost surefire backup center for this season.
“If something happened to Connor, we would start Tristan at center,” Drinkwitz said. “And Dom would stay at guard. But that would be, you know, like I said, like, there’s times right now where I get mad at Connor and I’m just like, ‘Hey, put Tristan in.’ Because he, you know, he’s playing really well. So we got, we got no problems on sliding that in.”
Drinkwitz said the rise of Peagler and Wilson has been one of the biggest things that has stuck out to him during camp.
While he expected to have a handful of quality backups along the offensive line, he said he didn’t expect to have multiple players he thinks of as starter-quality outside of the main five.
“I didn’t know that we were going to have two young guys really develop into solid, I think, SEC offensive linemen with Tristan Wilson and Curtis Peagler,” Drinkwitz said. “You know, those guys have kind of been penciled in as maybe, you know, quality backups. I’m telling you right now, those guys can play at a high level in this, this league. And you know that has been really something to watch.”
Should fans be worried?
Only time will tell.
Will Green live up to his first-team All-SEC preseason spot at left guard when he moves out to left tackle?
He was a tackle coming out of high school and played there some at Oklahoma as a true freshman. He has the ability to do it.
“It’s something that he’s worked towards,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s something that when he first got here, he did. He wasn’t as comfortable, so we moved him into left guard. Played really, really high-level. But now he’s more comfortable and confident as a player. So it gives us the freedome to slide him out.”
What about Giudice at left guard? He was a backup center for most of his time at Michigan after switching from defensive line to offensive line as a sophomore.
Now he’s spent most of camp working at right guard and has had to switch sides.
“The thing about Dom is, he is like the glue that holds that whole group together,” Drinkwitz said. “I think the way he has asserted himself as the leader of the offensive line, it’s been remarkable. … He can play center, he can play right guard, he can play left guard, he can play them all at a really, really high level.”
Fans know what to expect from Tollison at center and Trost has as much experience playing college football as you can have.
So the Tigers seem confident in their ability to make a change late in camp to figure out who exactly are their best five offensive linemen.
“All the worry about, ‘Oh man, we’re moving a man,’ that’s, that’s ridiculous,” Drinkwitz said. “Don’t worry about it. I promise you, we know what we’re doing with that. We’ll be just fine.”
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