Four-star defensive end Javion Hilson, No. 77 in the 2025 ESPN 300, announced his commitment to Missouri on ESPN's "College Football Live" on Wednesday afternoon, picking the Tigers over finalists Texas A&M, Texas, Michigan, Syracuse and Pitt.
Hilson, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound edge defender from Cocoa, Florida, is ESPN's 11th-ranked edge prospect in the 2025 cycle. He began the fall committed to Florida State before Hilson pulled his pledge from the Seminoles on Sept. 8. Hilson's list of campus visits in recent months included stops at Texas, Texas A&M and Michigan, and Hilson now lands with Missouri as the top-ranked prospect in coach Eli Drinkwitz's 2025 class.
Hilson entered his senior season this fall as one of the nation's top defensive line prospects after totaling 97 tackles, 44 hurries and 14 sacks as a junior at Cocoa High School.
Initially committed to Alabama under Nick Saban in December 2023, Hilson flipped his pledge to Florida State in January days after Saban's retirement. His decommitment from the Seminoles earlier this fall marked one of the first in a flood of exits from coach Mike Norvell's 2025 class that ultimately saw seven ESPN 300 prospects pull their pledges from Florida State across the program's 2-10 finish to the 2024 season.
Two days after four-star offensive tackle Lamont Rogers decommitted from the Tigers, Hilson lands with Missouri as the highest-rated of six ESPN 300 pledges in the program's 2025 class. He joins in-state four-star defensive end Daeden Hopkins as the second top-300 defender committed to the Tigers in this cycle. Missouri also holds ESPN 300 commitments from four-star quarterback Matt Zollers (No. 93), in-state offensive tackle Jack Lange (No. 146), wide receiver Donovan Olugbode (No. 176) and running back Marquise Davis (No. 123), who flipped his pledge to the Tigers on Monday.