The Missouri Tigers football team are gearing up for a vaunted SEC schedule, in a make or break year for head coach Eli Drinkwitz. They gained some much needed reinforcements in the transfer portal, including HBCU star Myles Gaddy to help carry the load.

The Tigers are already returning 80% of their defensive starters, the highest amount in the entire SEC. Mizzou had the second most sacks in the conference, and ranked 4th in total defense in 2022.

The addition of Gaddy will help sure up the linebacker position, and provide much needed depth at an EDGE role that was one of the Tigers' few offseason losses. Coach Drinkwitz is certainly excited by the acquisition and progress that Gaddy has made, and gave an update at SEC Media Days.

“He’s done all the things that we’ve asked him to do,” Drinkwitz told The Clarion-Ledger. “He’s been excellent in the weight room. He’s trying to get up to speed because once we start fall camp, then every competition, you’ve got to be at your best every day, and that room is so deep.”

The Tigers defensive depth chart will certainly be competitive, as they return a lot of great talent. Gaddy has shown himself to be a hard worker, doing his best to adapt back into the SEC grind.

“I think Nyles has come in and really been hungry to learn,” Drinkwitz said. “Obviously, there’s a steep learning curve, having this being his third school, how we do things around our program in comparison to what he’s done in the past.

Gaddy was First Team All-SWAC, accounting for 40 tackles in 2022 in his second year with the team. He had spent two years at Tennessee before his time at Jackson State, but redshirted for one and mostly played on special teams in the other. He still has two years of eligibility remaining, which he would like to use as a breakout star on the Mizzou defense.