Starting center Connor Tollison and the Mizzou football program have one goal and one goal only: run the table.

“Our goals are to get to the SEC championship and get into the 12-team playoff, and then it's almost a new season after that," said Tollison, a former three-time All-State offensive lineman at Jackson, on the SEMO Scramble this past weekend. “You just got to get in."

Easier said than done, especially in the SEC.

But winning is something a player like Tollison has been accustomed to for most of his football career. At Jackson, he helped anchor the Indians to a perfect 14-0 record and a Class 5 state title his senior season. As the Tigers’ starting center in 2023, Tollison guided the Mizzou offensive line to be named semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, which is given to the top offensive line unit in the country. Missouri went 11-2 and won the Cotton Bowl, as well.

“Our expectations are just to continue to improve,” Tollison said. “The standard has been set and it’s only going to go up. Improvement is the number one goal.”

Reaching that standard is the challenging part. For Mizzou this season, this team will go where the offense goes, and a lot of that is contingent upon star quarterback Brady Cook.

A senior, Cook had a breakout 2023 campaign after logging a career-high 3,317 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and just five interceptions, and posting a 157.2 passing efficiency rating, which was the third-best single-season mark in school history. Now a seasoned veteran, the St. Louis native is poised to have his best year yet.

"We all look at him as our captain and leader of the offense and the football team," Tollison said. "We were both backups so we kind of built our relationship through that. It doesn't really matter what gets in our way or what comes to us. We'll be able to overcome it."

One thing this Mizzou offense will need to overcome is losing legendary running back Cody Schrader. The 2023 first-team All-American set the Tigers’ single-season rushing record behind 1,627 yards last year. Now a member of the Los Angeles Rams, Schrader is replaced by a pair of talented Group of Five conference transfers in Nate Noel (Appalachian State) and Marcus Carroll (Georgia State). The duo combined for 83 rushing yards and two scores in Mizzou’s 51-0 victory over Murray State last Thursday in the opener.

"It's all the same schemes from where they came from, might just be a little different," Tollison said. "I think they've done a great job of coming in and getting acclimated to what we did on offense, maybe what Cody was good at, and what these guys can be good at, and we'll find a happy medium.”

Tollision’s development, as well as the entire Tiger offensive line for that matter, should only make the Mizzou offense that much more explosive in 2024.

Tollison, a freak athlete who was a four-star recruit that wanted to play for his home-state school, said his long-term goal is to compete at the professional level. However, with two-years of eligibility remaining, his main focus is on sharpening his craft and helping the Tigers write more history.

“I want to play ball as long as I'm able to," Tollison said. "I think for me I just got to keep getting better on the field and keep putting weight on off the field."

Mizzou will continue non-conference action at 6 pm this Saturday, Sept. 7 against Buffalo at Memorial Stadium.