How 'Air Raid' disciple Brandon Jones arrived to fix Mizzou football's offensive line

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Brandon Jones did not enjoy his first impression of Mizzou football.
It was Oct. 25, 2003. He was a redshirt freshman offensive lineman for Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were in Columbia armed with coach Mike Leach’s explosive “Air Raid” offense.
“It was homecoming,” Jones recalled this week. “Sheryl Crow came out and did the M-I-Z chant. And then Brad Smith rushed for about 300 yards. It was a rough one.”
A rough day for Texas Tech but a record-breaking game for the brilliant Mizzou quarterback.
“It was gloomy. I want to say it was an 11 o’clock kickoff,” Jones said. “I wasn’t playing at the time, but I got a front-row seat. I was like, ‘Jesus, he’s just blowing up.’ ”
Twenty years later, Jones hasn’t shaken the memory of that day — not even when he revisited Mizzou this spring to interview for the program’s offensive line coaching position.
“Even just setting foot on the field, that’s the first thing that came back to me,” he said.
Jones’ Mizzou misery didn’t end with Smith’s prolific afternoon, which by day’s end added up to 291 rushing yards and five touchdowns in the Tigers’ 62-31 romp.
In 2006, with Jones established as Leach’s starting center, Chase Daniel and the Tigers beat the Red Raiders 38-21 in Lubbock, Texas. A year later, with Jones on Leach’s staff as a graduate assistant, the Tigers blitzed Tech 41-10 in Columbia.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever beaten Missouri,” he said.
Jones, 39, won’t have to worry about that possibility this fall. A chain of events created an opening on head coach Eli Drinkwitz’s staff in March, leading Jones to the place that haunted his younger days. He took over as Mizzou’s offensive line coach in April in what figures to be a critical season for his position group.
But first, as it goes in the coaching industry, it took some dominoes to topple over.
Pay attention closely: In October, Wisconsin made a surprising move and fired head coach Paul Chryst five weeks into the season, later replacing him with Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell. Under pressure at Louisville, Scott Satterfield made what some considered a lateral move and left for the Cincinnati job. Louisville quickly moved to bring home Purdue’s Jeff Brohm, a former UL player and assistant coach. That led Purdue to Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, a former Mizzou assistant who’s widely seen as one of the rising young coaches in the country. Walters brought in Texas-San Antonio’s Matt Mattox to coach his offensive line, but in March he unexpectedly left the staff for unexplained reasons.
To fill the opening, Walters turned to Mizzou’s Marcus Johnson, who had coached with Walters on Drinkwitz’s first staff in 2020. After his first season, Mizzou signed Johnson to an extension through 2023 and named him assistant head coach and run game coordinator. But with a chance for a fresh start on a new staff, he reunited with Walters in March — after Mizzou had completed spring practices.
Around that time, Jones was looking for his next job. He’d spent the last four years on Houston’s staff — he coached the offensive line, served as co-coordinator and run game coordinator — but Cougars head coach Dana Holgorsen didn’t retain Jones for the 2023 season, just as UH prepared to join the Big 12.
That’s when a Mizzou connection paid off: Jones had coached the offensive line at Cal-Berkeley in 2015-16 alongside receivers coach Jacob Peeler, now Mizzou’s receivers coach.
“We’ve had some explosive offenses together,” Jones said. “He was very helpful for me.”
Better late than never, Drinkwitz had a new offensive line coach, giving Jones a two-year contract and a $575,000 salary. With no time to waste, Jones wouldn’t have the luxury of leading the Tigers through spring practices, but he instantly worked to earn the trust and respect of the players he inherited.
“That was one of the deals that was very important to me was coming in and developing a relationship with the guys early,” he said. “I think it’s one of those deals they’ve got to be able to trust me and you got to really lay that foundation early in order to coach them and let them know that you’re on their side.”
The Tigers struggled across the offensive line last year, allowing the most tackles for loss among all Power Five teams while committing 38 penalties in 13 games. Mizzou’s quarterback competition will absorb the most attention over the next few weeks, but it’s a critical camp for Jones and an unsettled front five.
As camp opened Monday, left tackle Javon Foster and right guard Armand Membou are locks to start, but transfers Marcellus Johnson (right tackle) and Cam’Ron Johnson (center) have to hold off competition. Left guard Xavier Delgado has 28 career starts but must earn his spot, too.
“He been working us,” said Marcellus Johnson, a transfer from Eastern Michigan. “We need it. It’s a group that needs it. I’m happy. He’s a grinder and really knows his stuff. Very technical coach.”
All the while, Jones has to mesh with first-year offensive coordinator Kirby Moore and his plans for the offense.
“I’ve been fortunate to work with some really good coordinators and play-callers,” Jones said. “Just the personnel that Kirby wants to play with, it’s obviously what I’m familiar with and how he attacks the field with various schemes. Being a former ‘Air Raid’ guy, you can see the concepts. I just want to do my part and protect the quarterback.”
Johnson’s departure wasn’t ideal timing for Drinkwitz to hire an assistant coach, but he’s been impressed with his latest staff addition.
“There’s no such thing as ideal timing in college football at all. So it is what it is,” Drinkwitz said. “I think Coach Jones has done better than I expected, probably better than I anticipated as far as acclimating himself, both with our players, having a plan for individual player development as well as unit cohesiveness. He’s done a great job with building relationships and showing the guys who he really is that they can buy into his process of coaching. And now, he’s going to do what ultimately he’s the best at, which is on the grass, coaching his guys and really molding that unit.”
Those previous clashes with Mizzou notwithstanding, Jones took away far more positive memories from his days at Texas Tech, especially his connection to Leach — the offensive mastermind who died in December, late in his third season at Mississippi State, at 61 years old.
Some of Leach’s coaching truths stick with Jones daily.
“Just keeping things simple,” he said. “That’s one of the things that I don’t know if a lot of people understood. I know he’s very intriguing and he’s the world’s most interesting man. But he did keep things simple. And we were always mentally tough. That’s one thing that I ask my players to be, just how you handle adversity. Those are some things that he’s instilled in me. And I love him to death for it.”