COLUMBIA, Mo. — Toriano Pride Jr. didn’t need anyone to tell him where he should play next.
When entering the transfer portal after two seasons of college football, the cornerback did so with a “do not contact†tag, which is college sports’ clearest indicator a player knows where their next step will be.
For the ºüÀêÊÓƵ-area product, that was somewhere a little closer to home.
Pride transferred to Missouri after two years at Clemson, where he appeared in 26 games with three starts. He’s a projected starter for the Tigers defense in 2024 and already making a name for himself on the practice field — as a prolific trash-talker, if nothing else.
But his decision to move closer to home was centered around a desire to play in front of his family, even if there’s good-natured debate with a Mizzou star over who’s responsible for drawing Pride to MU.
As he tells the story, his mind was made up by the halfway point of the 2023 season.
“I knew by like Week 6, I’m coming back home,†Pride said.
Hopping in the transfer portal and committing to Missouri was just a matter of time, he explained.
Luther Burden III, the Mizzou wideout who played against Pride before they teamed up at East ºüÀêÊÓƵ in 2021, claims some credit for it playing out so smoothly.
“I actually reached out to him as soon as he hit the portal,†Burden said. “I jumped (on) it ASAP. I didn’t want to let him get away.â€
Cornerbacks coach Al Pogue defers to Burden’s ability to assist as a portal recruiter.
“You always want to lean on Luther with things like that,†Pogue said. “We have to use all our recruiting sources with things like that. Lu, he was a big part of it. He was a tremendous help. When Toriano came on his visit, he hosted him, and they had a great time.â€
So for the sake of the record, was Burden the reason Pride transferred to Mizzou?
“Nah,†Pride told the Post-Dispatch ahead of the Tigers’ preseason camp. “He didn’t really have to recruit. He threw his little 2 cents in ... but at the end of the day, it was my decision.â€
From afar, the 2021 All-Metro defensive player of the year had noted MU’s 2023 campaign. As he drew closer to transferring, Missouri’s allure continued to grow.
“Watching them while I was at another program, I could just see they got a lot of momentum,†Pride said. “Coach Drink, he got a lot of good things coming. He’s on the right track, and I just wanted to be a part of it.â€
The Tigers wanted him too. Both starting cornerbacks from last year, Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw Jr., were selected in the NFL draft, requiring a new starting duo for 2024.
Dreyden Norwood, who filled in for Rakestraw at times last season, and Pride are likely to fill those roles.
“(Pride) saw a great opportunity to come home, and we also had a need,†Pogue said. “It all worked out. He’s a phenomenal player. Man, supportive family.â€
That last bit was important to Pride’s move.
During his high school recruitment, Mizzou — and Pogue in particular — had left an impression on Pride’s family. He headed to Clemson anyway but came back to Missouri with relatives as one of the biggest reasons to play football in Columbia:
“My grandparents, they could come to my games,†Pride said. “Like, my Papa and stuff, he couldn’t really come to all my Clemson games. My mom really couldn’t go to none of my away games. ... Growing up in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, my family’s always been to all my games.â€
For all the cynicism of the transfer portal and name, image and likeness compensation era, the pull of playing in front of family can still be a factor in players’ decisions on where to enroll.
“I don’t want to say it’s self-explanatory, but everybody would play a lot better if they know their mom, sister and grandma and papa are at every game,†Pride said. “They could come down the road and come to some of the away games, just knowing you got them in the stands, not just one person, that makes me happy because I want my mama at all my games.â€
Pride already had a rapport with one Mizzou wideout in Burden, but he’s made quick work of getting a conversational rhythm established with the rest of the Tigers’ receivers. It just might not be as amicable.
During preseason camp, wide receivers have been quick to identify Pride as the defensive back with the most trash-talking capability. And he’s not shying away from that part of his game.
“I talk. I’m goofy. I troll,†Pride said. If you’re on the other side, if you drop a ball, that’s all you’re going to hear from me. Or if you’re not getting the ball, if Brady (Cook)’s not throwing you the ball, I’m just saying little stuff to throw you off, like ‘Oh, Brady don’t even want to give you the ball.’â€
Like with his transfer portal entrance, Pride knows what he’s doing once he starts chirping across the line of scrimmage. He doesn’t need anyone to tell him anything in return when it comes to trash talk, either.
“It depends on who I’m going against, though, because it’s a lot of dudes I know I could get in their head easily,†Pride said, “but it’s some dudes just look at me and be like, ‘Oh, OK.’ You can only talk trash to people who entertain it. If they don’t entertain it, it’s really no point — but I’m going to still say a few things.â€