Missouri’s 45-17 win over then-No. 8 Florida didn’t just give the Tigers another marquee SEC victory. It also put a spotlight on a few players whose value is climbing fast as the season moves deeper into conference play.
With No. 14 Missouri now 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Southeastern Conference, and with Texas A&M coming up Saturday, three Tigers in particular left Week 5 with their stock pointed upward: running back Jamal Roberts, defensive tackle Donta Simpson and kicker Blake Craig.
Roberts was already a major piece of Missouri’s plans. The Tigers made it a point to keep him in Columbia during the offseason, and that decision looks even smarter now that Ahmad Hardy has been sidelined since a gunshot wound on May 10. Roberts stepped into a heavier role and delivered the best game of his career against Florida, running for 211 yards and three touchdowns.
That performance made him the second running back ever to post at least 200 rushing yards and three touchdowns against an AP top-10 opponent in college football history.
Eli Drinkwitz said Tuesday that Roberts had earned the opportunity, even if the level of production still caught him off guard.
"He's really put in a lot of work since Ahmad's injury to to be able to carry the load that he needs to carry," Drinkwitz said Tuesday. "I think he's been really more impressive than maybe I gave him credit for going into the season with his ability to break long runs, so that's been a really good thing.
Through five games in 2026, Roberts is now second in the SEC with 606 rushing yards and tied for third with six touchdowns. Those numbers nearly match his 2025 totals already, and they’ve pushed him into the conversation as one of the conference’s top backs, not just its top reserve.
Missouri also needed someone to handle business up front on defense after edge rushers Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen were ruled out against Florida. The Gators had allowed only two sacks all season, so the Tigers had to find pressure somewhere else.
Donta Simpson supplied it. The second-year defensive tackle and first-year Tiger missed fall camp because of a medical condition and didn’t get back on the field until Aug. 11, but he’s come on quickly. Against Florida, he logged three pressures and a sack from the interior while playing a season-high 31 snaps.
"I credit him and his maturity in a tough situation as far as going through what he had to go through, and really, I think our coaching staff's done a really good job of bringing him along - I wouldn't say slowly, but bringing him along at the rate that he needed to be run along to maximize his opportunity," Drinkwitz said. "And I think he's getting better and better because now he's able to get back in and still lifting and gaining more strength and more endurance and more physical nature to what he's doing."
Simpson now has three sacks on the year, which ranks second on the team behind Daeden Hopkins. He’s also tied with Smith for second on the Tigers in pressures with 12.
Craig gave Missouri another boost with his leg. The starting kicker, who missed nearly all of the 2025 season after tearing his ACL in the Week 1 game against Central Arkansas, showed the full range of his power against Florida. He hit field goals from 50 and 52 yards and also made a 32-yarder in the first quarter.
He did miss another 50-yard attempt, but the game still marked the second time in his career that he has made two field goals from 50-plus yards in the same contest. The only other time came in the 2024 Music City Bowl.
Craig’s only two missed field goals from 0-49 yards this season were both blocked kicks against Kansas.
In Other News...
Missouri Faces A New SEC Test With One Aggies Threat Looming
Texas A&Ms September stumble sent the Aggies tumbling out of the AP Top 25, but the reset they found in a win over Arkansas has them heading into an SEC matchup with No. 14 Missouri with some momentum restored. Eli Drinkwitz already has his eye on the part of the Aggies offense that can change a game in a hurry, pointing to quarterback Marcel Reed as the central problem for Missouri to solve.
Reeds regained confidence and dual-threat ability give Texas A&M a different kind of stress test than the Tigers have seen in recent weeks, especially with Mike Elko saying the overall team performance has started to improve. Missouri, meanwhile, is trying to protect its ranking and avoid letting a surging quarterback turn a promising conference position into a long afternoon. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Still Has One Huge Ahmad Hardy Question Hanging Over Its Offense
Ahmad Hardy remains the biggest lingering question around Missouris offense, even after the Tigers have moved forward with Jamal Roberts as the lead back. Eli Drinkwitz said Hardy has not yet returned to practice while he continues to recover from the gunshot wound he suffered in May, and Roberts has handled the workload well enough to keep the running game moving in Hardys absence.
For now, the issue is less about production than availability. Drinkwitz indicated Hardy is still working hard through the recovery process, but he is not physically ready to jump back into SEC competition, with the Tigers still waiting to see when he can get back on the field and start building toward a real return. [Read more 🡒]
Missouri Faces A Dangerous Spot After Its Biggest Win Yet
Missouris biggest win of the season has created the kind of week coaches spend all year trying to avoid. After the 45-17 rout of Florida, the Tigers are back in the spotlight for all the right reasons, but the challenge now is carrying that momentum into a follow-up game that often exposes whether a team is truly settled or just riding emotion.
The larger warning sign is that this sort of hangover has already shown up around the SEC this season, with several teams stumbling after statement victories. Missouri now lands in that same conversation as it prepares for Texas A&M in Week 6, where the danger is not the size of the opponent so much as the edge a team can lose after its best afternoon. [Read more 🡒]