COLUMBIA, Mo. — The buzz around Missouri football is real, even with the shadow of NCAA sanctions looming over the Tigers' head.
The team kicked off their fall training camp on Friday, with the full squad hitting the practice fields.
It wasn't hard to spot the most notable 2019 Tiger in the madness of 85 plus players, though. Kelly Bryant is a lightning rod of attention.
He even showed up for his media availability still wearing his practice helmet.
"I just want to be different," Bryant said of his helmeted media session. "I'm going to save the face for the last day. You'll get to see the face on the last day of camp."
The highly-touted Clemson transfer isn't shy about having a good time, and staying loose with his teammates in the locker room, and on the practice field.
He also knows when it's time to lock it in and get down to business. That time is coming in less than a month.
"It was a good first day. A good starting point for us," Bryant said. "There's a lot of buzz and excitement around this team, and that's a good thing, but I've got to take it day by day."
"It would be easy to say we have a chip on our shoulder, but it's more like a boulder," Bryant said. "Those guys are so eager and high energy guys and I fit in well with them and they're going to challenge me and I'm going to challenge them."
If the Tigers hope to survive in the vaunted SEC, Bryant will need to step up to the challenges of guiding one of the most highly anticipated Tiger seasons in recent memory.