Missouri takes the field for the first of 15 scheduled spring practices on March 10. The Tigers will be preparing for a second consecutive title defense in the SEC East.

Despite the recent success, there are plenty of items the team needs to address, including installing new defensive coordinator Barry Odom’s system, overhauling the receiving corps and handing over the keys to the defensive line to new standouts.

Here are the five players Mizzou must develop this spring.

1. QB Maty Mauk

The Columbia Tribune has referenced Mauk’s “three separate seasons” in 2014. At times he bailed from the pocket too soon, failed to recognize defenders dropping into zone coverage and forced passes into traffic. He didn’t use his athleticism as often as many expected, and he needs to get more accurate.

If he can play at his ’14 best for an entire season, he’ll be one heck of a quarterback, but he won’t be able to do that without some major improvements this spring. In addition to better decision-making, Missouri must teach Mauk to operate from within the pocket without eliminating his improvisational abilities. “Improvisational” is a key word — if he automatically flees the pocket like a jailbreak every play, there’s nothing improv about it.

2. WR Nate Brown

Mizzou can develop Mauk all it wants, but unless the receiving corps matures fast, it won’t matter. J’Mon Moore is among the new wave of targets expected to gain traction, but Brown is the early pick to become the team’s No. 1 option. Listed at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Brown caught five passes as a freshman in limited time. He’s got plus athleticism, but struggled to get open when he did see the field in 2014.

The Tigers should spend the spring molding him into an SEC-worthy route-runner.

3. DE Marcus Loud
4. DE Charles Harris

Two things have remained consistent the last two seasons: Missouri atop the SEC East and NFL draft picks starting for the team at defensive end. The team’s pass rush tied for ninth in the country with 42 sacks in ’14 and tied for fourth in the country with 41 sacks in ’13 in large part due to Kony Ealy, Michael Sam, Markus Golden and Shane Ray.

The thrust of the #DLZou will shift to defensive tackle in ’15, as Harold Brantley asserts himself as the lead dog of a strong cadre of defensive tackles. No one expects Loud and Harris to combine for 42.5 tackles for loss like Golden and Ray did last season. But the team needs both players to make significant progress this season, as Mizzou can’t afford to go from best in the SEC to sub-par at the position this fall.

5. S Thomas Wilson

The Tigers should be fine at cornerback, where junior college transfer Kenya Dennis, Aarion Penton and a host of others return. Senior free safety Ian Simon is the veteran of the defensive backs. But without Braylon Webb, filling the other safety spot is the team’s biggest decision on defense this spring.

Redshirt freshman Tavon Ross has generated buzz since he signed with Missouri. Anthony Sherrils performed well on special teams as a true freshman. But Wilson parlayed a great stretch of fall practice into a rotational role in ’14, and he may get the first crack at the job under new safeties coach Ryan Walters. It would be nice to see him play with aggressiveness and athleticism even more consistently this spring.