Elite defenses have elite pass rushers and projecting sack totals is not a one-to-one exercise.
Like many things in football, individual skill contributes a lot but luck also plays a big factor.
Did you play a lot of mobile quarterbacks? Did you face a slate of particularly lackluster pass protecting offensive lines? Did you end up going against a bunch of offenses that love to throw the ball in less than a second?
All of this can contribute to the “luck” portion of pass rushing that is mostly out of the control
of individual pass rushers.
That’s why you can look at “pressures generated”, in addition to sacks, to get a better idea of the caliber of pass rushing talent on the roster.
Just like how you can get a good idea of a defensive secondary’s likelihood of intercepting the ball based on deflections, so too can you get a better idea of sack generation based off of pressures generated.
Lets look at, say, Zion Young as an example:
- Zion Young 2024: 486 snaps, 21 pressures (4.3%), 2 QB hits, 3 sacks
- Zion Young 2025: 569 snaps, 32 hurries (5.6%), 17 QB hits, 8 sacks
Young was able to create a good amount of pressure in ‘24 but wasn’t able to deliver on the hits or sacks. But the motor and skill was there, and the next year, he exploded with 8 times the QB hits and over double the sacks.
So, which edge rushers have the chance to make a similar leap in ‘26? Let’s take a look:
Defensive Ends
- Langden Kitchen: 171 snaps, 13 pressures (7.6%), 1 QB hit, 0 sacks
- Jaden Jones: 171 snaps, 5 pressures (2.9%), 1 QB hit, 0 sacks
Let me say upfront, “Defensive End” in the Corey Batoon parlance is not your traditional pass rusher. Batoon does utilize a 4-2-5-ish alignment, but his defensive line is more closely related to a 3-4 defensive line than your typical four man front. And in a three man alignment, your defensive end is a bigger guy who plays over/around an offensive tackle and sets the edge in run plays. They can still wind up generating pressure on a quarterback in a passing situation, but it’s not really their main focus.
Anyway, Kitchen and Jones are the projected two-deep for Missouri’s lone DE position and their pass rushing numbers back up their roles. Kitchen is the more prolific of the two in terms of rushing the passer and could be a dark horse candidate to make the pass rushing leap, but neither of the gentlemen listed above logged a sack last year. Besides, it’s nice to see what they’ve done but that position is more of luxury in the pass rushing department and we’re not really looking to them to make the pass rushing leap.
However, to completely undermine everything I just wrote, Zion Young was technically playing the defensive end position last year and was awesome at rushing the passer. Anyway.
JACKs
- Darris Smith: 347 snaps, 25 hurries (7.2%), 1 QB hit, 4 sacks
- Kamauryn Morgan: 125 snaps, 6 hurries (4.8%), 0 QB hits, 0 sacks
- Daeden Hopkins: 52 snaps, 0 hurries (0.0%), 0 QB hits, 1 sack
- Malik Bryant: 25 snaps, 0 hurries (0.0%), 0 QB hits, 0 sacks
The JACKs, on the other hand, are your outside linebacker/edge rushing hybrids whose (nearly) sole job is to rush the quarterback and create pressure, hit the passer, and bring him down. And Missouri’s current roster has two guys with documented potential to leap to elite pass rushing territory: Darris Smith and Kamauryn Morgan. Both have pressure rate percentages that are superior to what Young did in his first year at Mizzou which is the key stat we’re looking at here. Obviously, both Smith and Morgan have a higher pedigree than Young coming out of high school but it’s good to see the pass rushing potential present. Daeden Hopkins and Malik Bryant didn’t do much from the pass rushing department in ‘25 but they also combined for 77 snaps total so I’m less concerned about the lack of production there.
This is the group we should look to for the next great pass rusher and Smith has the secret stat that flashes “UPSIDE”. Assuming he can reach that upside this year, the Tigers will have their signature pass rusher to anchor the havoc efforts. If they have another (or, heck, three total?) then you can see a defense that won’t see much drop off in line production. If Smith (or anyone) doesn’t make that leap then this line will be in trouble and will need the interior line or linebackers to pick up the slack on something that they’re usually not asked to do.
Conclusion
Mizzou has candidates to provide the pass rushing “oomph” that they lost when Damon Wilson transferred to Miami and Zion Young graduated. There are many parts of a defense that need to click in order for the whole effort to work and rushing the passer is certainly one of them. Doing this exercise made me feel better about the potential of this group in 2026 (and much more appreciative of the staff nabbing Morgan out of the portal) but, until it is seen, it will remain a question mark of high importance that must be answered in the positive this fall.
