Missouri football is yet to announce 2 starters will return. Will they?
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The Wild West nature of the transfer portal has created a trend across college football.
Teams’ social media accounts have taken to, player by player, announcing who has officially signed to return for the next season. That sentence would have sounded bizarre about a decade ago, but it has become quite a useful roster-tracking tool in a year with massive portal movement.
“I think people are making fun of people for putting out posters or tweets about re-signing,” Missouri football head coach Eli Drinkwitz said Dec. 27. “I think we kind of have to now, just to make sure everybody knows who’s coming back.”
Missouri has been part of this trend. If you’ve got a social media account on Twitter/X, Facebook or Instagram and keep tabs on Missouri football’s business, you’ve probably seen at least one of the dozens of posts.
It started with star running back Ahmad Hardy back on Dec. 19, as the team posted a graphic along with the now much-repeated tagline, “Ahmad Hardy is a Missouri Tiger.” The bulk of the announcements were made between Jan. 1 and Jan. 7.
Ahmad Hardy is a Missouri Tiger.
✍️ @Ahmadhardy29#NEWWAY | #TheMizzouWaypic.twitter.com/NcuZxnPMiK
— Mizzou Football (@MizzouFootball) December 19, 2025
Almost every player on the Mizzou roster who has not announced they are transferring received a poster.
Almost every player.
Five current Mizzou players with remaining eligibility, by the Tribune’s accounting, have not received a social media post indicating they will be back next season.
One of those players is Sam Horn, which makes sense. The quarterback and right-handed pitcher is still widely expected to join the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system this spring, even while he recovers from a fractured tibia sustained in August.
Two more are backups who have not played more than late-game clean-up reps: freshman linebacker Jason King and reserve offensive linemen Ryan Jostes.
The other two? Dominick Giudice and Curtis Peagler.
They are Mizzou’s starting offensive guards from the 2025 season.
Either Mizzou is leaving it late, or there is perhaps some growing reason for concern here.
That might seem a little dramatic. Just because they haven’t had a social media graphic, is there really reason to worry they won’t return? There is not, after all, a deadline to announce who’s coming back, like there is for entering the transfer portal.
Well, Missouri has been pretty consistent with letting fans know who is coming back, like Drinkwitz indicated they would be. Long snapper Brett Le Blanc got a post. Mizzou’s returning freshmen along the O-line got posters.
Dozens of returners have now received a graphic to confirm they will return. But the last one was Jan. 7, when the team announced backup defensive tackle Jason Dowell was returning.
If the player has signed on to return, Missouri has consistently confirmed it.
Giudice played the most snaps on the Mizzou roster last season with 897 downs faced. Peagler played in every game, too, and registered 833 snaps. Between them, they allowed 22 pressures but only two sacks all season. Giudice is a candidate to be MU’s starting center, and Peagler was Mizzou’s top-graded pass-blocking offensive lineman on PFF.
There’s no reported or verifiable reason to believe that either of them are considering leaving.
But this is the time to watch out for late-window surprises. The college football transfer portal closes for new entries at end of day Friday, Jan. 16. And once it’s closed, that’s it for 2026. There is no spring portal window this year, meaning returners will be finalized by Saturday — barring a major, unforeseen rule change or surprise.
That means if a player is leaving, the paperwork must be submitted by Friday night. That means that you will know soon enough about the future of two important Missouri players.
Mizzou has added three players along the offensive line in this window, including starting Arizona State left tackle Josh Atkins and versatile Mississippi State player Luke Work. Mizzou really needed a right tackle in this window, and it’s possible that one of those players could take over that role.
The guard spots, however, haven’t been too much of a concern because of who could return.
Missouri can still add commitments after the portal deadline, which is only for new entries. That means if there is a late surprise, it’s not the end of the world.
There is still quite a bit of action to come nationwide. More than 4,500 Division-I football players have entered the portal in this window. According to On3’s tracker, more than 1,500 remain uncommitted.
Mizzou has added 19 players so far and likely isn’t finished. It would not be a major surprise to see another 10 signings before the Tigers’ business is done.
But Giudice and Peagler are players Mizzou would like — but is yet to confirm it will — to keep in town. Starting SEC experience up front is hard to come by.
Keep an eye on those socials.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football is yet to announce 2 starters will return. Will they?
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