Missouri leans on Ahmad Hardy amid a defensive overhaul
Missouri finished 8-5 (4-4 SEC) in 2025 and closed with a 7-13 Gator Bowl loss to Virginia, a flat ending to a season that once carried real momentum. The Tigers opened fast and scored in bunches, then cratered whenever the offense stalled: they averaged better than 41 points in their eight wins but barely 13 in their five losses. The extremes traced back to the line of scrimmage and the quarterback position, and both are now in new hands.
The offseason belonged to reinvention on both sides of the ball. Eliah Drinkwitz handed the offense to new coordinator Chip Lindsey, hired away from Michigan, and turned the huddle over to Ole Miss transfer Austin Simmons. On defense the turnover is close to total, with every regular starter from a unit that ranked among the nation's stingiest now gone. Even so, a program that has won 29 games across the past three years, trailing only Georgia, Texas, Alabama and Ole Miss in the SEC over that span, has earned the benefit of the doubt.
Offense
Simmons arrives with a big left arm and a thin resume. He beat out Trinidad Chambliss in Ole Miss fall camp a year ago but threw five interceptions in five games before an injury cost him the job, completing 60 percent of his throws for 744 yards along the way. He drew strong reviews in the spring and clearly separated from Matt Zollers, who picked up starting snaps last season filling in for the injured Beau Pribula (now at Virginia). Missouri's passing game finished 102nd nationally in 2025, so the bar for improvement is low, and Lindsey has built his plan around getting the ball downfield. The catch is Simmons' all-or-nothing streak; cutting down the mistakes may decide the season.
Lindsey inherits three new starting wideouts. Slot man Cayden Lee followed Simmons from Ole Miss after a third-team all-conference year, sophomore Donovan Olugbode flashed an impressive catch radius while pulling in 30 balls for 401 yards as a true freshman, and Cincinnati transfer Caleb Goodie brings a profile north of 16 yards per catch. The steadiest target may be tight end Brett Norfleet, a 6-6 senior who has been productive when healthy, with staying on the field the only real caveat. Marquis Johnson is in the receiver mix as well after ranking third on the team in receiving a year ago and turning in a 122-yard bowl performance.
The engine is Ahmad Hardy, and Lindsey has pledged to schematically build around him. A junior who transferred in from Louisiana-Monroe, Hardy set the school single-season rushing record with 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns at 6.4 a carry, earned consensus All-American honors and produced one of only two 300-yard games in program history. We view him as a potential first-round back and the best player at his position in the country. Behind him, Jamal Roberts is no ordinary reserve: his 753 yards would make him a starter almost anywhere, and the pair combined for more than 2,400 rushing yards and 22 scores. This backfield is the surest strength on the roster.
The ground game runs behind an experienced front led by left tackle Cayden Green, an all-conference performer and preseason All-American who bypassed the NFL for another season in Columbia. He anchors a line with three returning starters, including senior guards Dominick Giudice, who could slide to center, and Curtis Peagler. Depth is the worry, and it is already being tested: Arizona State transfer Josh Atkins was penciled in at right tackle before a spring leg injury threatened to cost him much of camp.
Defense
Corey Batoon's group surrendered just 18.9 points per game in 2025, the school's best mark in a decade, and now has to be rebuilt almost from scratch, with every defender who started at least seven games gone. Up front that means replacing ends Zion Young and Damon Wilson II and tackle Chris McClellan. Senior end Darris Smith, ticketed to headline the pass rush, has starter snaps under his belt, and interior veterans Marquis Gracial and Jalen Marshall return with experience, but the seven linemen imported through the portal arrive without proven production. If the rush slips too far, it could unravel the whole defense.
Nicholas Rodriguez gives the second level a returning anchor. The junior piled up 61 tackles with seven pass breakups and showed his range with a 16-tackle Gator Bowl, profiling as a downhill playmaker. Alongside him, Auburn transfer Robert Woodyard Jr. looks like a like-for-like fill for departed standout Josiah Trotter after posting 67 tackles a year ago.
The secondary is the most heavily reworked group, restocked through the portal. Cornerbacks Chris Graves Jr., from Ole Miss, and Jahlil Florence, from Oregon, headline the newcomers, with Oregon's Sione Laulea adding to the competition on the boundary. Safety Santana Banner, who logged 59 tackles a year ago, is the closest thing to a holdover and will be leaned on to steady a back end otherwise full of new faces.
Special teams should climb after a rough 2025. Kicker Blake Craig, who owns a big leg and hit 24 of 34 field goals the year before, returns from the torn ACL that wiped out his season in the opener, an absence that badly hurt the unit. Return man DaMarion Fowlkes is back after averaging better than 23 yards per kickoff return, Florida State transfer Brunno Reus steps in to punt, and Drinkwitz brought in John Papuchis from Florida State to coordinate the phase.
Overview and Prediction
The schedule offers little relief. Missouri opens soft with Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Kansas and Troy, but the SEC slate stacks up as one of the tougher draws in the league, with six opponents ranked in the preseason Top 25 and road trips to Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Georgia bracketing home dates against Florida, Texas A&M, Texas, Kentucky and Oklahoma. The consensus pegs the Tigers in the middle of the SEC pack, roughly eleventh in the conference and just inside the national top 30, with a win total again hovering around eight.
That reads right. The floor is high because Hardy, Green and a physical run game travel, and Drinkwitz keeps recruiting and developing at a level that keeps Missouri relevant. The ceiling hinges on two questions we keep circling back to: whether Simmons can protect the football and whether Batoon can manufacture a pass rush from a defense that lost everyone. Answer both and this is a nine-win team; miss on either and eight wins, or fewer against this schedule, becomes the likelier outcome.