Blake Craig missed most of Missouri’s 2025 season with a torn ACL, and he’s not second-guessing any of it.
The Tigers’ kicking game was already shaping up to matter early last year. Craig, then in his second season as a starter after a redshirt freshman campaign in 2024, opened the year by making all three extra points against Central Arkansas, then buried kicks from 49 and 55 yards. Those would end up being Missouri’s two longest field goals all season.
That 55-yarder came just before everything changed. Craig injured his knee while trying to make a tackle on a third-quarter kickoff, and the rest of his season was over. Missouri felt the loss, but Craig said the experience still gave him something valuable.
“I won't lie, it was tough at some points, but like I said, I would do it all over again if I had to, because I'd become a better man because of it," Craig told reporters Tuesday. "I'd say emotionally, it was tough like watching from the sidelines when you want to play for your university or whatnot.
But you know, you kind of grow from those situations. You support your teammates better.
You get a new perspective and understanding of how much this game means to you. And I think that I wouldn't trade that for the world.
Going into the season, I just think the main thing for me is I'm gonna take it day by day, game by game. I just want to enjoy every moment of it, because that's how important it is to me."
Now Craig is back and says he’s fully recovered heading into 2026.
“Powers' back to full strength,” Craig said. “I feel great.
(Can) kick from any distance. Mizzou likes to kick long field goals, so I'm ready for that.”
That’s a welcome development for a Missouri team that barely had the deep-kick threat a year ago. The Tigers tried only two field goals from 50 yards or more in 2025: Craig’s make from 55 in the opener and a missed 54-yarder by Robbins against Mississippi State. From 40 yards and beyond, Robbins and Meyer combined for just three makes - Meyer from 40 against South Carolina, Robbins from 49 against A&M and 41 against Arkansas.
No other SEC team came close to having such a thin track record from that range. Every other league program had more makes from 40-plus than Missouri’s combined total, with Arkansas’ Scott Starzyk the nearest comparison after hitting three from 40 to 49 yards and two more from beyond 50.
With Craig healthy again, Missouri is expecting a very different kicking profile in 2026.
There are some changes around him, too. The North end zone construction at Memorial Stadium is nearly finished and should be done before the Tigers open against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The project added seating and closed the stadium into a full bowl, which changes the kicking backdrop.
“You got more aiming points back there," Craig said. "Before, it was kind of just a scoreboard, and you never know, they could throw something up on the scoreboard when you're trying to aim at something.
But no, the only thing I think it will affect is like maybe some wind. But if anything, it's going to just be better because it's blocking.
I've noticed kicking that direction, though, there's not a lot, a whole lot of face, head-on wind. You got you got some more swirling wind, kind of like like big stadiums, like NFL stadiums.
It kind of has that feel to it now, so it kind of just gets in there and swirls. So you can hit a straight ball, and it's not going to affect it too much."
Craig also has a new coach in the specialist room. Missouri did not renew Erik Link’s contract and replaced him with John Papuchis, who brings more than a decade of special teams experience from Florida State, Nebraska and Maryland. Papuchis coached AFCA first-team All-America kicker Ryan Fitzgerald at Florida State and first-team All-America kicker Alex Henery at Nebraska.
Craig likes what he’s seen so far.
"Coach (Papuchis) has been awesome for my development," Craig said. "He's loud, and he'll tell you exactly what he needs to get done.
He has high standards, and that's exactly what we need in the specialist room. And for me too, coming back off the injury, you don't want to set the bar too low for yourself.
So I I'm looking at the sky."
That energy appears to be carrying into fall camp. Craig said the standard is high in a specialist group that also includes Robbins and Florida State transfer Brunno Reus, who Eli Drinkwitz said at SEC Media Days will likely handle kickoffs.
Tennessee State transfer Mark Shenouda and returner John Butcher are the punters, though Reus could punt as well. Preseason All-SEC first-team long snapper Brett Le Blanc completes the unit.
Craig says there’s plenty of confidence in the room.
“I think we're going to surprise some people. Like, I think we're going to be really good this year.
He has full belief in every single specialist in that room. This is the most talented room I've ever been around.”
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