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Columbia Daily Tribune
A Missouri football recruiting priority list on early signing day
- Story byColumbia Daily Tribune
- A Missouri football recruiting priority list on early signing day
With the regular season wrapped up, it's time to cast an eye toward 2026.
Missouri football finished the 2025 regular season with eight wins after beating Arkansas 31-17 in their regular-season finale Nov. 29 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The first step in putting together next year's group is coming soon. Early signing day is Wednesday, Dec. 3. The Tigers currently have 22 players verbally committed in their 2026 recruiting class.
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More than half of those players announced their commitments in the past three months, since the beginning of the 2025 season as the Tigers did some strong late recruiting work in this cycle.
Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz recently signed a six-year extension with Mizzou , which removes a lot of the potential for a recruiting fallout this week.
With early signing day approaching, here's who Missouri is currently expected to sign and what the Tigers still need:
Missouri football 's recruiting needs on early signing day
Mizzou's biggest recruiting needs are all on defense.
The Tigers will lose 11 players who either started or were frequent contributors on the defense in 2025 to eligibility. Two more standout players could declare early for the NFL Draft, which could take that total of outgoing rotation members to a whopping 13 members.
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Missouri has 11 defensive players, mostly at positions of need across the secondary and at linebacker, currently verbally committed.
The Tigers have also been recruiting heavily along the offensive line, where the Tigers could need to replace three starters next season.
Nov 29, 2025; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz prior to a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
Missouri football recruiting rankings
Mizzou is currently expected to sign the nation's No. 23-ranked recruiting class, according to 247Sports' composite national team rankings.
That's up more than 50 places since the start of October, as Mizzou has assembled more than half of its class in the past couple months.
Missouri's next class currently ranks No. 11 in the SEC and has the seventh-most incoming players.
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Missouri football recruiting class 2026
Here's who is verbally committed to the Tigers in the Class of 2026:
Johnnie Jones (OT, 4-star); Tajh Overton (DL, 4-star); Jaxson Gates (CB, 4-star); JJ Bush (LB, 4-star); Terry Hodges (RB, 4-star); Micah Nickerson (DE, 4-star JUCO); Jayden McGregory (S, 4-star); DeMarcus Johnson (DL, 3-star JUCO); Gavin Sidwar (QB, 3-star); Brandon Anderson (OL, 3-star); Jabari Brady (WR 3-star); Keenan Harris (LB, 3-star); Brysen Wessel (OL, 3-star); Khalief Canty (OL, 3-star); Braylon Ellison (OL, 3-star); Brody Jones (S, 3-star); Tony Forney (S, 3-star); Devyon Hill-Lomaz (WR, 3-star); Ahmod Billins (CB, 3-star); Isaac Jensen (TE, 3-star); Maxwell Warner (RB, 3-star); Carter Stewart (S, 3-star)
Mizzou is likely close to finished in this recruiting cycle in terms of new commitments, but the Tigers have staged several late-cycle flips in recent years.
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When is early signing day?
Early signing day is Wednesday, Dec. 3. The Tigers likely will sign a bulk, if not all, of their next recruiting class on Wednesday, with signings likely to start rolling in early in the morning.
Missouri normally holds press availability with Drinkwitz later that day to discuss the signing class.
When is late signing day?
More: How Missouri football, Eli Drinkwitz extension was sparked by OU heckle
More: Is 8-4 a good season for Missouri football? Here's what Eli Drinkwitz said
Signing day, now a far-less prominent day on the Division-I college football recruiting calendar, is Feb. 4, 2026.
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Any player a team does not lock up Dec. 3 could still sign in February, but they will not have the opportunity to enroll early and arrive on campus for offseason training and spring camp.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: What Missouri football recruiting needs are at early signing day
