Missouri football head coach Eliah Drinkwitz and his Tigers are currently gearing up for the upcoming 2024 college football season, which is set to begin in just under three weeks. Missouri had a breakout year in the 2023 season, finishing 11-2 and propelling Drinkwitz into the national spotlight as one of the brightest young coaches in the country.
A large part of Missouri football's success in 2023 was due to their stout defense, but unfortunately, that end of the field took a major hit earlier this week.
On Wednesday, it was reported that edge rusher Darris Smith will miss the entirety of the upcoming 2024 season with a knee injury, per On3 on X, formerly Twitter. Smith transferred in from the University of Georgia this past offseason, where he had received limited playing time for Kirby Smart and company.
The news was first reported by Eli Hoff of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Georgia was the only team that finished ahead of Missouri in the standings a year ago, finishing the regular season undefeated before missing out on a third consecutive playoff bid with an SEC championship loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in what was the final win of Nick Saban's career.
With the exception of Alabama, Missouri is the team that has played the two time national champion Bulldogs the closest over the last two seasons, nearly pulling off a miraculous upset in front of the home fans in 2022 before hanging tough on the road in Athens in 2023.
Due to the conference realignment that took place over its past offseason, Missouri won't have another crack at the Bulldogs this year, but they will have several new faces on their schedule, and there is perhaps now more optimism than there has been in over a decade for this Tigers program.
The season is set to get underway with a date vs Murray State on August 29.
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