Rebuilding Through the Portal: How Eliah Drinkwitz is Reloading Mizzou's Roster

As the Spring Ball & Recruiting 2026 season marches on, the Missouri Tigers find themselves navigating an unprecedented wave of roster turnover. Head coach Eliah Drinkwitz and his revamped staff have turned heavily to the transfer portal to reconstruct a program that saw 26 players depart this offseason.

With Memorial Stadium undergoing major renovations to its North End Zone, the traditional spring game was scrapped. However, closed spring practices, which concluded on March 19, 2026, provided the coaching staff—including recently hired offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, and new special teams coordinator John Papuchis—plenty of opportunities to evaluate their crucial transfer recruiting haul.

Headlining Mizzou's incoming portal class is former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons. The staff's evaluation of the high-profile portal recruit paid off swiftly, as Simmons was officially named the 2026 starting quarterback, beating out returning options Matt Zollers and Nick Evers for the QB1 role.

The Tigers' recruiting efforts in the portal were an absolute necessity. Missouri recently matched a program record by sending six players to the 2026 NFL Draft, a group that included defensive standouts Zion Young, Josiah Trotter, and Chris McClellan, as well as Keagen Trost. Adding to the attrition were transfer portal exits from players like Damon Wilson II, Beau Pribula, Marquis Johnson, and Johnny Williams IV.

To plug these gaps, Drinkwitz’s portal recruiting class extends well beyond Simmons. The Tigers have secured commitments from key transfers such as Cayden Lee, Robert Woodyard Jr., Kamauryn Morgan, and Mark Hensley. These new additions will be tasked with complementing a returning core that features Cayden Green, Nicholas Rodriguez, Donovan Olugbode, and Jalen Marshall.

While traditional high school visits continue behind the scenes, Missouri's immediate focus has been successfully weathering the storm of the transfer portal. After closing out the 2025 campaign with a tough loss to the Virginia Cavaliers in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on December 27, the Tigers are counting on their newly recruited transfer class to spark a resurgence this fall.