Will Missouri’s Probation Mean a Victory For the Vols?
About a month ago the Missouri Tigers football team figured to be a dark horse contender in the SEC East next season.
But then the Tigers were placed on probation for academic fraud which will, pending appeal, prevent them from playing in a bowl game in 2019.
Still, don’t be shocked if Missouri’s appeal will be successful. The Southeastern Conference certainly doesn’t want to miss a bowl check, and with Kelly Bryant taking snaps next year the Tigers figure to easily make a bowl game if they are allowed.
It’s one thing for Ole Miss to go on probation when its believed they’ll go 5–7. It’s another when a team is projected to go 9–3.
The problem is the appeal probably won’t be resolved until August at the earliest. So as it stands now the NCAA will allow any of Missouri’s 19 seniors, including Bryant, to transfer to a school for the upcoming season without having to sit out a year, as is customary for transfers.
And Missouri head coach Barry Odom is frustrated, because SEC rivals Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas A & M, and especially Tennessee have been actively trying to lure these Tigers players to their program for their final year.
Bryant, a former starter at Clemson who led the Tigers’ to the FBS playoff in 2017, says he’s staying.
A likely reason is couple of players who figure to be the key to his success that the Vols would LOVE to have; left tackle Yasir Durant and slot receiver Jonathan Johnson.
Durant is a 6–7, 330-pound skyscraper who played with Vols tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson at Arizona Western in 2016. Think Bryant isn’t happy he’s protecting his blind side?
Johnson, you may recall, caught a touchdown pass against the Vols last season and led the Tigers in receptions. He’s from Memphis and was recruited by Tennessee coming out of Melrose High, and since Johnson’s major is “General Studies” one gets the feeling he’s not going to lament leaving Missouri’s wonderful journalism department or anything.
Durant, by the way, is from Philadelphia. So it’s not like he’d be leaving home if he left Missouri the way, say, East St. Louis native Tre’Vour Wallace-Sims, the top returning guard in the SEC, would be.
The prize here for the Vols would be Durant, especially with Trey Smith questionable.
After all, Jeremy Pruitt’s staff wouldn’t be, in the words of Odom, “non-stop reaching out daily [saying], ‘Hey, come here’” for Missouri’s long snapper or backup quarterback.
And if the Vols felt Smith would be healthy in 2019, why would they push so hard for another left tackle?
The problem is Tennessee is trying to bring a player in who only knows of them as the loser of 50–17 games. And if playing in a bowl game is the lure, Durant seems like the sort of player who would consider sitting out of the Lackluster Bowl instead of transferring to play in it.
Furthermore, Bryant figures to pass more than Jarrett Guarantano will in 2019, and such an offense lends itself to a pro career more than a run-based offense would.
Watch and see if the Tigers players stick around to see what happens, or if it is every man for himself in the hopes of winning a championship.
If a collection of players leave for a single school; watch out.
As it stands now, a Tennessee loss to Missouri next season seems likely.
But if players start to leave the Tigers, it might mean an unforeseen victory for the Vols in 2019.
Marky Billson is a Tri-Cities based sports talk show host whose program can be viewed live 12–2 p.m. ET weekdays or archived here.
