How former Tiger Isaiah McGuire ties Mizzou's defensive end unit together

Darius Robinson has stared down his fair share of snaps while in Missouri uniform. He’s entering his fifth season as a Tiger, which is widely expected to be his last before declaring for the NFL Draft, with 34-career appearances and 18 starts.

Johnny Walker Jr., entering his fourth year with Mizzou, is still on the other end of his college journey, waiting for his break into MU’s starting rotation. He’s made 15-career appearances, but never on the game’s first play and never in more than a bit-part role.

But two things tie the two defensive linemen together this season.

One: They’re the only defensive ends on MU’s roster this season who have ever taken snaps wearing Mizzou black and gold.

Two: They’ve both reached out to former Missouri teammates seeking advice to get ready for the role.

Robinson said Isaiah McGuire, now at the Cleveland Browns’ training camp, has regaled him with tales over Facetime of watching and learning from star edge rusher Myles Garrett and has been helping with tips from hand placement to positioning all the while.

Robinson has played his entire career, bar one game in MU’s bowl loss to Wake Forest last December, on the interior. He’s slated to split reps between his natural spot on the line and the edge this season, which is as much a resume-booster for the 6-foot-5, 298-pound lineman as it is a necessity for the seemingly short-handed Tigers.

“(I’ll take) any information he can relay to me, because I trust Isaiah,” Robinson said. “He’s obviously a great player, so anything, I just want to listen.”

Walker keeps a piece of advice from McGuire and another former teammate, DJ Coleman, in mind  — “Be where your feet are,” he said — as he enters his best chance at breaking into the lineup.

He keeps in touch with them, too, and has been receiving words of encouragement as his potentially big moment looms.

“They taught me physical things as well, but really, they taught me how to be a pro,” Walker said. “They fixed my mentality.”

That’s a good starting point for both Robinson and Walker.

McGuire was a three-year starter and an effective one at that. Between him and Coleman — who signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars after April’s draft — the Tigers are missing 79 total tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks and four forced fumbles worth of production from last season alone.

Plug in the losses of Trajan Jeffcoat, who transferred to finish up his eligibility at Arkansas, and Arden Walker, who returned to his hometown to play for Deion Sanders’ Colorado, and there isn’t much in the way of returning experience at the position.

But there isn’t much in the way of worry from the MU staff at the lack of Faurot Field reps a month out from the Tigers’ season opener Aug. 31 against South Dakota, either.

“I don’t think you’re ever really satisfied with anything that you have out there, that’s why we’re always trying to compete,” Missouri defensive ends coach Kevin Peoples said Sunday when players reported for training camp. “But I’m confident that our guys have the ability to be able to be successful. … I’m confident in the guys that we have.”

So, who else is there?

There was a certain lack of familiarity at the position when the Tigers held their first practice of camp Monday inside — for the first time — the $33-million, sleek-looking, football-specific Stephens Indoor Facility to escape Columbia’s late-morning showers.

Cross-checking numbers on the backs of jerseys with a roster sheet, you could place Jackson State transfer Nyles Gaddy, Arizona State newcomer Joe Moore III and Northwestern escapee Austin Firestone among the newcomers.

And with depth to decide, there wasn’t any time wasting letting them settle.

Peoples had his unit hauling on Day 1, frequently more vigorously than any other in the room during the period of practice open to the media.

Running block-shedding drills, the coach had the players moving rapid fire from Point A, around their blocker, and back in position to go again. At one point the oft-repeated “Go” commands got so frequent, Peoples shouted himself into a cough.

And he seemingly had the easiest day.

With a year in Baker’s system, Walker and Robinson seemingly have an advantage in the fight for reps.

Baker lauded Walker’s offseason bulk, which the second-year DC said was up to 262 pounds from last year’s listed 251. Robinson is far and away Missouri’s most experienced lineman.

But neither have much experience of life on the edge in the Southeastern Conference, much like their new challengers.

“We’ve got a lot of guys are gonna decide who’s going to be the starters for us,” Peoples said Sunday. “So we’re looking at six or seven guys that are gonna have opportunities to compete, and how well they do in fall camp is going to dictate who is starting, who’s playing, and that’s gonna be a good competition.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football: How Isaiah McGuire ties DE unit together