As Missouri’s fall camp gets closer, the shape of the 2026 depth chart is starting to come into focus. Some spots already feel settled - Austin Simmons has been announced as QB1 after spring camp, while Cayden Green at left tackle and Ahmad Hardy as the lead back are the kinds of assumptions that come with the territory.
Cornerback is a different story. The battle for the second boundary spot could linger, especially with former starters Toriano Pride Jr., Stephen Hall and Drey Norwood all gone to the pros.
Chris Graves, the Ole Miss transfer, looks like the safest bet to handle one corner spot. He brings the most proven production of any Missouri corner by a wide margin, having played more than 600 snaps at boundary corner for the Rebels in 2025.
That leaves the other side open, and there are a few names in the mix.
Nicholas DeLoach Jr. is still on the roster, and that matters. The redshirt junior was one of Missouri’s starters in 2024, when he played 495 snaps and posted a PFF coverage grade of 63.4 while giving up 17 catches for 301 yards on 30 targets.
His role shrank in 2025, when he was mostly a special teams piece instead of a regular cornerback contributor. Still, he’s the only former Tiger starter in the room, which gives him a real shot to push for the job again.
Sione Laulea brings a different profile. He arrives from Oregon after two seasons in a depth role with the Ducks, but his frame stands out immediately at 6-foot-4 and 196 pounds.
Before that, he started two seasons at San Mateo College and was rated the No. 1 juco cornerback prospect in the country after his 2023 season. With starting experience at the junior college level and development time at a Power Five program, Laulea has a path to turn that background into a starting role in his final college season.
Then there’s Jahlil Florence, a player whose upside was once obvious. At Oregon, he played more than 600 combined snaps across his first two seasons and put up 13 stops, 30 tackles, two interceptions and two pass breakups.
But a season-ending meniscus injury wiped out the rest of 2023 and all of 2024, and a minor hand injury in spring 2025 added another setback. He appeared in only two games in 2025.
If Florence can get back to the form he showed early in his Ducks career, he could be right in the thick of the competition for that second boundary corner spot.
In Other News...
Why Two Auburn Transfers Could Change Mizzou's Defense Fast
Missouris defense is already looking at a couple of familiar SEC names to help shape the 2026 season, and both came out of Auburn with roles that could translate quickly in Columbia. Robert Woodyard Jr. arrives with the kind of linebacker profile that usually earns immediate trust, while Kensley Louidor-Faustin brings the sort of versatility that gives a staff options in the secondary and at the STAR spot.
For Missouri, the appeal is obvious: Woodyard projects as a fast path to stability in the middle, and Louidor-Faustin could give the Tigers a movable piece who fits multiple looks without needing a long adjustment period. The bigger question is how quickly both can turn that promise into lineup certainty, because if they settle in the way Missouri hopes, the defense may not need much time to look different. [Read more 🡒]
Jevon Porters Mizzou Return Ended In Another Painful Twist
Jevon Porters return to Missouri was supposed to give the Tigers another familiar name in the frontcourt, but the season quickly turned into a stop-and-start stretch after a leg injury cut into his role. He had begun the year in the rotation, and his last appearance came against Bethune-Cookman, where he scored 6 points in 16 minutes before his minutes and availability became a bigger question.
Porter later requested a medical redshirt, then entered the transfer portal, a sequence that made it clear his path at Mizzou had shifted again. His name now turning up on the Memphis Grizzlies summer league roster suggests the college chapter is closed, adding another painful twist to a family basketball story that has already carried plenty of Mizzou-related injury and availability issues. [Read more 🡒]