COLUMBIA - Taking a graduate transfer in college football is no sure thing.
Most coaches are looking for a player who can make an immediate impact in a year or two, and most transfers are looking for immediate playing time. But those snaps taken by a new player usually come at the expense of a player who has been in the program for at least a year, so making sure a transfer fits the program while also ruffling as few feathers as possible is also an imperative.
"What we're looking for is immediate depth and competition," Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said Tuesday on a Zoom call. "And that's the No. 1 thing: We want somebody who can come in immediately and compete for a starting position. Nothing's given to them, everything's earned, they got to come in here, earn it, but at each position that we felt like we needed to take a grad transfer, we obviously felt like there was a need in unproven depth. And so that's what we did."
The Tigers have four grad transfers this year, all immediately eligible, in wide receivers Keke Chism and Damon Hazelton Jr., center Michael Maietti and punter Grant McKinniss.
An added level of difficulty to adding transfers this past offseason has been the inability to meet in person. Of the four, only Hazelton committed to Missouri before the sports world shut down due to the coronavirus. The Tigers' new staff relied on continued contact through phone calls to the prospective players and their families, FaceTime calls to get face-to-face contact and virtual tours of the campus, facilities and team or position meetings.
"It was definitely challenging due to things that we couldn't control with COVID this year," Hazelton said of the communication process. "The spring actually was really good, we were having great practices, we were doing well, getting a lot of stuff installed, but we had to break."
Drinkwitz referenced previous transfers Adam Kennedy at Arkansas State and Joe Scelfo and Ryan Finley at North Carolina State to indicate past success with transfers.
"I think the thing we sell is we've had a lot of really good experiences with grad transfers in our history," Drinkwitz said. " So we have had success implementing guys into the locker room and understand how that culture goes. I think that's probably the biggest thing, is that we understand it, have done it and have proven success with it."
Some coaches in new jobs take grad transfers to help fit scheme, while others prefer to find fits while recruiting high schools while working to develop multi-year starters from within.
These four all fit because of a need for depth. Drinkwitz said Missouri recruited Maietti because Case Cook, who started at guard last season but has been listed on the depth chart before as backup center, was not at full go during the shortened spring practice session. Hazelton and Chism were recruited because of a lack of a proven outside wide receiver on the roster, and McKinniss was added because Tucker McCann, one of the best punters and kickers in program history, went pro in the spring.
Without the benefit of being able to watch full practices, it's difficult to tell how well the transfers are fairing. But based on the first three practices, two - Chism and Maietti - have impressed teammates and earned their numbers. So has freshman walk-on Chance Luper, son of running backs coach Curtis Luper.
All newcomers are assigned numbers but practice in blank jerseys until their position group and coach vote to give them a number. Chism will wear No. 6, Luper No. 18 and Maietti No. 55 this season.
"I mean, it was great, just to see my hard work paying off," Chism said Wednesday of getting his number. "But at the same time, I know that it's not done. Every day I come in, and it's a brand new day, so each day I look at it as a challenge. I gotta earn it every day.
"I want to prove to my guys that I want to be someone that they can count on. I want to be a leader on this team and someone that they can depend on. So every day I just challenge myself, I go out there and try to be the best player in the best teammate that I can be for these guys to help them win."
Chism transferred up a level, from Division II Angelo State, where he caught 157 passes for 2,221 yards and 16 touchdowns in three seasons. A quarterback at Daingerfield High School in northeast Texas, the Rams recruited him as a wideout because of his athleticism and size: 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds. He's since added 8-10 pounds since arriving in Columbia and working with Missouri's strength and nutrition staff.
After he put his name in the transfer portal, 10 schools reached out. Chism made it clear he wanted to make his decision quickly, which narrowed it down to four options, and a week after entering the portal, he committed to Missouri.
It's not every year a player is able to successfully make the jump from D-II to the Power Five level, so Drinkwitz, wide receivers coach Bush Hamdan and the recruiting staff did their due diligence to make sure Chism was capable.
"Oh man, it definitely took a lot of time, for sure, talking to my family about it," Chism said of the decision. "It's just one of those things, I really just had to take a leap of faith and take a chance on myself because ever since I was a kid, my goal has always been to be the best and to play against the best, so it was one of those things where I really had to believe in myself and take that step and enter the transfer portal, and once that happened I mean everything opened up for me. Just God's grace."
Chism and Maietti, who transferred after starting more than 30 games at center for Rutgers, both would not be playing college football this season if they had stayed put.
"Yeah, I'm pretty lucky that I'm able to say that I can play college football this year," Maietti said Wednesday. "Half the conferences in the country shut down. I'm really happy to be here playing football."
Hazelton, who transferred from Virginia Tech after playing his freshman year at Ball State, is ready to bring a bit of flash and a deep-ball threat to Missouri's receiving corps. Going back to 2018 while in Houston visiting his mom, he would work out with trainer Justin Allen, who owns his own workout facility in Houston and is popular on social media.
When he went back this spring, along with fellow Tigers receiver C.J. Boone, they were joined by one of Allen's newer clients, Houston Rockets star James Harden.
"(Allen) set it up one day where we were there at the same time, and Harden is a great guy, stand-up guy," Hazelton said. "He was very welcoming and he wanted to train with us."
Hazelton has 133 receptions for 1,834 yards and 20 touchdowns in his three-season career, and is continuing to work through what Drinkwitz called "a few lingering, not injuries, but just nagging stuff that's kept him out of some team (drills)."