Mizzou football linebacker Chad Bailey to miss opener, out for 21 days after procedure
Mizzou football linebacker Chad Bailey will be out with an injury for approximately the next 21 days, Tigers head coach Eli Drinkiwtz said Friday afternoon.
The coach said Bailey, a team captain for the second straight year, was undergoing a procedure that likely will see him miss Missouri’s first two games: South Dakota on Thursday; Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 9. His availability for Kansas State on Sept. 16 is likely to be touch and go based on the 21-day time frame for his return.
“We anticipate he’ll be out for 21 days, maybe less, maybe more,” Drinkwitz said. … “Disappointed for Chad. I know he's worked really hard to be a great leader, obviously a captain. He's one of the best returning Mike linebackers in the SEC, which puts you in some rare air in all of college football, but he's attacking, he's got the right mentality, he'll be back as soon as possible.”
Drinkwitz said he doesn’t anticipate any other absences among starting players in the Tigers’ opening game. Starting safety Jaylon Carlies had missed portions of camp.
Bailey has been a mainstay on the Tigers’ defense for the past two seasons, and he frequently appeared in the three seasons before that. He enters 2023 with 43-career appearances. In the 2022 season, he recorded 57 total tackles, which ranked third on the team, and had 8.5 tackles for loss, including 2.5 sacks.
Bailey was voted by his teammates as a team captain for the second straight season during training camp. He was absent from several of the portions of practice open to the media over the past month, but did make some appearances later in the month.
Dameon Wilson, a sophomore linebacker out of Grover, North Carolina, is in line to pair up with weak-side linebacker and preseason All-SEC second-team selection Ty’Ron Hopper until Bailey’s return. Graduate student Chuck Hicks also could play at the position.
“We’re always going to miss a Chad Bailey, but we’re confident,” Drinkwitz said. “I told Dameon, ‘you played every snap in the Georgia game (last season). You know, you're ready for this moment.’”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou linebacker Chad Bailey to miss opener, out for 21 days after procedure
