Kick-off to the 2019 college football season is a mere 93 days away and Missouri coach Barry Odom will field the most talented team in his tenure at his alma mater with no fewer than eight preseason All-SEC players in place to catapult the program to Top-25 status, barring unforeseen injuries to any of the standouts.
Headlining the select group that could be instrumental in staking claim to Odom and his staff’s first 10-win season is Athlon Sports preseason All-SEC first team senior linebacker Cale Garrett, senior guard Tre’ Vour Wallace-Simms and junior tight end Albert Okwuegbunam.
Junior running back Larry Rountree, III landed on the preseason All-SEC second team while senior cornerback DeMarkus Acy and senior defensive tackle Jordan Elliott earned preseason All-SEC third team selection. Rounding out the Tigers’ candidates for honors were junior center Trystan Colon-Castillo and senior kicker Tucker McCann who placed on the fourth team.
That’s a wealth of talent, for starters, that lends to an experienced group that’s sure to finally garner the respect of fellow Southeastern Conference schools and national media as Missouri enters its eighth season in the country’s most visible and vaunted league. But no one player will have as big an impact on the season’s success than Clemson transfer Kelly Bryant.
The 6’4”, 220 pound quarterback brings a winning pedigree with him from Dabo Swinney’s 2018 national championship trophy-toting Tigers. With plenty of preseason All-SEC talent on board, Bryant stands tall, seasoned, battle-tested and fully knowledgeable as to what it takes to help a team consistently play and register wins at a high level.
He is the consummate leader on and off of the field, in the locker room, classroom and public. Bryant is a sound bite in waiting after a good or bad performance. He is polished and knows how to develop trusting relationships with his coaches and teammates. Bryant may not win games with a cannon-like arm of predecessor Drew Lock, but he will win games with his football savvy, accurate passing and his ability to make plays with his legs.
Mizzou won the Bryant Sweepstakes and Tiger fans who weren’t sold on the university’s decision to move to the powerful conference, to begin with, will find themselves sold that the idea wasn’t such a bad one after all.
Sure, it’s taken time to adjust to the rigors of the competition, even following the program’s early success on the football field, success that hasn’t been proven to be sustainable just yet but this could certainly be the year, with Bryant under center as well as front-and-center, that Missouri gains the traction to becoming a consistently ranked, national power.
Convincing those straddling the fence to buy in and fully embrace the upward trending direction of Odom’s program may take some additional time but Bryant’s presence and exploits with the pigskin in hand may be too exciting to ignore.
Who knows? With contributions from graduate transfer receiver Jonathan Nance (a lock to start following an impressive spring) along with big-play-potential returnees Jonathan Johnson and Jalen Knox to complement Okwuegbunam and Rountree, the offense could be very dynamic with the ability and versatility to score a ton of points. The defense is shaping up as a strength as well with sophomore
Linebacker Nick Bolton set to make his presence felt as a regular. Acy will team with fellow corner Christian Holmes to form one of the SEC’s best cornerback tandems. If any combination of defensive ends Akial Byers, Trajan Jeffcoat, Chris Turner and Jatorian Hansford can supply ample pressure off the edge and a suffocating pass rush, this could turn out to be the magical year that many lifetime season ticket holders have only been able to dream of and naysayers doubted would ever happen.
If it does, Kelly Bryant, the linchpin and trump card of the entire operation that is Missouri Football 2019, will assuredly stand taller than his 6’4” frame.
