Mizzou Football's 2026 secondary has a major lack of experience compared to its 2025 unit. This could raise a problem for the Tigers' defense.
Missouri's offseason is far from done. There's still players in the portal the Tigers are targeting — and even a few that are visiting — as of today. But there's one department the Tigers might have just put the finishing touches on: the defensive backs room.
Missouri rostered 16 defensive backs to either play snaps or be on scholarship in 2025, six of which exhausted their final season of eligibility, five of which hit the transfer portal six of which returned for the 2026 season. This means Missouri needed roughly five newcomers to replace remaining the quantity of departed players.
The Tigers did that, and now roster 16 defensive backs for the 2026 season, but Missouri took a different approach to rebuilding the unit. Rather than centering it around experienced starters, the defensive backs' room largely contains unproven rotational players looking to leap into roles of higher-usage. This is a switch from last seasons' cycle.
Heading into the 2025 season, most of Missouri's rotational defensive backs played in high-usage or starting roles the season before.
Missouri's 2025 defensive backs room:
Jalen Catalon, safety, 888 snaps defensive snaps played in 2024 (With UNLV)
Stephen Hall, CB, 881 snaps (With Washington State)
Mose Phillips III, S, 703 snaps (With Virginia Tech)
Drey Norwood, CB, 593 snaps
Daylan Carnell, STAR, 568 snaps
Toriano Pride Jr., CB, 567 snaps
Marvin Burks Jr., S, 552 snaps
Santana Banner, S, 545 snaps (With Northern Illinois)
Nick DeLoach Jr., CB, 372 snaps
Caleb Flagg, S, 144 snaps
Trajen Greco, S, 37 snaps
Shamar McNeil, CB, 32 snaps
Cam Keys, CB, 6 snaps
Nasir Pogue, CB, 6 snaps
CJ Bass III, S (incoming freshman)
Jackson Hancock, S (incoming freshman)
Mark Manfred III, CB (incoming freshman)
Missouri brought in seven newcomers for that 2025 unit, four of which were transfers. The Tigers invested in proven starters like Catalon and Hall, to play similar or slightly-lesser roles at Missouri. That's not the way Missouri went about its business in the 2026 cycle. While it brought in 10 newcomers in the position room — three more than the offseason prior — it instead spread resources across a higher quantity of lesser-proven players who could take a leap.
Banner is the lone exception, having played the most defensive snaps of any returning Tiger and ranking third on the team in tackles.
Missouri's 2026 defensive backs room
Santana Banner, safety, 541 defensive snaps played in 2025
Kensley Louidor-Faustin, STAR, 257 snaps (Auburn transfer)
Trajen Greco, safety, 139 snaps
Sione Laulea, cornerback, 116 snaps (Oregon transfer)
Elijah Dotson, cornerback, 93 snaps (Michigan transfer)
Cam Keys, cornerback, 51 snaps
Nick DeLoach Jr., cornerback, 36 snaps
CJ Bass III, safety, 27 snaps
Jahlil Florence, cornerback, 27 snaps (Oregon transfer)
JaDon Blair, safety, 19 snaps (Notre Dame transfer)
Jackson Hancock, safety, 16 snaps
Jaxson Gates, cornerback (incoming freshman)
Ahmod Billins, cornerback (incoming freshman)
Jayden McGregory, safety (incoming freshman)
Carter Stewart, safety (incoming freshman)
Brody Jones, safety (incoming freshman)
Missouri's 2025 defensive backs room played a combined 5,894 defensive snaps in the 2024 season. Nine players had two or more seasons of experience heading into the season.
The 2026 room — as it stands now — played a combined 1,322 snaps in 2025. Seven players have two or more seasons of experience heading into the season.
That's a towering difference of 4,572 snaps between the units.
Missouri's 2025 secondary wasn't perfect by any means — it had lapses in coverage, struggled with tackling and didn't generate many turnovers — but that was a veteran group. If Missouri's defensive development staff had those problems with an experienced room, the thought of what could come from an inexperienced room is worrisome at the least.
Whichever three corners start on the boundary — be it Dotson, Florence, Laulea, Keys or anyone else — will have less combined 2025 snaps than Missouri's fourth-string cornerback from the 2025 season, Nick DeLoach Jr., did in 2024.
The 2026 group may be talented — many of the newcomers and returners have flashed promise in their short stints on the gridiron — but it's far from proven. At the same time, one could make an argument that the 2025 group didn't succeed, and a change in roster-building methods was due.
Missouri made that change, and it's going to be quite the swing.