Marquis Gracial always believed he could play.
This year, the sophomore Missouri football defensive tackle knew he could play.
Mizzou lost three of the four players that formed its oft-rotating two-deep at defensive tackle last season, returning just Kristian Williams, a team captain, from that core group. The Tigers went to the portal to help plug the gap, bringing highly ranked Florida transfer Chris McClellan and New Mexico State newcomer and St. Louis native Sterling Webb to Columbia over the offseason.
But during Friday’s practice, which for the first time this fall camp was open to reporters from beginning to end, as the Tigers went into 11-on-11 situational football work, McClellan and Webb were not among the first tackles to walk onto the field.
Williams was one.
Gracial was the other.
“With the older guys leaving, my mindset has changed a little bit, you know, knowing that I could go out there,” Gracial said Tuesday, three days before the open practice. “I mean, I felt like that when I was younger, too. But it’s like now, there’s no senior, there’s nobody that can come in, like, ‘oh well, I know I’m not gonna play for real.’ The competition’s wide open.”
There have been early hints at his progression up the depth chart.
At the beginning of fall camp, MU head coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters that the 6-foot-4, 323-pound tackle had “really improved his game” between his second and third years with the program. Before Friday’s practice, Gracial himself said “there’s no starter right now.”
Then came the proof of what is seemingly still an open battle for reps.
Alongside Williams, Gracial took a lion’s share of the reps during the portions of practice that came closest to resembling a live game. That doesn’t necessarily confirm he’s a Day 1 starter, but it does seem to indicate that he’s found, at minimum, a significant role in the Tigers’ rotation.
McClellan and Webb both entered the sudo-scrimmage for a third-down package with the 1s, and then took the bulk of the reps with the second-team later in the drill.
Mizzou is likely to rotate between four players at the position again this season. At camp, early prognostication had Williams partnering with McClellan, a big-time portal lure, as the main players up front. The presumed battle was between Gracial and fellow underclassmen tackles Jalen Marshall and Sam Williams for the final spot in the two-deep.
Friday’s practice painted a completely different picture — one that Gracial had hinted at a few days prior.
“We’re competing,” Gracial said. … “We don’t know where anybody is right now. You know, we’re going out there competing. … It’s definitely tough. It’s a challenge. (There are) six guys that’s out there competing for a spot.”
Those opportunities have been limited in recent seasons.
As the Tigers went through their 11-2, Cotton Bowl-winning 2023 season, the St. Louis product who was a four-star prospect out of St. Charles High saw limited action in wins over South Carolina and Arkansas, but nothing else. Gracial’s lone rookie year contribution came during a game against New Mexico State.
Two years, three appearances.
But he never considered leaving for instant gratification.
“I love what we’re doing here. I love Mizzou, I’m close to home, but mainly it’s just the coaching staff,” Gracial said. “Really good people, and I’ve seen what they’ve done with other players. I just — I trust the coaches and the things they’re doing, and I think it’ll work out.”
When Missouri lines up against Murray State on Thursday, Aug. 29 for its season-opener, there’s a good chance Gracial is among the starters. At the very least, it appears unlikely that he will be out of the loop.
He knew he could play but bided his time when the opportunities were sparse. That patience appears to be paying off.
Not that he needs it to, mind you. Entering a season that could promise much more, he has a fairly simple, and unselfish, list of demands to keep him content.
Ws.
“My main thing is if we’re winning, that’s really the main thing I care about,” Gracial said. “Whatever my role is, if we’re successful, I’m happy with that. And if I’m not playing a lot and we’re winning, I’m happy. If I’m playing a lot and we’re winning, I’m happy. I just want to win.”
More: Here’s what we learned as Missouri football fully opened up its Friday practice
More: Projecting Mizzou football’s first defensive depth chart of 2024
More: Here’s where Missouri football could turn after DE Darris Smith’s season-ending knee injury
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How Marquis Gracial has made case to start for Missouri football in 2024
