
Like getting a Nintendo 64 in 1996.
I’ll be honest: I was aware that Mizzou was pursuing Javion Hilson and that he was considering coming to Columbia but I didn’t really put much stock in the blue-chipper picking Missouri over…literally every other school in the country.
But then he did!
And, wow, I’m so glad that he did.
Mizzou has a lot of edge rushing options for next year and adding another highly rated prospect – one year after adding the previous best pass rushing prospect – is an embarrassment of riches I never knew our Tigers could experience.
Let’s see what Mr. Hilson can do on the field.
Where He Fits: Hilson is a pass rusher, through and through. Unlike Williams Nwaneri – who has the attributes of a twitchy edge rusher with the build of an interior lineman – Javion is a lighter version of the same skill set: fast, twitchy, bendy, strong, and tons more potential to obtain.
But the way he wins as an edge defender is varied and beautiful. He wins from the edge by converting speed to power. When he’s not batting balls down at the line of scrimmage, he’s getting in passing lines with his absurd arm length. He’s able to wrap up runners while taking a bad angle while also shoving each tackle he goes up against four feet backwards within a microsecond of the ball being snapped. This is what a game-changing talent looks like along the defensive line. We saw it with Nwaneri, and you see it with Hilson as well.
When he’ll play: This is the kind of player that usually gets on the field early (and potentially often). That wasn’t the case with Nwaneri and, frankly, might not be the case for Hilson either. At the moment of publish, Eddie Kelly, Zion Young, and Jaylen Brown are all returning and had significant snap counts by end of year. And that’s not mentioning the injured Darris Smith who, by all accounts, was the best pass rusher of the group before being injured in fall camp. Nor that other 5-star megazord that I’ve reference several times this article with the last name of Nwaneri. There certainly won’t be any rush for Hilson to produce but if he starts siphoning snaps away from those older guys that will absolutely be a great, beautiful thing to behold.
What it all means: The Tigers added an extremely talented player to the position where they didn’t necessarily need but absolutely coveted. Earning the services of a guy who could have taken his pick between Alabama, Florida State, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, and EVERY BLUE BLOOD EVER is a jolt of energy to the program and further testament to the Drinkwitz staff’s recruiting chops.
If there’s been any criticisms of Hilson’s game it’s that he sometimes appears to take plays off. That tends to be the criticism of players who look and play like him; it was a conversation with Jadeveon Clowney, Myles Garrett and Kayvon Thibodeaux, too, as well as Williams Nwaneri last year.
The Tigers – once lauded as “D-Line Zou” – got another good one to pair with the previous good one they got a year ago. And they’re beating traditional powers in order to do so. Revel in it.
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