Memphis CB coach Ryan Walters joins Missouri as safeties coach

Memphis cornerbacks coach Ryan Walters has agreed to become Missouri’s safeties coach, according to sources.

Walters rejoins new Missouri defensive coordinator Barry Odom after they worked together at Memphis this past season. It is Walters’ third full-time assistant job in as many years as he replaces former safeties coach Alex Grinch, who left last month to become Washington State’s defensive coordinator.

Besides his lone campaign at Memphis this past season, the 29-year-old Walters also coached cornerbacks at North Texas for one year (2013). He was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma in 2012 after being Arizona’s defensive backs coach the previous year.

A Los Angeles native, Walters was a graduate assistant for the Wildcats in 2010 and a student assistant the year before at his alma mater, Colorado. He played free safety for the Buffaloes from 2004-08.

With Odom and Walters, Memphis ranked 11th in the FBS in scoring defense (19.7 points per game) and 27th in total defense (349.5 yards per game) this past season on the way to the team's first 10-win season since 1938. Missouri was 19th and 23rd nationally in those respective categories under former defensive coordinator Dave Steckel, who left in December to become head coach at Missouri State.

The Tigers had an 11-3 record this past season en route to winning the SEC East and the Citrus Bowl.