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COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥� Missouri has hired a former NFL salary analyst to its football staff as it continues to foray into an increasingly professionalized view of the college game.

Gaurav Verma will be the Tigers' first-ever Director of Football Strategy and Finance, a new role that will fold analytics, recruiting and salary cap management into his responsibilities.聽

He is not a general manager, nor is his position intended to mimic one. Verma will report directly to coach Eli Drinkwitz and partner with assistant coaches, recruiting staff, MU's compliance department and the Every True Tiger Brands NIL marketing agency 鈥� making him another role player in the strategy of annually assembling competitive rosters.聽

Verma previously worked for the NFL's Denver Broncos as a salary cap specialist following time in the finance industry and holds an MBA from MIT's management school.聽

鈥淲e are really excited to add Gaurav to our program,鈥� Drinkwitz said in a statement. 鈥淗is NFL experience, as well as his business background, will help us navigate revenue sharing and contract management.鈥�

Per the program, Verma will "lead strategic planning" in five areas:

• Roster and revenue-share cap planning
• Talent evaluation and scouting
• Recruiting logistics
• Analytics in recruiting
• Compliance, NIL and "interdepartmental collaboration."

Those duties do not include tasks typically assigned to general managers, like building relationships with agents or players. Rather, Verma is expected to operate behind the scenes to arm Mizzou's football decision-makers with better information and data.

Drinkwitz has previously said he's reluctant to hire a true general manager like some other college sports programs have 鈥� including MU men's basketball. Because he no longer calls plays, he's able to focus more of his bandwidth toward the beast that is modern-roster building. Continued collaboration with Every True Tiger Brands CEO Brad Larrondo, who took that role after working on the football staff, and Verma ought to cover the GM role in the aggregate, at least for now.

Verma, who hails from Boston, has already made it to Columbia and was in attendance at a fall camp practice earlier this week.

"I'm thrilled to join Mizzou football at such a transformative time,鈥� Verma said in a statement. 鈥淲ith college football evolving rapidly through revenue sharing and strategic roster management, I'm excited to apply my background in finance and the NFL to help Mizzou build sustainably competitive teams on the sport's biggest stage: the SEC. I want to thank Coach Drinkwitz for this opportunity and can't wait to help build on the program's success as we compete for national championships."