In so many ways, Missouri’s offensive line is starting from scratch.

Gone is rock-solid center Evan Boehm, a four-year starter who had made a program-best 52 consecutive starts and was a team captain each of the past two seasons.

Gone also is Connor McGovern, a three-year starter who played guard and both tackle spots.

Boehm was picked in the fourth round of last month’s NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. McGovern was snapped up by the Denver Broncos in the fifth round.

And Glen Elarbee was the man drafted to dig deep and try to coach up a Missouri offensive line that is as inexperienced as it gets, in the unforgiving SEC no less. A.J. Ricker wasn’t retained on new head coach Barry Odom’s staff, and Odom believed Elarbee was the perfect choice for a complicated job.

“There’s been times and points in practice where we’ve done a really nice job of competing,” Elarbee told The Missourian earlier this spring. “The door’s open for everybody to compete right now. If you want to come out and grab some pads, you can compete as well.”

Elarbee’s words don’t reek of desperaton as much as being a call for everyone to just get down to work, for a unit that lost its leaders and will be trying to protect for an offense that ranked 124th out of 127 in the country last season. None of this will be particularly easy in 2016, but the first stages of building a foundation began in the spring with many new names and that new voice leading them.

“Glen Elarbee is undertaking a mammoth task. A unit that was unable to carve out any kind of consistency in either the run or pass blocking lost five seniors,” wrote Oscar Gamble in rockmnation.com. “Elarbee’s job may be made easier by (new offensive coordinator) Josh Heupel’s changes, but pace and scheme can only disguise so much.”

And Mizzou didn’t just lose future pros Boehm and McGovern. The cut was a lot deeper than that.

Brad McNulty, Mitch Hall and Taylor Chappell also departed. Combined they played in 33 games and started 25.

That’s a lot of manpower, experience and savvy to replace, no matter how effective the skill-position guys were around them last season. The only guys coming back who made any starts last season are junior Nate Crawford, who made eight starts at right tackle and left guard, and junior Alec Abeln, who made three starts at left guard.

That’s it. Quick math says that’s 11 combined starts returning from last year among five positions, with an unproven quarterback in Drew Lock and a new offensive coordinator in Heupel, all trying to form something under the direction of a new line coach in Elarbee.

That’s a lot of new and not a lot of old. Which, of course, is all part of the massive challenge in trying to make it work.

“Nate (Crawford) and I feel like the old guys,” Abeln told The Missourian. “Losing five seniors from last year is definitely a void in leadership. There’s some personality changes in the room where it just feels different. It’s something that Nate and I are having to figure out on the fly.”

The Tigers’ lone returning senior was set to be Malik Cuellar, but the former junior-college transfer quit the team in March after being a disappointment in his one season transitioning from right to left tackle.

The junior class has some experience with Crawford and Abeln joining Clay Rhodes and January enrollee Tyler Howell, a transfer from Butler (Kan.) Community College who could play right away at tackle. Howell is massive at 6-8, 305, and he could add big-time meaning to a group that will need all the help it can get.

“Missouri needs Tyler Howell to emerge as a dominant force at left tackle,” The Kansas City Star’s Tod Palmer wrote in March.

To grow into a respectable line, the Tigers will also need maturity, not to mention production, from the sophomore trio of Kevin Pendleton, Paul Adams and Sam Bailey, as well as redshirt freshman A.J. Harris. According to Palmer, Abeln and Bailey will be “in the mix” along with Harris to fill Boehm’s very large, dependable shoes at center.

And Boehm’s advice as he leaves behind a potentially tough situation?

“Be confident in the position, be confident in yourself,” Boehm told The Missourian. “You know the plays and know what you’re doing. The play starts with you.”

But that’s the point. The play used to start with Boehm, but now it’ll be up to someone else. And it’ll be up to Elarbee to tie it all together. Count Boehm as a believer in the group he left behind.

“Paul Adams, Nate Crawford, Kevin Pendleton, Alec Abeln. The guys that have experience under their belt need to step up and be leaders on this offensive line,” Boehm told The Missourian. “As of what I’ve seen so far, they’re doing that.”

Any impact that three-star guard Tre’vour Simms and three-star tackle Trystan Castillo could make this summer — and fall — would be welcomed. As Elarbee pointed out, in an indirect sort of way, it will be up to anyone and everyone with pads on to do his part.

As for the new leader of such an inexperienced group emerging, Abeln is talking big by what he’s learned from Boehm but knows he’ll need to show it on the practice field in summer camp with just those three career starts under his belt.

“As far as technique stuff, there’s a million things I can tell you,” Abeln told The Missourian. “But as far as taking over a line and kind of being the vocal leader and trying to keep guys together is invaluable experience from him.”

A little over a year ago, a story was written on Missouri’s O-line with the headline: “Mizzou returns seasoned offensive line.” The Tigers had Boehm and McGovern, other experienced guys coming back and didn’t have a new coach to get accustomed to.

Today, none of that exists. All that’s there now is a huge challenge for Elarbee and his fresh cast. According to The Missourian, Odom said that Elarbee is “the kind of guy who never takes a compliment.”

In other words, Elarbee is never satisfied. Perhaps then he is the perfect person, patient and passionate, to head up Missouri’s massive offensive line rebuild.