Missouri could be leaning on a patched-together edge group when No. 8 Florida comes to Columbia on Saturday.
Coach Eli Drinkwitz said Tuesday that both Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen will be listed as questionable for the homecoming game. The SEC injury report is set for release at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday.
Smith has been dealing with a lower-leg injury since Missouri’s Week 3 game against Troy. He tried to return in the second half, but left again after only a few plays. He entered the season as Missouri’s returning sack leader among players back in 2025 with four, though he has not recorded a sack this year.
Kitchen went down in the first quarter of Missouri’s game against Mississippi State with a lower-body injury and never made it back onto the field.
“Both are doing the very best they can to get back,” Drinkwitz said. “I doubt they can participate in much of any practice today, but both those guys are experienced.
Our kind of protocol is you have to practice by Thursday in order to be available for the game. Life in the SEC.
That's kind of how we go about it with guys who are questionable.
“Brady (Cook) was able to play a couple of times where he missed a Monday practice and a Tuesday, but was able to get to Thursday, Friday. I don't know where we're at right there with the edge room with those two guys.
I know they're both spent an incredible amount of time Sunday and (Monday) trying to get in here and get back as quickly as possible. But I don't know.
We'll see.”
While Missouri waits on those two, sophomore Daeden Hopkins has already become the tone-setter off the edge. He has taken home two of the last three SEC defensive lineman of the week honors, first after his 1.5-sack, forced-fumble outing against Kansas, a nod he shared with Alabama lineman Devan Thompkins, and then again after posting 3.5 sacks against Mississippi State on Saturday.
Hopkins now leads Missouri with six sacks and two forced fumbles. Drinkwitz said the attention on him is only going to intensify.
“Daeden has been playing at a really high level, and that's something that we got to continue to watch. It's going to get more and more challenging on him because people are now more and more aware of who he is. I mean, he was battling chippers and pretty much the entire game in known-throw situations, and we got to have somebody on the other side step up, especially with the injuries we're battling with with Darris and Langden.”
If Missouri needs another body to help absorb those snaps, fifth-year Florida State transfer Jaden Jones looks like a leading option. He played a season-high 39 snaps against the Bulldogs and finished with one solo tackle and two assists. Sophomore Baylor transfer Kamauryn Morgan also logged a season-high 19 snaps and added half a sack, while Cavan Tuley played a season-high 18 snaps in a reserve role.
Missouri and Florida are scheduled to kick off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium, with the game airing on ABC.
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The decision became a flash point because the sequence soon swung the game for good, with Mississippi State tying things at 24-24 before pulling away for a 31-24 win. For Missouri, it was a frustrating SEC opener that dropped the Tigers to 3-1 overall and left fans wondering whether the late-game gamble should have gone the other way. [Read more 🡒]
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Now the focus shifts to a Florida matchup that feels less forgiving by the day, because the margin for error has tightened in a hurry. Missouri still has areas it can lean on, but there are also personnel questions hanging over the week and a depth chart that will be worth watching right up to kickoff. For a team trying to steady itself after its first stumble, the next step is less about style points than surviving the kind of game that can turn on one or two small decisions. [Read more 🡒]
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Missouri, meanwhile, is trying to steady itself after taking its first loss of the season and will need a cleaner showing on offense to keep pace. The Tigers have had trouble generating much on the ground, which makes the matchup more complicated against a Florida defense that has shown some vulnerability there, setting up a game that could say plenty about where both teams really stand. [Read more 🡒]