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Mizzou’s secondary will have some big shoes to fill in 2026. The Tigers lost their top three cornerbacks, Drey Norweood, Toriano Pride Jr. and Stephen Hall, along with veteran safeties Daylan Carnell and Jalen Catalon. Four of the five landed on NFL rosters after contributing to a unit that fielded the nation’s 11th-ranked pass defense.
The Tigers replenished the back end of their defense with six defensive backs via the transfer portal. Mizzou brought in four cornerbacks, the most additions at any position, and two safeties. Here, we’ll look at what makes each new addition stand out, and how it could help Mizzou in 2026.
Chris Graves Jr. – Experience in the SEC
As mentioned at the top, Missouri lost three cornerbacks, who played a huge role to the Tigers defense, and a larger quantity of the team’s snaps: Pride (573), Norwood (514), and Hall (496). That’s a lot of snaps to replace. No one in the cornerback room has logged more than 400 snaps in a season, except Chris Graves Jr.
Graves brings what no one else in the room has, a larger sample size of competing in the SEC. He racked up 683 snaps as an outside cornerback for Mississippi in the run to the CFP a season ago, and 1,012 career snaps overall.
Kensley Louidor-Faustin – Downhill Mentality
The STAR is a unique position utilized in Corey Batoon’s defense and in the past when Blake Baker oversaw the unit.
As for Kensley Louidor-Faustin, he has plenty of experience playing in the slot at 144 snaps, and in the box with 79 snaps over two seasons. That number is far less than what Daylan Carnell provided, but Louidor-Faustin has the most in the box of any of the transfers.
This shows that Auburn trusted him near the line of scrimmage. With the nature of the role, he brings the physical mentality and mindset to the position. It’s backed up by a 72 and 67.4 PFF run defense grade the past two seasons. He’ll come screeching downhill and get physical with wide receivers.
The next step in his game is to clean up the missed tackles. He had missed tackles percentage of 21.7 and 28.6% the past two seasons. But, he’s a player you want near the line of scrimmage in the run game with his effort.
Jahlil Florence – Tackling Ability
It’s been a rough past few years for Jahlil Florence at Oregon. He’s battled injury, and as a result has played just 22 defensive snaps between 2024-25.
But, 2022 and 2023 provides us with a much larger sample size. He played 392 snaps in 2023 and 211 the year prior on defense. Between those two seasons, you saw growth in one area. His PFF tackling grade jumped from a 48.7 to a 76. Meanwhile, within that same timeframe, his missed tackle percentage dropped from 22.2% to 9.4%.
It demonstrates an upward trajectory you want to see in a young player at the time. In comparison, Pride (81.5), Norwood (81.7) and Hall (74.3) had stable tackling grades, while having missed tackle percentages under 8%. Time will tell, but hopefully a full season for Florence will help him get back to full strength as he has shown to be a solid contributor as a tackler and in coverage.
Sione Laulea – Length
Sione Laulea gives Mizzou something it didn’t have at cornerback a season ago: length. Laulea is 6-foot-4, 196 pounds, making him the tallest cornerback Eli Drinkwitz has had since being in Columbia. He comes from Oregon, like Florence, where the Ducks had 11 defensive backs at 6-foot-1 or taller.
But, with that size it gives him an advantage in coverage as a boundary cornerback. He doesn’t need much effort to high point the football, and he has the speed to run with receivers, supported by his north of 75 coverage grades the past two seasons. This is a guy you will love lining up on your X receiver.
Elijah Dotson – Versatility
The question is where will Dotson play? I think that’s a strength of his.
As a true freshman, Michigan utilized Dotson at 48 snaps at corner, and 41 in the slot. The Tigers currently have him listed as a safety, but as a long season goes on, there will be injuries, and a need for depth. Having a player like Dotson with the ability to move around in the secondary is key.
Plus, like Florence, he’s a sensational tackler with a 76.7 tackling grade as a freshman.
JaDon Blair – The Projection
There’s always a player or two who should excite you for the future. JaDon Blair is a fascinating addition to the Tigers secondary who fits that criteria. The former four-star recruit played just one season for Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish before hitting the portal.
His sample size is small. In 2025, he played just 19 snaps in a Week 13 70-7 win over Syracuse. Notre Dame used him as a high safety late in the blowout win.
But, at 6-foot-5, 205 pounds, he presents size and range in the room. He’s more of a projection, and just examining the small sample size, he will need to work on his aggressiveness and fits in the run defense, and taking on blocks (Again, this is from a sample size of 19 plays). Luckily for him, if everything else goes right, his time will be minimal at first.
Conclusion
Six new faces in the room will have their opportunity to leave their mark on a program that has fielded one of the nation’s strongest defenses the past three seasons. All six bring something different trait to the team that makes them valuable to Corey Batoon’s unit. Time will tell who pans out and vice versa in this portal class, whether it’s 2026 or beyond, but it’s fun to observe what they bring.
55 Days until kickoff, and thanks for reading.
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