Corey Batoon Shares Early Thoughts on New Mizzou Defense

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There was plenty of change from last season to now for the Missouri Tigers, especially on the defensive side of the ball. There are new players and new coaches and defensive coordinator Corey Batoon is at the center of it when it comes to molding a new defensive unit together.

The Tigers added 12 transfers on defense, along with one new positional coach in Chop Harbin on the defensive line. Because of these new additions, Batoon is still in the process of seeing what he has, both on his coaching staff and on the football field.

"There's a lot of new faces out there, so spring has been really cool," Batoon said. "In regards to seeing these guys, a lot of them from a transfer portal, you watch them on tape, you see them in drills, and now we get an opportunity to go out and actually work with them, and work with them on their craft."

At the same time, there's a lot of simple coaching going on. There are new players who need to adapt and understand the philosphies and principals of Batoon's defense and the culture of the program as a whole. That's not a development that happens overnight.

Missouri is only a few practices into their spring camp, which means Batoon, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and head coach Eli Drinkwitz are all very early into the process of establishing and teaching the culture. That means going back to the basics.

"You always kind of go back, foundationally," Batoon said. "You kind of peel it back, and you don't assume anything. Whether you got a bunch of guys that are coming back, that have been here a couple of years or brand new to the program, you don't assume anything, and you start from ground zero."

Fortunately, the Tigers do have some roster turnover that could be molded into leadership. Players like linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez, defensive tackle Marquis Gracial and defensive ends Langden Kitchen and Darris Smith could be poised for impactful leadership roles.

At the same time, only Rodriguez was a true starter last season. Those other players will not only have to step into leadership positions and help guide younger and newer players on the roster, but also grow into starting-caliber players, as well.

"It's huge. You know that those guys that have been around," Batoon said. "They have to be the torchbearers. This is how we do things and not just verbally, but being able to show it, emulate, and then those other guys need to emulate what's going on."

Despite the newness on both the roster and coaching staff, Batoon believes what he has in front of him is bought into what the coaching staff wants to do. The buy-in on defense last year was clear with guys like Josiah Trotter and Damon Wilson and that seems to be the case again.

"I think just creating the buy-in and last year's transfer group did a great job of that coming in here," Batoon said. "This is the Mizzou way (of) how we do things. I think that this group has been the same, very eager to learn, very eager to please."

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/missouri as Corey Batoon Shares Early Thoughts on New Mizzou Defense.

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