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ARLINGTON, Texas — As Missouri football arrived in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area just before the Christmas holiday, there were signs of a big-time game coming.

The No. 9 Tigers will face No. 7 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Friday, but Mizzou traveled to Texas on Dec. 23. In the days since, which included a couple of practices and some holiday festivities, a handful of personnel moves related to the MU roster have been announced.

Two of Missouri’s premier defensive players will miss the Cotton Bowl with injuries: cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper.

Rakestraw’s status for the bowl game had been in question since its early December announcement. He missed a handful of games, including the regular-season finale at Arkansas.

Hopper missed the final two games of the season, including a senior night game against Florida, his former team.

Rakestraw, who has accepted a Senior Bowl invite, is poised to pursue a professional career. Hopper has one more year of eligibility remaining but is considered a candidate for an NFL jump as well.

Dreyden Norwood has been the primary fill-in for Rakestraw, while Triston Newson has replaced Hopper.

Elsewhere on the defense, safety Joseph Charleston announced he would return to Mizzou for the 2024 season for his final year of eligibility. Charleston led the Tigers in tackles during the regular season, with 60. He transferred to MU from Clemson ahead of the 2022 season.

And on the offensive side, wide receiver Mookie Cooper — who will suit up against his former school when he faces the Buckeyes — also announced that he will play in black and gold again in 2024. Cooper has two years of eligibility left after catching 34 passes for 429 yards during the regular season.

Depth quarterback Gabarri Johnson, a true freshman who redshirted this season, has transferred to Oregon State. Johnson quietly entered the transfer portal and committed to the Beavers on Monday.

As a recruit out of Tacoma, Washington, Johnson was rated a four-star prospect. While he had no path to playing time during the 2023 season, Johnson did impress during a preseason camp intra-squad scrimmage for the program’s young players.

The Tigers dipped into the portal, too, for former Murray State punter Orion Phillips, who committed to MU after one season with the Racers, in which he averaged 43.5 yards per punt, including one more than 70 yards, his longest of the year.

He joins Riley Williams as Australian punters on the Mizzou roster who are products of the Pro Kick Australia kicking academy.

Williams and Luke Bauer, who traded punting duties back and forth as the 2023 season went on, are now likely to compete with Phillips for fourth-down duties next year. All three punters have eligibility through at least the 2025 season.

Florida defensive lineman transferring to Mizzou

ARLINGTON, Texas — The transfer portal doesn’t stop for the upcoming Cotton Bowl — or maybe it’s that Missouri’s portal efforts aren’t taking a break.

The Tigers picked up a transfer commitment Tuesday from former Florida defensive tackle Chris McClellan.

He played two seasons with the Gators, making one start this season. In his 25 career appearances, McClellan has 3½ tackles for a loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery.

He stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 320 pounds. In his two career meetings with Mizzou, he recorded four total tackles.

During his high school days in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area, McClellan was tabbed as the state’s No. 2 recruit in the 2022 class by 247Sports.

Missouri prefers to have a pool of defensive tackles in order to regularly rotate personnel on the interior of the defensive line, which is where McClellan is a candidate to slot in next season with a handful of tackles set to run out of eligibility.

McClellan is MU’s fourth defensive transfer acquisition of the cycle and seventh overall.