Beau Pribula and Ahmad Hardy come together to make Missouri a playoff contender - ESPN

COLUMBIA, Mo. — From his office overlooking Faurot Field, Eli Drinkwitz leans back in his chair as he explains how Missouri landed transfer stars Beau Pribula and Ahmad Hardy last December, supercharging the critical roster retool his program executed this offseason.

On a shelf over the 42-year-old coach's right shoulder, a program motto — «Why Stop Now?» — is emblazoned in gold lettering onto the front of a bottle of Woodford Reserve bourbon.

Those three words effectively sum up the way Missouri approached its winter rebuild. After a 10-3 finish in Drinkwitz's fifth season last fall, the Tigers were staring down significant roster turnover in 2025. All told, Missouri lost 15 starters, including quarterback Brady Cook and NFL draft picks in offensive linemen Armand Membou and Marcus Bryant, and receiver Luther Burden, from a roster that had delivered consecutive double-digit win campaigns for only the third time in program history.

The exodus could have triggered a backslide. Instead, the Tigers saw an opportunity to reinforce.

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«I think the challenge for everybody is to try to continue to get better when outside noise and perception thinks you're going to take a step back,» Drinkwitz told ESPN. «Internally we had a lot of optimism. We knew that the schedule had the ability to set [us] up and build confidence. And I think we knew that we were going to be able to attract some talent with some NIL.»

Missouri ultimately added 21 transfers before the 2025 season. It's hard to argue any have been as important as Pribula and Hardy, the QB/RB transfer duo motoring the nation's fourth-ranked offense (547.6 YPG) and