There’s been a lot of talk about the Mizzou DE room and the talent through it. But the Tiger LB room has stayed slightly under the radar.
There’s been a lot of talk about the Missouri Tigers’ defensive end room and the talent all throughout it. But the Tiger linebacker room has stayed slightly under the radar.
Returning graduate Triston Newson is confident in the group, though, and his ability to help the whole room improve as he focuses on his leadership.
“I just want to be more vocal, you know, lead the younger guys,” Newson said. “Lead them in the right direction. For myself, I’ll just say … trying to get better every day.”
One of the key members of the room will be senior Khalil Jacobs. The 6-foot-1, 228-pound returning Tiger is back after an injury ended his 2024 season. He suffered the injury in the Tigers’ game at UMass, but has received rave reviews from coach Eliah Drinkwitz and his teammates throughout fall camp.
“He’s going to be a great player,” Newson said of Jacobs. “He’s one of the guys that’s doing extra. Every chance he gets, he’s doing extra. So that’s a great sign, you love to see that.”
Newcomer
Along with the pair of returners, the Tigers added a freshman All-American through the transfer portal. Missouri brought in West Virginia’sJosiah Trotter and the 6-2, 237-pound redshirt sophomore has impressed many Tigers through fall camp.
“Work ethic, same as Khalil,” Newson said of what’s impressed him about Trotter. “That’s something we’re trying to work on, you know, doing extra. Extra film, extra after practice. … Josiah, he’s gonna be great, too.”
But while the linebacker room has gone under the radar nationally, it hasn’t escaped Drinkwitz’s attention that there is talent throughout the room.
As he kicked off fall camp he called the room “As deep a position as I think we could have.”
And Newson said that knowledge and belief from their coach has only encouraged those in the room.
“Extra confidence. I feel like every day, each one of us gets each other better,” Newson said. “No matter who’s starting or none of that, all of us, we work off each other and get better every day.”
But with such a deep room, there aren’t enough opportunities for everyone to be involved on the defense. Which means the staff has had to convince quality linebackers that making an impact on special teams is just as important.
And the staff has also convinced the players that the depth is nothing but good. Every player knows they can go all out on every play because there’s no step down in quality when they come off the field.
“We want to go out there and give everything we got each rep. If I do that, I know somebody, they’re going to come in behind me and be just as good as me. You know, he’s gonna come in, go 100 percent on his rep until he gets tired and starts tapping his helmet. Then somebody else comes in, fresh legs.”
Click here to discuss this story in the story thread.
Or click here to discuss fall camp as a whole in our Fall Camp Mega Thread.
Category: General Sports
