Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula jogs to his starting position during a practice drill on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at the Mizzou Athletics Training Complex in Columbia, Mo.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Who’s more important to a college football program: a star safety or a leading wide receiver? A punter or an edge rusher?
These are the kinds of questions on this beat writer’s mind as the summer sun burns hot upon the start of talking season. The Southeastern Conference’s media days are a couple of weeks away. Then comes fall camp and, in less than two months’ time now, actual games.
So what better time than now to identify and rank the 25 most important players on the Missouri football roster heading into the 2025 season?
Two notes before getting to the names, numbers and logic behind their rankings: First, this is most important, not best. There’s a difference. Second, this is the first in an occasional series of Mizzou-related “top 25” rankings that will come out over the next week or so. Some will be present-minded like this one. Others will look back at the past quarter-century of MU sports as 2025 is a convenient year for that kind of exercise.
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Now, ranked from No. 25 to No. 1, the most important Mizzou football players for this upcoming season:
Is this the year offensive lineman Logan Reichert (No. 25) finds a real role — maybe at right guard?
Fellow redshirt sophomore Johnny Williams IV (No. 24) is the left tackle of the future but could be ready sooner.
Josiah Trotter (No. 23) was a freshman All-American at West Virginia last season and will rotate at linebacker early on — until he breaks out as a star.
Safety Marvin Burks Jr. (No. 22) has played 865 career snaps through two seasons, but MU needs more after a rocky 2024.
Was wideout Marquis Johnson‘s (No. 21) 122-yard outing in the Music City Bowl a sign of what’s to come with more targets?
Don’t forget about one-time Georgia transfer Darris Smith coming off the edge. He’s No. 20 because he’s a relative unknown after missing 2024 with a preseason knee injury, but the athleticism and upside are still present.
Connor Weselman is the Tigers’ new punter and No. 19 here. The Stanford transfer hasn’t punted in a game since 2023, and Missouri won’t want to see rust.
What will starting cornerback Drey Norwood (No. 18) bring in his final season of college football? He notched two picks last season but is still a step shy of elite status.
If this was a ranking of biggest personalities, defensive end Zion Young would be a lot higher than No. 17. Maybe he’s the next top-end pass rusher to come out of Mizzou.
Defensive tackle Chris McClellan wants a say in that matter, too, at No. 16. He has three years of SEC experience at this point, and the Tigers could use a dominant force in the interior.
MU received a nice surprise over the winter when an eligibility waiver for junior college products allowed outside linebacker Triston Newson (No. 15) to come back for a final season. He’s got a nose for the ball and now a bonus season to star in black and gold.
Connor Tollison is one of the best returning centers in college football, back for one more season at Missouri after a leg injury cut short his 2024 campaign. He’d be higher in a talent ranking but is No. 14 here because of a surprisingly strong backup behind him.
At No. 13 is wideout Kevin Coleman Jr., who’s returning to his home state to don the No. 3 jersey and fill Mizzou’s slot position. He’s a proven talent, but the Tigers didn’t get as much out of Luther Burden III in that position as seemed possible. How much volume will they funnel to Coleman?
Entering his third season as the starting hybrid safety, or STAR, Daylan Carnell feels due for some dominance. Playing one of the centerpiece positions in coordinator Corey Batoon’s system, Carnell comes in at No. 12 here.
Replacing a first-round draft pick is no small task, but Wake Forest transfer Keagen Trost is taking on the challenge. No. 11 on this list, he locked down the job in the spring.
Time for the first real tricky pick: Where should quarterback Sam Horn go on the list? He’ll compete for the starting job in the fall but faces an uphill battle after spending key parts of the spring with Missouri’s baseball team. Even if he winds up as the backup, though, he’s still important — look at what Drew Pyne meant to the Tigers last season. That’s good for No. 10 on the importance ladder.
Damon Wilson II, at No. 9, was a splashy portal get from Georgia over the offseason and has the makings of an elite edge rusher. Think of some past pass-rushing greats to come out of Mizzou, and his value could be high if he can match that standard.
Is there a spot more important on the offensive line than left tackle? It’ll be up for competition going into fall camp, but Florida State transfer Jaylen Early (No. 8) stands a good chance of winning it. He’s a proven run blocker but the Tigers will need his pass protection to step up to give a new starting quarterback time to operate.
If there’s a dimension for the Missouri offense to grow into this season, it’s in tight end usage. Having Brett Norfleet healthy would help in that endeavor. The pass game just looks better when he’s available, which puts him No. 7 on this list.
One defensive player made life especially difficult for the starting quarterback suitors during spring ball: safety Jalen Catalon, who’s No. 6 here — and on his jersey. He’s been an All-SEC talent before. Now at Mizzou, he’s likely to be a top tackler and turnover machine.
MU’s projected next first-round draft pick will line up at left guard. Cayden Green (No. 5) is bringing in preseason All-American honors already, and if he can perform at that level, the entire offense ought to benefit.
What did the Tigers have in 2023 that they didn’t in ’24? Elite cornerback play, for one thing. Toriano Pride Jr. (No. 4) showed flashes of that potential early on last season. If the one-time Clemson transfer can become more consistent, a soft spot in an otherwise sound defense could become a strength.
No team in the country relied on their kicker as much as Missouri leaned on Blake Craig last season: His 34 field goal tries led the nation. While the Tigers want to improve their offense to need a little bit less from him, he’s probably going to be important enough to warrant the No. 3 spot. You know, for how many points a field goal is worth.
When the Mizzou offense is at its best, the run game is firing on all cylinders. And there’s no play more important to the rushing attack than the outside zone, which happens to be new tailback Ahmad Hardy‘s specialty. He’ll need to translate a 1,350-yard season from Louisiana-Monroe to MU, but the No. 2 player on this list packs the kind of punch to pull it off.
Who else could be No. 1 on the list but Beau Pribula, the Penn State transfer now on track to win the starting quarterback job? To be clear, he still needs to lock down that role. But with a demonstrated rushing ability, he fits what the Tigers are looking for. It doesn’t take a gridiron genius to recognize that a good QB makes for a good team.
If Pribula can produce with his legs, show a satisfactory arm and avoid turning the ball over, Missouri ought to be in good shape. If he can be more than that, the entire program’s ceiling goes up by a couple of wins.
Mizzou football offensive coordinator Kirby Moore speaks with the media on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, as the team goes through spring practices. (Video by Mizzou Network, used with permission of Mizzou Athletics)
