When the coaches’ preseason All-SEC team dropped earlier in August, four Missouri football players made the cut.
The Tigers had two preseason first-team picks in running back Ahmad Hardy and left tackle Cayden Green, while long snapper Brett Le Blanc made the second team and middle linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr. was on the third team.
The end-of-year list won’t look the same. Last season, Keagen Trost, Josiah Trotter and Zion Young all ended the season as first-team All-SEC picks despite not appearing on the preseason list.
Here are four Mizzou players who weren’t on the 2026 preseason team who we think could earn end-of-year all-conference honors:
Donovan Olugbode, wide receiver
There aren’t many players on the Missouri roster with a higher ceiling than Olugbode. The Chicago native is 6-foot-2, 210 pounds and, if his rookie tape is anything to go by, absolutely lethal in contested catch situations.
In his freshman year, he was a bright spot on a passing offense that didn’t exactly light the SEC on fire.
Olugbode caught 29 passes for 389 yards and two touchdowns, taking over as a starter in the back-half of the season. He had six contested catches, per PFF, which was only bettered by oft-targeted Kevin Coleman Jr.
The sophomore has some work to do to develop into an all-conference-caliber receiver. He only forced four missed tackles last year. That’s obviously partly to do with a higher rate of sideline grabs, but adding some variety to his routes and after-the-catch ability could help his stock rise.
“Donovan Olugbode is a guy that we expected to make a jump,” MU head coach Eli Drinkwitz said Aug. 22, “and continues to impress as a receiver who can play every down and add more to his game than just back-shoulders.”
Nicholas Rodriguez, weakside linebacker
Rodriguez, now a team captain, had a spectacular sophomore season.
He had the second-most total tackles on the team behind Josiah Trotter. PFF graded him as the third-best run defender on the team behind only Trotter and Zion Young, both of whom were second-round draft picks. He had the third most “stops,” which the analytics site charts as tackles that constitute a failure for the offense, behind those same two players.
If he’s going to be an all-conference player, he’ll probably need to add some pass rush to his game. Rodriguez only had five pressures last season.
But every other part of his game is up to the level of an All-SEC linebacker.
Jamal Roberts, running back
With Hardy’s return date still uncertain, Roberts is going to take the bulk of Mizzou’s carries — at least to begin the season.
Not having the best running back in the sport, of course, hurts. But the reason that injury isn’t doom and gloom for Mizzou is because of the next man up.
Roberts rushed for 753 yards and six touchdowns last year. He did not have a fumble on 124 carries. His 6.2 yards per rushing attempt is only 0.2 yards less than Hardy’s average. Roberts had an explosive run of 15 or more yards on every 8.3 carries last season. Hardy had an explosive run of 15 or more yards on every 10.3 carries.
Mizzou has fielded a first-team All-SEC running back in three of the past five years.
It helps to have Ahmad Hardy. The Tigers aren’t in trouble, for as long as he is sidelined, because they’ve got Roberts.
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Chris Graves Jr., cornerback
The Ole Miss transfer is getting rave reviews from his first preseason with Mizzou.
Drinkwitz said earlier in camp that Graves has the best grasp of what Mizzou is trying to do at corner, which makes sense. He was a starter on the Mississippi defense that went to the College Football Playoff semifinals. In 683 snaps, he was not the direct coverage assignment on a single touchdown, per PFF.
The last time Missouri had truly excellent cornerback play was in 2023 with Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. leading the effort.
“I'm just trying to be that guy that they can rely on, just a reliable guy. You know, shut down one side of the field,” Graves said Aug. 2. “That's what they brought me here for.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: 4 Mizzou players left off preseason team who can have All-SEC year