Missouri Football: Harold Brantley, Walter Brady dismissed for off-field reasons

The Missouri Tigers defensive line lost two significant contributors for off-field reasons.

Two of the best players on Barry Odom’s defense will not be with Missouri after Harold Brantley was ruled academically ineligible and Walter Brady violated undisclosed team policies, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Both players were dismissed on the day the Tigers are reporting for the first day of preseason camp.

Brady was a Freshman All-American after starting nine games last year and tying for the team lead with seven sacks and led all SEC freshmen defensive linemen with 12.5 tackles for loss.

Brantley missed last season after suffering multiple injuries in a car accident but Odom spoke about Brantley’s progress and the work he put in to get back on the football field, via the Post-Dispatch.

“He’s in two classes currently. He did a really good job finishing up one class last semester. He’s done the things academically he needed to up to this point.”

Unfortunately, for Brantley and for MIssouri, he won’t be a member of the team and ends his comeback story, at least with the Tigers, after he looked poised to develop into one of the top defensive tackles in the SEC after making 54 tackles and five sacks in 2014.

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Missouri’s strength entering this season was their defensive line but it lost two players who were expected to be significant contributors this year in the first year with Odom as the head coach.

The former defensive coordinator who takes over for Gary Pinkel still has All-American candidate Charles Harris, former five-star recruit Terry Beckner Jr., Rickey Hatley, Marcell Frazier and Josh Augusta on the line, but on the eve of the first practice, Missouri is scrambling to fill holes.