We’re two weeks into fall football camp as the Tigers prep for their toughest SEC schedule to date, and probably their toughest schedule period (at least since the 70s when men were men and power conference teams actually played each other out of conference.)
Now that practice is in full swing, it’s time to really dig in to what we don’t know, need to know and want to know about the 2026 squad before the mighty Lions of Pine Bluff come to Columbia in early September. So here are five big questions as we march ever closer to our deaths. And the start of the season.
1. Will the run game remain elite?
Obviously, Ahmad Hardy’s status and health are the biggest questions surrounding the Mizzou running game. They are probably the biggest questions surrounding Mizzou football, period. But that question is so obvious that it is worth digging a little deeper.
The Tigers are faced with potentially replacing more than just Hardy’s production. They also have to replace NFL third-rounder Keagan Trost at right tackle, while his heir apparent Josh Atkins looks to be out most, if not all of the season with an injury.
Jamal Roberts has proven to be a perfectly cromulent option when called upon, so there is reason to believe the Tigers can survive some amount of attrition at running back. The bigger question is what happens when a potentially thinner-than-hoped running back room is combined with the changes up front.
Mizzou is replacing two offensive linemen and has a new offensive coordinator in Chip Lindsey. That is a lot of change surrounding the one thing the offense consistently did well last year. The Tigers’ run game was the foundation of everything they did offensively. It kept the offense on schedule, protected the quarterback and allowed Mizzou to play the kind of efficient, physical football that has defined much of the Eli Drinkwitz era.
Can that continue with a new offensive coordinator, a different offensive line and potentially less certainty at running back?
2. Will the passing game actually be better?
There is almost nothing on the passing side of the offense that should look the same as it did a year ago. Start with quarterback Austin Simmons, who is clearly talented, but also relatively raw and enters the season with limited experience as a full-time starter at this level. Then there is Chip Lindsey, who was brought to Columbia specifically to improve a passing game that has never consistently lived up to its potential under Drinkwitz.
Mizzou also has a new quarterbacks coach in former offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, while the receiving corps has undergone significant turnover. Transfers Cayden Lee and Caleb Goodie are among the new faces expected to play major roles, joining a group that will have to build chemistry with Simmons during camp.
There is plenty of talent. There are also plenty of unknowns. That makes the one position without any turnover, the tight ends, particularly interesting. Drinkwitz has talked about getting the ball downfield to his tight ends before. Just about every year, actually. Brett Norfleet gives Mizzou a player who looks capable of making that vision a reality, assuming he stays healthy for a full season. So, will this finally be the year?
For all the discussion about new quarterbacks, receivers and coordinators, one of the more revealing indicators of Lindsey’s offense might be whether Mizzou finally figures out how to use its tight ends as legitimate weapons in the passing game.
If Simmons can learn quickly, the receivers establish themselves and Norfleet becomes the downfield threat Drinkwitz has envisioned, there is a path toward a passing game that is substantially better than anything Mizzou has produced in recent years. But for now, the questions marks abound.
3. Who will play on the back end of the defense?
No position group on Mizzou’s roster has undergone a more dramatic makeover than the defensive backfield. Safety Santana Banner is essentially the only returning defensive back with meaningful experience playing for the Tigers, and even that leaves a lot of questions about what the rest of the secondary will look like when Mizzou opens the season.
The good news is that the Tigers attacked the problem aggressively in the transfer portal. Mizzou brought in half-a-dozen defensive backs, giving Corey Batoon plenty of options. The bad news is that having options and knowing which options are actually good enough to play SEC football are two different things.
At safety, Trajen Greco returns as another potential option alongside transfers Elijah Dotson and Kensley Louidor-Faustin. There will be competition for snaps, roles and probably playing time well into camp.
Cornerback is an even bigger mystery. Chris Graves Jr., a transfer from Ole Miss, appears to have one spot locked down. After that, things get murky. Jahlil Florence and Sione Laulea both arrived through the transfer portal with the opportunity to earn significant playing time, while Nick DeLoach Jr. returns and true freshman Jaxson Gates is another name to watch.
Unlike some positions where fall camp competition is mostly about determining the depth chart, this competition is about figuring out who Mizzou can trust against SEC receivers and quarterbacks. The Tigers have accumulated plenty of bodies and talent. Now they need to determine which combination works best.
4. How long will it take for this defense to gel?
Mizzou lost 10 starters from last year’s team, which sounds almost impossible until remembering that defensive tackle Sterling Webb won a lawsuit that granted him a fifth year of eligibility. So, technically, it is 10 instead of 11.
That does not make the transition much easier as outside of Webb and Banner, essentially the entire defense will be made up of either returning backups or transfers. That means players such as linebacker Nick Rodriguez, defensive end Darris Smith and defensive tackle Marquis Gracial are being asked to step into much larger roles, while transfers such as Graves, Jr. and linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr. are learning how to fit into a new defense with new teammates.
Batoon has the talent and coaching ability to put together a good defense. That much seems reasonably clear. The question is how quickly all of these pieces can become an actual unit. It is one thing to have talented players at every position. It is another thing for those players to understand their assignments, communicate properly, trust the guy next to them and play fast.
Mizzou does not necessarily need this defense to be at its absolute peak in Week 1, but they do, however, need to avoid the kind of communication and assignment mistakes that can turn an inexperienced secondary into a target for opposing quarterbacks.
If the Tigers can get everyone on the same page quickly, the talent is there to make this a good defense. The faster that happens, the better.
5. Will the special teams be competent?
There is really nowhere to go but up for one of the worst special teams units in the country last year.
In fact, outside of the Thicker Kicker, Mizzou’s special teams have ranged from poor to very poor during the Drinkwitz era. It seemed to get a little worse just about every year until Drinkwitz finally made a change and let special teams coordinator Erik Link go following last season.
Now the Tigers have a new coordinator in John Papuchis and a chance to reset a phase of the game that has consistently been a problem. Blake Craig is back healthy at kicker after tearing his ACL in the first game of the season, giving Mizzou the opportunity to stabilize a position that was far too inconsistent in 2025. The Tigers also added Florida State transfer Brunno Reus at punter, giving the special teams unit a new option there as well.
That does not necessarily mean Mizzou needs to suddenly have one of the best special teams units in the SEC, but honestly, simple competence would be a pretty significant improvement. Avoiding disastrous field-position swings, making routine kicks, getting punts away cleanly and not giving opponents free yards on returns would represent a substantial step forward.
If that sounds like a low bar to clear: it is. But after several years of special teams being an obvious weakness, clearing that bar would matter. Mizzou does not need its special teams to win games by themselves. They just needs them to stop losing games for the Tigers.
If Papuchis can bring some stability, Craig can stay healthy and Reus can provide reliable field position swings, Mizzou could finally get something close to competence from a phase of the game that has been anything but competent for most of the Drinkwitz era.