Building from the ground up

Standing on Faurot FIeld in an all-gray sweatsuit, Missouri’s new goateed offensive line coach tried to assess his new players.

“(Nate) Crawford’s done a nice job as an older guy,” Glen Elarbee said. “New guys coming in, Tyler Howell has a chance to be pretty good, again, if he’ll learn to kind of compete on a consistent level. Paul Adams has done good. (Kevin) Pendleton, those guys have done a really nice job.”

Coming from Arkansas State, Elarbee is tasked with rebuilding a group that ranked last in the conference in rushing yards and tied for 11th in sacks-per-game allowed. He’s getting to know his new players, a group that only has two returning players with starting experience. That introduction process began after Elarbee came aboard in mid-January. He said he didn’t watch last year’s tape to break down techniques or fundamentals; instead, it was to look at his players’ body types and athleticism.

After four years of 52 starts by Evan Boehm, after 40 consecutive starts by Connor McGovern, this is a low-profile group that will send casual Missouri fans to their programs. The two certainties, at this point (and barring injury) are Alec Abeln at center and Nate Crawford at left guard.

“It’s weird,” Abeln said. “Nate and I feel like the old guys. Losing five seniors last year is definitely a void of leadership. There’s some personality changes in the room where it just feels different, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just something Nate and I are having to figure out on the fly and kind of step up, but it’s been good.”

The other names, rotating in and out, are mainly the guys Elarbee listed above, in addition to left tackle Tanner Owen -- he’s splitting reps with Howell at that position.

Howell’s the biggest player on Missouri’s line, measuring in at 6-foot-8 and over 300 pounds. He arrived in Columbia a season later than expected, and given Missouri’s iffy history with junior-college transfers on the line, his progress is being closely watched.

“Lately, he’s really come on,” Elarbee said. “It took a little bit to kind of get his body back into a position where he had the strength and the core and all that stuff. Now that we’ve put pads on, he’s really started to make some strides. He’s doing nice.”

That left-tackle battle may be the most important competition for the 2016 season. At the other four positions, the projected starters have at least some experience. In Paul Adams and Kevin Pendleton’s cases, it was just rotational snaps over the final few games of 2015.

“Going against other defensive linemen in the SEC was a huge confidence booster,” Adams said. “Working a lot in the winter helped me as well, and then going against Walter Brady everyday is going to just make it better.”

Elarbee has to find a competent, consistent left tackle, and his top two choices at this point have not seen any game snaps.

“Tanner’s super athletic,” Elarbee said of the redshirt freshman. “A very intelligent guy who’s kind of got to learn to cut it loose. Nobody’s kind of made it clear-cut quite yet. It’s been good for both of them, though. They’ve had somebody to kind of fight at that position for.”

Missouri’s “short on numbers,” according to Elarbee, with only nine healthy scholarship linemen practicing on Thursday. Crawford is currently limited by a back injury; right tackle Clay Rhodes is dealing with a personal situation and his status with the team moving forward is unknown. Because of those issues, defensive tackle Tyrell Jacobs moved to the offensive line.

Even with depth issues, there’s a more pressing concern -- at least on paper. Without a doubt, the Tigers lost their two best linemen from 2015. That group, however, struggled all year.

With Boehm and McGovern gone, is the talent there to pave the way for success in 2016?

“I think we’ve got the talent,” Elarbee said. “We’ve got to bulk up a little bit, size-wise. We’ve got to put some meat on. We’ve just got to get experience and play together. The offensive line, man, you’ve got to really know what the guy next to is doing, and those guys haven’t had a chance to be a cohesive unit quite yet.”