Missouri football: 3 reasons to watch Mizzou’s Trajan Jeffcoat

Trajan Jeffcoat led the Missouri football team in crucial statistics, including sacks and quarterback hits. Can he take over the Southeastern Conference?

Alongside 2021 2nd round pick Nick Bolton, Jeffcoat was a common Tiger name amongst the SEC accolades. By season’s end, he was a member of the 2020 All-SEC Coaches’ Football First Team. Jeffcoat also followed that with the Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll and received a nod on Athlon Sports’ Preseason All-SEC Second Team, one of five Tigers named altogether.

Many plays will vocally not rest their laurels on the previous season. Jeffcoat may use his previous successes and build it into a dominant season.

His six sacks in 2020 placed him fifth in the conference, only 2.5 sacks behind conference leader 2021 2nd round pick Azeez Ojulari. A more impressive stat about those sacks is they came in six separate games. This shows that his 2020 performance did not stand out because of a flashy game or a dominant matchup. Instead, it came by Jeffcoat being a constant edge threat against some of the best blockers in college football.

Jeffcoat also recorded seven quarterback hurries, an important stat that may not make the box score but has a great impact on the game nonetheless.

With the SEC’s top two sack leaders gone due to the draft, the conference sack rate can be wide open. Jeffcoat could stand out on the conference level with more consistent performance and more flashes.