Missouri’s kicking room looks a lot different heading into 2026, but one familiar name remains in place: Oliver Robbins.
With the Tigers 48 days from their season-opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Thursday, Sept. 3, at Faurot Field, Robbins stands out as the backup with the biggest leg in the room. And after what Missouri went through last season, that matters.
The Tigers’ kicking game was a weekly headache once Blake Craig tore his ACL in the opener while trying to make a tackle after a kickoff. From there, every week seemed to bring another problem: a blocked extra point in Week 2, a missed field goal in Week 3, another missed PAT in Week 4, then missed field goals in back-to-back October games, two more in November and one more in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.
That mess was part of the broader special teams issues that helped push Erik Link out to New Mexico and opened the door for Eli Drinkwitz to bring in John Papuchis from Florida State. The goal now is simple: make special teams a strength, or at least stop them from becoming a liability.
Craig’s return changes the picture, but Missouri’s specialist group still turned over plenty. Robby Meyer, who went 10-of-14 on field goals, 36-of-38 on point-after tries and earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors after drilling three field goals in Missouri’s 29-20 win over South Carolina in September, transferred to UC Davis. Ryder Goodwin, the junior-college transfer from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M who arrived shortly after Craig’s injury, never kicked and later moved on to Bethune-Cookman.
Robbins, though, stayed put.
That’s notable because he entered the program quietly as a transfer before 2025, coming from Florida Memorial, where he showed off a pretty useful skill set as a freshman. He made 8 of 14 field goals, hit a long of 49 yards, converted 43 of 46 extra points and also punted 25 times.
Once Craig went down, Missouri split the duties. Meyer handled the placekicking while Robbins took over kickoffs, and the staff clearly trusted the strength in his right leg.
He booted 59 kickoffs and produced 25 touchbacks. Later in the season, as Meyer’s struggles continued, Robbins got his shot on longer field goals and finished 3 of 5.
All five of those attempts came in November, and four were from 40 yards or more. He connected from 49 against Texas A&M, matching his career long, then made a 21-yarder against Oklahoma and a 41-yarder against Arkansas in the rain. The misses came from 54 against Mississippi State and 42 against Virginia.
Robbins could have walked this offseason and nobody would have been shocked. Craig is back, and Missouri also added Brunno Reus, another combo specialist who followed Papuchis from Florida State. Reus is expected to be the Tigers’ starting punter in 2026, and he also went 7-for-7 on kickoff touchbacks in 2025.
Instead, Robbins stayed. That says something, even if only a little, about the culture around the program.
Depending on Craig’s health, Robbins could be back on kickoff duty again. He might even get a few late field-goal chances in some of Missouri’s early blowouts.
For now, he enters 2026 as a strong-legged backup with plenty of potential. The Tigers hope they never need him in a big spot, but if they do, he gives them a real chance.
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