Mizzou lost nearly one-quarter of their roster to the transfer portal, and have alrady done a lot of work to backfill all the departures. So far, the Tigers have 14 commitments and the No. 20 ranked transfer portal class according to 247Sports. And while by no means is Eli Drinkwitz done in the portal, has he done enough in the first week?
The Tigers' class thus far is top-20 in the country and No. 12 in the SEC. It's a solid start on paper, whether or not the Tigers improved at each position is another question entirely. So let's see how the newest Missouri Tigers impact next season.
Missouri's transfers offer upside but also raise questions
Quarterback Austin Simmons is the headliner for this class, and will presumably be the starting quarterback in 2026. While he projects to have greater upside than Beau Pribula, his injury history and lack of college experience could get called into question. He had just 107 career pass attempts at Ole Miss, and less than 600 since eighth-grade, and is still somewhat of a wild card . Overall though, he should elevate the Tiger offense barring another injury setback.
At receiver, Mizzou added three players after losing most of their unit from 2025. Caleb Goodie, Horatio Fields and Naeshaun Montgomery are the newest members of the receiving room, and bring a wide range of skill sets. Goodie and Montgomery are burners, and should be able to stretch the field for Simmons' cannon of an arm, but Fields may be the most well-rounded. Mizzou also returns Donovan Olugbode, who showed some flashes as a freshman. Ultimately, this group is probably slightly improved, although the bar wasn't especially high to clear.
Another trio, Mizzou landed three new tackles in the portal looking to replace Keagen Trost. This is an area where it feels almost imposbile to improve. Trost was an all-american and one of the best tackles in the conference. While transfer and multi-year starter Josh Atkins offers some decent upside to start, the Tigers realistically are worse off here.
On defense, Mizzou gets a bit of an unfinished grade. They added a starting linebacker in Robert Woodyard Jr., and a nice secondary piece in Kensley Louidor-Faustin, but there are still major holes that will likely be filled. After losing edge Damon Wilson II to the portal and Zion Young to the NFL Draft, Drinkwitz and company are now tasked with landing another star edge player to replace their production. They have yet to do that, and until they do, this defense is unequivocally in rougher shape than in 2025 despite the current additions.