Eli Drinkwitz and his staff have never been shy about utilizing the portal. Not the Deion Sanders’ level of “54 new guys in every year” sort of frequency, but certainly to the point where they can add impact transfers to fill in gaps.
For example, at the conclusion of a 2021 football season that featured the worst defense of the Drinkwitz-era, Mizzou portalled in 10 defenders to give the Tigers an immediate influx of defensive talent. That ‘22 defense was good – certainly better than ‘21 – but it featured 7
Day One starters and still needed a year to gel before locking in and dominating in ‘23.
This portal cycle, Missouri received 15 defensive transfers as part of it’s 30-man transfer class. Fifteen. One-five.
That’s a lot.
Throwing numbers at a problem works but the fact of the matter is that Mizzou loses a ton of experienced production and is replacing it with…well, guys. Some proven starters, some projects, some one-year rentals. Lots of guys. And, if we’ve learned anything from the transfer portal era, it’s that even experienced transfers usually need a year to acclimate to their new school/scheme/program before seeing real success.
Which is great for Missouri’s 2027 defense! For 2026? Eh…
Once again here is Missouri’s end-of-year two-deep based off of production and snap counts (gaps are where a player in 2025 was that won’t be back in 2026):
Santana Banner’s snap counts could edge him into starter-level territory for last year but, for my purposes of impact, the lone returning defensive starter is linebacker Nick Rodriguez.
But! Starts aren’t what we count! Snaps and production are! That’s why Bill C. conceived of this stat in the first place!
This year, The Blogfather has scaled down the defensive returning production equation, weighting three categories instead of four that any defensive player can contribute to:
- Percent of returning snaps: 65.9%
- Percent of returning tackles: 19.2%
- Percent of returning tackles for loss: 14.9%
This is the second consecutive year he has scaled back the categories, meaning it seems more apparent that raw experience on the field is the most important aspect to forecasting future defensive ascension or regression.
So, with that in mind, let’s break down what’s coming back and from whom (italicized players are not on the 2026 roster):
Returning Snaps – 65.9% Weight – 39.8% Returning Production
I know this might be hard to see, there’s just too many dang dudes to fit on the list. I’ll hit the high points below:
- Missouri loses 5 of it’s top 6 players in ‘25 snap counts and 12 of its top 14.
- Chris Graves, Jr. is your leading returner in snaps played and his 683 defensive snaps were in service to Ole Miss.
- 3 of Missouri’s top 4 returners in 2025 snaps were at another school last year.
- Fifth year corners Sione Laulea (116) and Jahlil Florence (19) – widely viewed as the seamless replacements for Drey Norwood and Toriano Pride, Jr. – combined for 135 snaps played last year and will be out of eligibility at the conclusion of the ‘26 season.
- In fact, 5 of the 15 defensive players that portalled in this cycle are one-year rentals that will complete their college career at the end of this season. Three of those are cornerbacks.
It seems the staff prioritized instant, experienced additions to the defensive secondary and wound up with old guys who could provide a one-year stop gap. Both Laulea and Florence have played in previous years but a.) not a ton, and b.) transfers aren’t nearly as good in Year One as they are in Year Two…and these guys won’t get a Year Two. The rest of the additions aren’t super experienced, nor are the defensive holdovers from last year’s Mizzou defense. It’s going to be a lot of backups and rotational guys from last year working with the transfers to cobble together a cohesive unit. It can work! We better hope it works!
Returning Tackles – 19.2% Weight – 39.3% Returning Production
Same story, different stat. Here are the takeaways:
- Missouri loses 5 of its top 6 tacklers and 12 of its top 14.
- Your top five returning tacklers are Robert Woodyard (Auburn transfer), Nick Rodriguez, Beans Banner, Mark Hensley (Northern Illinois transfer), and Chris Graves, Jr. (Ole Miss transfer).
- That top five includes two linebackers, a safety, a defensive tackle, and a cornerback. Yes, having a corner in your top five of returning tacklers isn’t great, especially when that tackle number is 27.
- Of the entire returning defensive group, 8 had more than 20 tackles last year while 18 had fewer than 20 tackles.
- Heading into the 2025 season that number was flipped: 18 returning defenders had 20+ tackles, 11 had fewer than 20.
Returning Tackles for Loss – 14.9% Weight – 29.9% Returning Production
We save the worst for last! The good news is that TFLs aren’t heavily weighted. Why is that good? Because Mizzou only returns 29.9% of it’s total TFLs from last year. The transfer guys once again reign supreme at the top, with Darris Smith (4) and Marquis Gracial (3) being your top two Mizzou returners in this category. Zion Young, Josiah Trotter, Damon Wilson, Chris McClellan, and Daylan Carnell accounted for 49.7% of the teams total TFLs, and all of those dudes are gone.
Conclusion
Oregon. Baylor. Ole Miss. Michigan. Auburn. Miami (Florida). Notre Dame. Other than the Mark Hensley call-up from Northern Illinois, Mizzou’s transfer strategy on defense was to target guys at elite defensive programs that – for whatever reason – weren’t seeing the field much, and fold them in with their current roster of backups to create a new, tasty, defensive gumbo.
I have no idea if this will work or how it will click or, hell, who even is going to start! There’s plenty of intriguing pieces here and Corey Batoon has proven to be an excellent coordinator. The biggest test of his Mizzou tenure will be the ‘26 season, when he takes all these misfit toys in hopes of delivering another stellar performance despite the lack of cohesion and proven production.
