The Missouri football program has a ton of momentum heading into 2019. When Kelly Bryant announced he would finish out his college career in Columbia, that sent a message to the rest of the SEC that Missouri plans to continue the program’s progression heading into Year 4 under Barry Odom.

In order to do so, one area of the team that drastically needs to improve on the field in 2019 is the defensive backfield, in particular at safety. The good news is Missouri added six safeties in its 2019 recruiting class. The bad news, the highest-ranked safety signed recently suffered an injury that will force him to miss some action.

Missouri announced on Tuesday that Saint Louis native Jalani Williams, rated as a four-star prospect in the 2019 class, will miss the remainder of spring practice. Williams had to have surgery on his foot and won’t return until June, according to the team. That should give him plenty of time to return for fall camp but having him participate in spring camp would have made his path to the field much easier.

247Sports Composite rated Williams as the nation’s No. 25 safety recruit in the nation and the No. 5 overall prospect from the state of Missouri in the 2019 recruiting cycle. He was Mizzou’s highest-ranked recruit in the latest signing class.