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COLUMBIA, Mo. — For the third consecutive year, Missouri will begin a college football season with its starting right tackle wearing No. 79.

Except this time, it’s not Armand Membou.

Keagen Trost has taken both the starting spot and jersey number of the former MU star who was picked seventh overall by the New York Jets in the NFL Draft, and done so in rather smooth fashion.

Trost arrived over the winter from Wake Forest, and by the end of spring practice he’d been penciled in as the starting right tackle. One of the positions that could’ve seen the biggest drop-off in talent was filled quickly for Mizzou.

“I knew he’d be a good fit for us, getting him out of the transfer portal (with) what they did at Wake,� offensive line coach Brandon Jones said. “His consistency put everybody at ease with him being able to man (right tackle) and take that position over.�

At that spot, Trost is succeeding a considerable talent. Membou allowed no sacks in 2024, per Pro Football Focus’ tracking stats, and last allowed a quarterback hit during a 2023 game against Tennessee — the Tigers benefitted from a unique degree of protection on the right side of their offensive line.

Trost wasn’t quite that effective during his 2024 campaign with the Demon Deacons, but still graded out well. He allowed two sacks and 19 total pressures, a statistical profile that looks like Membou’s 2023 season.

Also boosting Trost’s ability to make the jump to Missouri is his experience. The 2025 season will be his seventh on a college roster: He began his career with four appearances at Morgan State in 2019, spent four seasons at Indiana State between 2020-2023 and played last year at Wake Forest.

All of that is good for 1,996 career snaps, second most among Mizzou linemen to only center Connor Tollison.

“He’s played a lot of football, first and foremost,� Jones said.

Trost is also a unique kind of replacement for a player exported off to the NFL. In the vast majority of those situations, programs’ next starters will be younger than the player they’re replacing. In this case, Trost, 24, is almost exactly three years older than Membou, 21.

Bringing in Trost is only a one-year solution for the Tigers, but he certainly is a veteran one.

He emerged so quickly during spring practices by catching coaches by surprise, at least a little bit, with his physical traits.

“It’s a little bit hard to know on tape how physical and how athletic he was, just because of the style of scheme he was playing in last year,� Drinkwitz said.

Listed at 6-foot-4, 316 pounds, Trost held his own against Mizzou’s defensive ends — arguably the program’s most talented position group — during workouts.

“Watching him go against some of the best defensive ends in the country … watching him compete, watching him be physical, get beat, respond — he’s got athleticism, he’s got toughness, he’s got a lot of playing experience, so I feel very confident he can man that side and hold his own,� Drinkwitz said.

Camp notes

Mizzou continued to focus solely on special teams during the briefer-than-normal period of Friday’s practice that was open to media. The Tigers once again repped kickoff coverage, and this time added a new scenario to the mix: punting out of their own end zone.

To no surprise, Stanford transfer Connor Weselman was the first-team punter. He didn’t actually boot the ball during the drill, which based on coaches’ focuses was more about setting blocking alignments against a more aggressive return unit.

Missouri will hold its second closed scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday, providing another opportunity for players to assert themselves within position battles. As always, quarterback remains the most important of those competitions, though Drinkwitz told an Oklahoma radio station Thursday that there hasn’t been any separation between Beau Pribula and Sam Horn.

Could that change during or after Saturday’s scrimmage? Drinkwitz will meet with media shortly afterward with a chance to share updates.

New position

Missouri has hired a former NFL salary analyst to its football staff as it continues to foray into an increasingly professionalized view of the college game.

Gaurav Verma will be the Tigers’ first-ever director of football strategy and finance, a new role that will fold analytics, recruiting and salary cap management into his responsibilities.

He is not a general manager, nor is his position intended to mimic one. Verma will report directly to Drinkwitz and partner with assistant coaches, recruiting staff, MU’s compliance department and the Every True Tiger Brands NIL marketing agency — making him another role player in the strategy of annually assembling competitive rosters.

Verma previously worked for the NFL’s Denver Broncos as a salary cap specialist following time in the finance industry and holds an MBA from MIT’s management school.

“We are really excited to add Gaurav to our program,� Drinkwitz said in a statement. “His NFL experience, as well as his business background, will help us navigate revenue sharing and contract management.�