Mizzou's 2026 season could come down to critical questions facing these five positions

Offense

Quarterback Austin Simmons

This one doesn’t need much explanation. If Missouri wants better results than it had in 2025, it will very likely need much better play at the quarterback position. Enter Ole Miss transfer Austin Simmons.

“I think it’s obvious on the offensive side of the ball, our quarterback, Austin Simmons, we need to play well at that position,” Drinkwitz said. “Anytime a football team is good, it’s because and driven by elite quarterback play.”

Simmons seems to have the arm strength and mobility to be an elite quarterback in the SEC, but only has two career starts to his name. The 20-year old being able to turn his potential into production is critical to the MU offense improving in the passing game.

Right tackle

One of Missouri’s most important transfer portal additions was offensive tackle Josh Atkins, who has started 39 games over the last three seasons. He was an obvious pick to be Missouri’s starting right tackle to protect Simmons’ blindside.

But Atkins suffered a leg injury in spring practices that was initially expected to keep him out until September or October, Drinkwitz said at the end of spring practices. Then, Atkins suffered a setback in June that is expected to keep him out for at least half the season.

So, instead of having its most experienced offensive lineman hold down the spot, Missouri will have to turn elsewhere for one of the most important positions on the offense.

“I think another player is going to be our right tackle, whoever that emerges,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ve got a lot of really good candidates, but that position is going to be important, just for the security of the offense”

Based on comments from Drinkwitz, the top three candidates to start the season at right tackle are Logan Reichert, Luke Work and Jack Lange.

Work, a transfer from Mississippi State, is the most experienced of the three, having started in eight games for the Bulldogs over the last two seasons, including five at left tackle and three at right tackle.

Reichert and Lange come from opposite ends of the state and both have impressive athletic profiles. Reichert, a Kansas City product, has been patient over three years with the Tigers, with this season being his best opportunity for playing time. Lange, a Eureka product, is entering his redshirt freshman season after being rated as the top prospect in the state in the 2025 class.

The position was already going to be an incredibly important one for Missouri, but Atkins' injury makes it one of the biggest question marks the team will face.

Running back Ahmad Hardy

Drinkwitz didn't mention the running back position in his answer, but the status of Missouri’s potential Heisman candidate, Hardy, is one of the biggest stories in college football entering the season as he recovers from a gunshot wound he sustained in May.

Drinkwitz announced at SEC Media Days that Hardy has been medically cleared, but is still on a recovery path that could last five to eight weeks. That could place Hardy on the field for Week 1 but might also bleed into the season.

A question of equal importance is even if/when Hardy returns to the field in 2026, will his playing ability be affected?

"At the end of the eight weeks, we still don't know what his recovery will be, or if he's the same Ahmad Hardy that he was last year," Drinkwitz said. "My anticipation, from what I've seen, from the way he's attacked his rehab, he's going to be a better Ahmad Hardy than he was before.”

However, MU does have one of the best backup options, with Jamal Roberts proving to be perfectly capable as a lead option while Hardy is unavailable.

Roberts has never had the No. 1 spot on the depth chart but nearly had the workload of the top back last season, carrying 124 times, 13th-most among SEC running backs in 2025.

“He’s always been a lead back,” Drinkwitz said of Roberts. “He’s always been a dynamic player, a guy that can score any moment. We never worried about if it was him or Ahmad in the game.”

Hardy led the conference with 1,649 rushing yards in 2025, while Roberts came in at No. 10 with 753 yards. Either way, MU’s running-back position is in good hands. Still, having Hardy on the field would make the offense significantly more dangerous.

Defense

Defensive tackle

Drinkwitz is looking at two returners who have developed in the program for four years but now will be relied on more than ever.

“Defensively, I think for me, it really comes down to Marquis Gracial and Jalen Marshall on the inside, those two guys playing more,” Drinkwitz said. “There’s been times when they’ve been really dominant players.”

The defensive tackle group could add an experienced reinforcement to complement that duo, thanks to the Circuit Court of St. Louis County granting Sterling Webb a temporary restraining order on Thursday that gives him a fifth season of eligibility.

Webb started in eight games for Missouri in 2025, recording 20 tackles, two sacks and six quarterback hurries.

Gracial and Marshall have both been far up in the rotation over the last two seasons, right behind starters such as Webb. Gracial even earned six starts in 2025. He earned more playing time after transforming his body to become the every-down player the coaching staff wanted.

MU will need leaps from both Gracial and Marshall for its defensive line to be a steady force.

EDGE

Drinkwitz also highlighted the need for someone to emerge at edge rusher. Missouri lost both of its starters from 2025. The Tigers have consistently produced elite players at the position under Drinkwitz and defensive coordinator Corey Batoon.

In 2026, the Tigers will need someone else to step up in the group.

“In the past five years, I think you could argue, in the SEC defensively at the EDGE position, we’ve been as good as anybody,” Drinkwitz said. “Now, this year, it’s somebody new. So we gotta get the most out of that guy.”

Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen, who both earned significant playing time as rotational players last season, seem like the favorites to be the two starters. A plethora of talented but less experienced transfers, along with redshirt freshman Daeden Hopkins, line up behind them.

Whether its Smith, Kitchen or one of the others, the Tigers will need someone to emerge from a crowded room to hold up the elite standard set for the position group at MU.