Toriano Pride Jr. hasn’t had the time to piece together a proper pick-six celebration yet.

Watch the Missouri football cornerback's play back: He steps in front of the ill-advised, please-go-incomplete pass; he picks it off like a receiver and evades the only man in his way; he straddles the sideline and crosses the goal line.

Seasoned stuff. Picture perfect.

Until … tongue out, arms out wide like wings on an airplane and a hasty sprint back to the sideline and a clumsy jump.

“I know it’s really special for (Pride). I think he surprised himself,” Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz said, “because he didn't have a celebration to go to, so we’ve got to work on that.”

Well, you can’t blame him.

It was just the fifth live snap the Tigers’ defense has taken since he transferred in from Clemson.

You wouldn’t have guessed it, though. Nor would you have guessed that the Tigers were working with a new-look defense during their 51-0 shutout of Murray State to open the 2024 season Thursday in front of a sellout crowd in Columbia.

The Tigers were dominant. That’s good, but they should dominate the visiting Racers, who brought 65 new players and a new coaching staff to their debut on the road to an SEC school.

But the level at which Missouri’s defense was dominant — the 85 yards of total Murray State offense kind — should encourage MU fans.

And specifically who was dominant — all those newcomers — should really raise some brows.

The Tigers lost 10 feature players from last year’s defense, five of whom were selected in this year’s NFL Draft. Tack on a new defensive coordinator in Corey Batoon, who replaces LSU-bound Blake Baker, and that seems like a lot to retool in a year when the 12-team College Football Playoff is the goal.

Sure didn't look like it was problem Thursday, though.

Go back to Pride’s pick. See where it started.

Murray State quarterback Jayden Johannsen made the ill-advised throw, but it was Michigan State transfer defensive end Zion Young who broke the edge and forced the decision from the QB.

Right up front, Florida transfer defensive tackle Chris McClellan broke through the guts of the Racers’ offensive line and ripped out a strip-sack on Johannsen, setting up an instant red-zone possession and a touchdown for backup running back Jamal Roberts.

What’d he see?

“I saw a breakdown in communication,” McClellan said. … “So I saw the space and I took it.”

There weren’t many of those on the Mizzou defense.

There’s a reason for the instant showing of fluidity and cohesion from Missouri's newcomers, and it starts with how Batoon is presenting pictures on the sideline.

Quite literally.

The explanation from linebacker Corey Flagg, who was the Tigers’ leading tackler in Game 1 with five stops, didn’t initially sound all that simple.

“(Batoon) gets us prepared for situations,” Flagg said. “Like, we’ve got different situations, like ‘Cookie,’ ‘Elmo,’ ‘Big Bird.’”

Then it made all the sense in the world.

“Third-and-1, that’s Elmo. So, that's red, so it's gonna be like a run, or just a very hard count, stuff like that,” Flagg said. “It’s all good because it's colors, so you see those colors and your antennas go up.”

Flagg's second-half TFL? Third-and-short.

Up went Elmo's red face on the sideline, and up went Flagg's guard. The middle linebacker took off in a sprint-to-the-sideline after a pitch left to the Racers' running back. There was only going to be one winner.

Easy as you like.

The Tigers forced three total turnovers. The Racers passed for 27 yards, managed just five first downs all game long and crossed midfield just once.

Not bad for an MU team in its first outing together.

But it was connected all the way from the start.

Drinkwitz said the team's seniors had the idea to have the team emerge from the south end zone facility with arms interlocked.

The message? Pretty simple really.

“Our team wanted to come out and show everybody that this is a new team,” Drinkwitz said. “You know, this is a new thing, and we're going to have our own identity.”

Drinkwitz is right. This is a new team from the 11-2 squad that won the Cotton Bowl and set expectations sky high for 2024.

But when the Tigers’ defensive starters were on the sideline, and they were running 10 freshmen to close out a shutout?

You’d hardly have guessed.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football's defensive dominance bodes well for 2024 season success