Missouri football may have Vanderbilt’s quarterback to thank for the strength of its linebackers.
Mizzou’s season-opener for the 2025 campaign against Central Arkansas on Aug. 28 on Faurot Field is less than 50 days away. Fall camp is right around the corner, as the Tigers typically have players report to campus in Columbia over the final weekend of July.
In the offseason, Vandy QB Diego Pavia sued the NCAA, claiming junior college eligibility should not count toward Division-I eligibility. In response, the NCAA issued a blanket, one-year waiver for former JUCO players to return in 2025.
In turn, Mizzou is able to return one of its leading tacklers and top projected linebackers.
Here is how Missouri’s linebackers shape up heading into fall camp, including a projected (but not finalized) depth chart, the upside and possible questions for the room and some snippets of what the coaches said during the spring:
Missouri football projected depth chart at linebacker
Starters:Mike: Josiah Trotter, r-so..; Will: Triston Newson, gr.
Primary rotation:M: Jeremiah Beasley, so.; Brian Huff, r-fr. W: Khalil Jacobs, sr.; Nicholas Rodriguez, so.
Reserves: Dante McClellan, fr.; Jason King, fr.; Brady Hultman, jr.
It would be a surprise if Trotter and Newson don’t end the season with the highest snap counts among MU’s linebackers.
Beyond that, the listed rotation is our best estimate of how Mizzou will line up at linebacker this season. However you want to divide up the reps in the rotation behind the top two is as good a guess as any.
Jacobs, a former South Alabama player under second-year MU defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, should play frequently at weakside linebacker, especially with his familiarity of the DC’s scheme. Rodriguez took his reps there as a rookie, too, and we’d expect to see him take a jump in playing time…
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Publish date : 2025-07-11 08:03:00
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