With Golden still around, Mizzou D-line might be OK even after losing Sam, Ealy
And while he has never started a game at Mizzou, the defensive end flashed enough throughout the Tigers' SEC East championship campaign in 2013 to show he might just be up to the task.
"Whenever you say 'Markus Golden' and whatever you've heard, I want it to be on the same level as all the other guys: Aldon Smith, Ziggy Hood, Sean Weatherspoon, Jeremy Maclin," Golden told FOXSportsMidwest.com, rattling off the names of several recent Mizzou stars -- and first-round NFL Draft picks. "That's always been a goal of mine, and everybody knows it. That's not a secret. That's always been a goal of mine, when I was just a kid, to be a big-time player at Mizzou.
"Of course, I want to get the sack record. But more than anything, I just want to win."
If the Tigers are to have a successful follow-up to their turnaround 2013 season, when they went 12-2 and finished as the No. 5 team in the nation, it will likely be with Golden as one of the team's driving defensive forces.
Golden was arguably Missouri's most productive defensive end last season despite playing only 40 percent of the snaps. Considering that Michael Sam was the co-Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC and Kony Ealy left school early to become a second-round draft pick, that's high praise.
Golden, a 6-foot-3, 260-pounder from the St. Louis suburb of Affton, Mo., led Tigers ends with 55 tackles last season and added 13 tackles for loss, eight pass break-ups and 6 1/2 sacks (five behind Sam's school-record-tying season sacks total). And that was as Ealy's backup at one of the defensive end spots.
While Ealy opted to enter the NFL Draft, Golden decided to stay put in mid-Missouri -- a surprisingly simple choice, as it turned out.
"It was easy to come back another year," Golden said. "I could never leave Mizzou without getting a starting season under my belt. So it was real easy. Then on top of that, my mom wanted me to come back. Then I wanted to be able to get a degree and my mom and my grandmother be able to watch me graduate."
Plus, with Sam graduating and Ealy leaving early, the door is wide open for Golden and Shane Ray, a 6-3, 245-pounder, to show what they can do.
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"It's a good opportunity," said Golden, a converted linebacker. "We're going to be getting more plays now and we just get our chance. I feel like I've already showed people I can play, but it's just a chance to show them I can do even more. That's what it's about, going out there, getting better and making everybody else on the D-line better, because that's what matters. It starts up front."
That will be one of the keys for the Tigers this fall.
The offense has lost eight of 12 starters (Mizzou listed three wide receiver spots along with a tight end) on the depth chart going into the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma State, while the defense returns just four starters from that game: tackle Matt Hoch, nose guard Harold Brantley, weakside linebacker Kentrell Brothers and strong safety Braylon Webb.
So the defensive line -- led by Golden, Ray and interior linemen Hoch, Brantley, Lucas Vincent and Josh Augusta -- will need to set the tone for the defense.
"Guys are stepping up from spring ball," Golden said. "We're looking good. Of course, we can keep getting better, but we're looking pretty good. Everybody's working hard .... That's all we ask for. Know what to do, go out there and just play hard and tough and physical."
That's exactly what Golden did last season, his first full season playing defensive end after excelling as a running back and linebacker at Affton High School and playing linebacker during his detour to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas and then in his first year at Mizzou.
Golden is much more comfortable at the position now.
"I'm way better," he said. "It's more natural to me now. When I first started getting in that three-point stance, it felt kind of weird at first. Now it's just natural. It's just normal to me. It's easy for me to get off the ball and I know my plays and I'm just adding pass-rushing moves."
Sorry, SEC.
You can follow Nate Latsch on Twitter at @NateLatsch or email him at natelatsch@gmail.com.
