The college football offseason is a long one, filled with nonsense like legal battles, conference realignment, postseason restructures, transfer portal chaos, and a never-ending coaching carousel.

But this offseason gives us plenty of time to daydream about our team. Scholarship charts map out the future lineups we will see on the field. Recruiting news lets us dream on a star-studded roster. In the offseason, every 3-star is a breakout candidate, every transfer is an instant star, and every blue chipper is a first round pick. While the fall will give us emotional rollercoasters every Saturday, this is the team to dream about your team. It’s time for optimism, and excitement.

With this mindset, I have approached the 2025 team with a four-part Hype Train series: Each installment featured a batch of five players I’m excited to watch in 2025. Previously I covered five final year players (seniors and graduates), back for their final hurrah as a Missouri Tiger, returning breakout candidates, and high school freshmen.

This final week is all about the transfers. Eli Drinkwitz brought in a whale of a transfer class, and these five Tigers are ready to make a big impact for the team.

My biggest mistake was limiting the format of this piece to just five players. Now that I’m on transfers, I found it very hard to trim the list down to five, because I’m that in love with this class. There are three potential starting offensive linemen — none on this list. A probable starting quarterback? Not on this list. Important defensive pieces like Mose Phillips, Nate Johnson, Makhai Gbayor, and Stephen Hall? Not. On. This. List.

I love this transfer class. Allow me to start driving the hype train for these five players in particular.

5.) Ahmad Hardy, Running Back.

My fellow Rock M football writers, the Nathans Hurst and Edwards, have recently been making a point about how Eli Drinkwitz’s tailbacks flourish in their second years in his system. We were robbed of that with Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll, both fifth year players in their solitary Tiger seasons. No such worry with Hardy. The precocious talent was one of the best players in the Sun Belt as a true freshman last year, and is ready to blossom in Drink’s zone heavy rush attack. 189 of Hardy’s 238 carries were zone plays, so he is ready to step into this scheme and deliver a big season.

4.) Kevin Coleman, Wide Receiver.

Coleman arrives from Mississippi State as essentially a one-for-one replacement for Luther Burden at slot receiver. What I like most about Coleman is how he has gotten better each season, even as he has taken a step up in competition each year. His Yards Per Route Run have increased each season, and he went from catching only three out of 11 contested throws in 2023 at Louisville to 11 out of 22 last year at Mississippi State. He is getting better as he gets more experienced, and will be a critical piece in the slot for this offense.

3.) Damon Wilson, Edge.

Kirby Smart’s Georgia defense is built on playing as few guys as possible in the box while still controlling the run game, and using the extra defenders to cover. While most teams load the box to control the run game, Smart uses fewer bodies; it helps when those bodies are 5-star physical freaks of nature. Like Damon Wilson, who didn’t like his future in that kind of system. He was set to start for the Bulldogs in 2025; instead, he will be unleashed as a ferocious pass rusher for your Mizzou Tigers. Wilson tallied three sacks and 26 QB pressures last year as a role player for the Dawgs, and should far surpass those numbers in black & gold. I can’t wait to watch him restore the glory days of D-Line Zou and wreak havoc on the edge.

2.) Josiah Trotter, Linebacker.

Trotter’s NFL bloodlines are intriguing, as was his incredibly productive freshman season as a West Virginia Mountaineer. Trotter was one of the best players in the Big 12 last year, and will be an anchor for this Mizzou defense for the next few. I like that his versatility gives coordinator Corey Batoon a chance to move off of the “two archetype” linebacker lineups of recent years: one big slow run-stuffing MIKE, and one fast havocy WILL. Trotter will play MIKE, but provides a versatility the position hasn’t always had in the Drinkwitz era.

1.) Jalen Catalon, Free Safety.

For the past few years, when Catalon has been on the field he has been one of the best safeties in the country. Full stop. He is a ballhawk, a great leader, and he likes to hit. He is going to make Mizzou’s defense better at taking the ball away, and better at revenging explosive passes. For his career, quarterbacks have an NFL passer rating of 70.1 when targeting Catalon. That figure is about where Spencer Rattler was last year for the Saints, or Desmond Ridder for the Raiders. That’s the level Catalon reduces passing attacks to. Drinkwitz did serious work in the portal to upgrade the talent level on this side of the ball, and Catalon is the brightest star in the Mizzou defensive constellation.