Johnny Walker, Joe Moore Emerging as Leaders on Mizzou's Defense at Spring Practices
COLUMBIA — When Brian Early first looked over the Missouri roster after being named the Tigers' edge coach, the names Walker and Moore popped out at him.
He was familiar with senior defensive end Joe Moore from trying to recruit the former Arizona State pass rusher to Houston — where Early coached from 2019-'23 — last offseason.
The tape for Johnny Walker Jr. is hard not to catch the eyes of a pass rushing savant like Early. Walker burst onto the scene last year, his fourth year at Missouri, becoming the Tigers' second leading sacker with five on the season.
The only pass rusher ahead of Walker was, unsurprisingly, Darius Robinson. Early and the rest of the Tigers defensive staff will be tasked with finding the right piece to step in the crucial leadership and performance role that the soon to be NFL Draft pick fulfilled.
"When D-Rob was here, I think D-Rob was the alpha in this room and that's person is gone and someone else has to move into that role," Early said Tuesday ahead of a spring practice.
Two weeks into spring practices though, Early believes Walker and Moore might be capable of doing so. Last season, Robinson took Walker under his wing. Now Robinson's student will have to become a teacher for those looking up to him.
"Something that he (Walker) communicated to me when I met with him 1:1 when I first got here was the fact that he looked up to D-Rob," Early said. "It's Johnny's turn now so him understanding that that is his job. To make sure that that standard stays the standard and that we raise the play of everyone in this room and that he helps grooms those young players and get in him to a position where we feel like they can play good football for us."
Walker is having to find his voice as a leader. He's not as vocal as Robinson and that's not an issue. An authentic leader is someone pretending to be someone else.
"He's embraced that leadership part of that," Early said. "He's not a real vocal type of leader and thats OK. There's different ways to do that and he's setting a good example with the way he handles his business on a daily basis."
Early also expects Moore to eventually step into a similar role in his second season in Columbia. Early recognizes that once he can prove to his peers that his work ethic leads to success, players will start to pay attention and listen to his advice.
"Joe's another guy that is a quiet worker and right now he's trying to establish some credibility and become a dude for us and while he's in the process of doing that, he's just head down, get some work done," Early said. "He's starting to become consistent and is flashing on tape and doing some really good things. Once he gets that type of credibility, then he's also going to put himself in that position to succeed."
For Early, the ideal leader not only leads the team statistically but also improves everyone around them. That will be the next step for both Moore and Walker in establishing their voices as leaders.
"We talk about in here that great players make everyone around them better so that's really challenge for someone like Johnny," Early said. "Not only try to improve as an individual but also instead of calling guys out, call guys up. Try to help me coach some of these younger guys so I think that he's embracing that leadership role."
Spring practices are only the first steps for Moore and Walker to establish their roles. But if they continue on the track they seem to be on, their names should jump off the page to anyone who looks at the Tigers' roster.
