No. 25 Missouri football (3-1, 0-1 in Southeastern Conference) could be down both of its starting edge rushers for its homecoming game against No. 8 Florida (4-0, 2-0) on Saturday.
Coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters Tuesday that both Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen will be listed as questionable for the contest. The SEC-mandated injury report will be released at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday.
Smith suffered a lower-leg injury against Troy in Week 3, attempted to come back in the second half and exited the field again after a few plays. He led all returners in 2025 sacks with four, but does not have a sack this season.
Kitchen exited Missouri’s game against Mississippi State in the first quarter with a lower-body injury and did not return to the field.
“Both are doing the very best they can to get back,” Drinkwitz said. “I doubt they can participate in much of any practice today, but both those guys are experienced. Our kind of protocol is you have to practice by Thursday in order to be available for the game. Life in the SEC. That’s kind of how we go about it with guys who are questionable.
“Brady (Cook) was able to play a couple of times where he missed a Monday practice and a Tuesday, but was able to get to Thursday, Friday. I don’t know where we’re at right there with the edge room with those two guys. I know they’re both spent an incredible amount of time Sunday and (Monday) trying to get in here and get back as quickly as possible. But I don’t know. We’ll see.”
In both their absence and presence, sophomore Daeden Hopkins has stepped up to lead the charge for the edge room. He’s earned two of the last three SEC defensive lineman of the week awards, the first for his 1.5-sack, forced-fumble performance against Kansas — which he split with Alabama lineman Devan Thompkins — and the second for his 3.5-sack performance against Mississippi State on Saturday.
Hopkins leads Missouri with six sacks and two forced fumbles this season. He’s putting the college football world on the map for better and for worse.
“Daeden has been playing at a really high level, and that’s something that we got to continue to watch. It’s going to get more and more challenging on him because people are now more and more aware of who he is. I mean, he was battling chippers and pretty much the entire game in known-throw situations, and we got to have somebody on the other side step up, especially with the injuries we’re battling with with Darris and Langden.”
Fifth-year Florida State transfer Jaden Jones seems to be a primary candidate to fill that void. He played a season-high 39 snaps against the Bulldogs, logging one solo tackle and two assists. Sophomore Baylor transfer Kamauryn Morgan also played a season-high 19 snaps, logging half a sack. Cavan Tuley, who has played a reserve role at Missouri this season and primarily on special teams in his prior seasons at Houston, played a season-high 18 snaps.
Missouri vs. Florida will kick off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium, broadcast on ABC.
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