COLUMBIA, Mo. — Some took the news like Chicken Little. The sky was falling, it seemed. Or for a better football metaphor, the pocket was collapsing worryingly.
Missouri’s decision to rule starting left tackle Cayden Green out of Saturday’s game against South Carolina seemed like a cause for concern when it appeared on the Tigers’ Friday evening injury report. Jayven Richardson, having competed unsuccessfully twice for that job, would be stepping in.
Against a Gamecocks team anchored by Dylan Stewart, one of the nation’s best defensive ends.
Nervy, nervy, nervy.
In the end? It worked.
Richardson was — and this is a compliment to an offensive lineman, truly — pretty much anonymous. He started, he held up in pass protection, he paved the way for a dominant rushing attack. Early on, Mizzou helped him out a bit with a tight end on the left edge or some running back help in pass pro. But that’s hardly abnormal for any offense.
And MU won the game, grinding out a 29-20 result over the Gamecocks to move to 4-0 on the season and start 1-0 in Southeastern Conference play.
“Can’t say enough about Jayven Richardson coming in and playing,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “I’ll have to go back and watch the tape, but man, I was really, really proud of his performance tonight. We had a lot of big runs to his side.”
Drinkwitz also shed some light on the mysterious practice injury that kept Green from playing in this game and had him wearing a walking boot on his right foot while on the sidelines Saturday.
Green, Drinkwitz said, suffered an injury during Wednesday’s practice. (It would appear to be to his lower leg, ankle or foot, given the boot, but Drinkwitz did not specify.)
“We thought it was going to be OK,” Drinkwitz said.
Green was a full participant in the Tigers’ Thursday walkthrough but felt off. The team listed him as “probable” for the game with an undisclosed injury and sent him in for an MRI. That scan revealed an issue after all, and the team decided “that the best thing to do was to attack it.”
So Friday morning, Green underwent a “medical procedure,” likely code for a relatively minor surgery, to address the issue. He was out Saturday and will almost certainly be out next week against UMass, too.
His injury is not considered season-ending by any means, though.
“He should be back as soon as he possibly can,” Drinkwitz said, offering up a three to five week timeline.
That would make Missouri’s Oct. 11 game against Alabama the target date to have Green back at left tackle — not guaranteed, but possible at this point. With a win secured Saturday, a winless UMass team and then a bye, that keeps the effects of Green’s absence fairly minimal.
In the mean time, it was and will be Richardson.
He transferred to MU in 2024 from Hutchinson Community College to compete for the left tackle job. Marcus Bryant, a transfer who wound up going in the seventh round of the NFL Draft, won out then.
Richardson was once again in the mix — leading the mix, really — to be the Tigers’ left tackle in 2025. Yet during the last week of fall camp, the Mizzou coaching staff didn’t feel great about its offensive line combination and shook it up, moving Green from left guard to left tackle and relegating Richardson to a backup role once again.
His response and his readiness to hold down the fort against the Gamecocks earned rave reviews from Drinkwitz — both for his performance as a starter and his contribution to the team’s locker room culture.
“I think Jayven Richardson is a testament to what being a great teammate is all about,” Drinkwitz said. “The dude took every snap as a starter in spring and three weeks of fall camp. Ultimately, we made the tough decision to slide Cayden out. He could’ve done a lot of different things. He could have pouted, could have been disappointed, could have came in and demanded a trade. …
“What he did was every day, he went in and went to work,” Drinkwitz continued. “He actually is our swing tackle, so he’s our backup right tackle too. He learned multiple positions. Ultimately, we have a ton of confidence. I know there’s a lot of different things being thrown out there about Cayden, but we have a ton of confidence in Jayven Richardson because he’s a great young man who works hard. When his moment showed up, he was there for the brotherhood. That’s what this thing is built on.”
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Eli Hoff | Post-Dispatch
Mizzou athletics beat writer
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today