Here’s how Missouri football’s offensive line shapes up heading into fall camp

Missouri football’s offensive line took the biggest step forward of any position group between 2022 and 2023.

That progression was briefly put in peril as MU lost two starters to the next level, but the Tigers have added some major portal pieces to bridge the gap into the 2024 season.

Mizzou is moving forward without experienced left tackle Javon Foster and ever-present left guard Xavier Delgado. Foster was a fourth-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars, while Delgado received a camp invite from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Aside from those two, Missouri kept the rest of the line in tact from the unit that was a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s top offensive line.

Here is how Missouri’s offensive line looks heading into fall camp. Every scholarship player and notable walk-on is mentioned:

The options for Missouri football along the offensive line

Starters: LT: Marcus Bryant, sr.; LG: Cayden Green, so.; C: Connor Tollison, jr.; RG: Cam’Ron Johnson, sr.; RT: Armand Membou, jr.

Reserves: Logan Reichert, r-fr.; Mitchell Walters, sr.; Jayven Richardson, so.; Drake Heismeyer, sr.; Tristan Wilson, so.; Talan Chandler, fr.; Curtis Peagler, so.; Brandon Solis, r-fr.; Ryan Jostes, fr.; Caleb Pyfrom, fr.

Oklahoma transfer Cayden Green and SMU transfer Marcus Bryant were both top-200 players available in the transfer portal, per On3’s rankings, and will likely replace the outbound Xavier Delgado and Javon Foster.

Other than that, the Missouri line is just continuing on from 2023. Connor Tollison, Cam’Ron Johnson and Armand Membou should retain their starting roles.

Junior college transfer Jayven Richardson will likely serve as Mizzou’s primary backup tackle or sixth man, and Kansas City native Logan Reichert and St. Louis product Mitchell Walters were active participants in a spring camp competition for starting reps at right guard.

The upside

Preseason prognostication suggests this is one of the better offensive lines in the SEC.

Bryant was an all-AAC first-team selection last season. Green started for Oklahoma as a freshman and was the No. 13 overall player available in the transfer portal this offseason, per On3’s rankings. Tollison, Johnson and Membou were sturdy as can be for the Tigers in 2023, with Membou in particular emerging as one of the top tackles in the league.

That’s a promising group as the team enters fall camp.

One question or concern

Missouri has landed two extremely promising options for, presumably, the left-hand side of its line in Bryant and Green … but that’s still 40% of its offensive line, and Bryant, who was a spring portal addition, is still to go through his first practices as a Tiger.

On an area of the field that needs to be intimately in sync, any change necessitates an adjustment period.

So, the concern is how quickly this new group will gel. There’s every chance that goes swimmingly and this is never a worry at all. There’s also a world where it takes a second. The good news for MU is that there aren’t many teams through the first four weeks that should bully the O-Line, but it’ll need to be at full speed by early October.

Breakout candidate

The under-the-radar candidate here is Mitchell Walters at right guard, and here’s why that’s the case:

Johnson will likely start at right guard, where he started 12 games last season. He repped through the spring at left guard, which means if either of Bryant or Green are forced onto the sideline at any point, Johnson is heading probably heading to that side. If right guard opens up, there’s reason to believe Walters is next in line.

“I think he's gotten stronger. He's better technique-wise. He's better fundamentally,” MU coach Eli Drinkwitz said in March. … “He focuses on just executing his job, which I think has been a huge addition.”

Walters played 13 games in 2022 with four starts and had somewhat of a rough go of it as Missouri’s line, as a whole, underwhelmed. But Drinkwitz appeared genuine in his praise for the St. Louis native’s development after a season primarily serving on the line of the field-goal unit, which bodes well for his position as a primary reserve in 2024.

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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here’s how Missouri football’s offensive line shapes up heading into fall camp