Missouri football will be looking to make history in 2025 by winning double-digit games for the third straight season and making the College Football Playoff, both of which would be firsts for the program. But those goals begin with spring ball, which starts Friday. 

Since Missouri’s last regular season game, there have been several significant changes to the roster from Armand Membou and Luther Burden III announcing their intentions to enter the 2025 NFL Draft as projected first-round picks, to Brady Cook and Johnny Walker having played their final games of their collegiate career as they exhausted their eligibility. 

We will be previewing the storylines and or questions for each position. Next up are the cornerbacks.

Mizzou retained six of its top eight cornerbacks with the lone departures being reserves Marcus Clarke and Jaren Sensabaugh. However, the team signed former Washington State Cougar Stephen Hall and three-star prospect Mark Manfred.

With so much returning production, the question is really simple. 

Is Stephen Hall the answer at cornerback? 

What this question really means is can Hall be a quality starter for the team? This isn’t like acquiring an Ennis Rakestraw or Kris Abrams-Draine. 

The former Cougars team captain comes to the team after recording 50 tackles, four tackles for loss, three pass deflections and an interception returned for a touchdown in 2024. He allowed 50 receptions on 78 targets for 598 yards and two touchdowns. 

He’s far from perfect, but considering the struggles the position had in 2024, you can see why the team wanted to get another corner. 

Dreyden Norwood will likely keep his starting spot so Hall coming in and getting a chance to run with the first-team defense quite a bit in spring ball should breed decent competition among him Toriano Pride and Nic DeLoach. 

The latter two split the CB2 snaps last year and dealt with inconsistency throughout the year. 

Pride allowed 24 receptions for 390 yards (team-high) and two touchdowns on 43 targets (team-high). 

He racked up 22 tackles, two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown)  and four pass deflections.

Meanwhile, DeLoach logged 23 tackles, a tackle for loss and four pass deflections while allowing 17 receptions on 30 targets for 301 yards and two touchdowns. 

Hall at the very least makes the two-deep a little better whether he starts or not, but one would think the team hopes he does.

Will there be another Nic DeLoach sighting? 

During fall camp, DeLoach started drawing praise from his teammates and coaches for how much he improved during the offseason. Obviously, it led to the redshirt freshman playing in all 13 games and starting seven of them. 

Obviously, fall camp and spring ball are much different but you get the point. However, last spring, Cameron Keys was an early enrollee who stood out a bit for his speed and his ability to really hit despite his smaller frame. 

This time around, will we get a Keys or DeLoach sighting? 

Will a Shamar McNeil emerge as someone who can compete for reps as a redshirt sophomore? Same for Keys as a redshirt freshman now. Can he show that he’s worthy of some defensive reps? 

Will someone like Manfred, an early enrollee, show something? Spring ball for the early enrollees is more about the fundamentals, learning the playbook and getting conditioned to being a college athlete but it would certainly be a bonus if the 6-foot-1 and 175 pound freshman could display something of note (although there’s not much and shouldn’t be much pressure for him to do so).

Other Previews

Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers 

Tight ends

Offensive line

Special Teams

Defensive line

Linebackers

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