When Missouri took the field for its twelfth practice of fall camp Thursday morning, perhaps the most recognizable member of the team wasn’t present. Quarterback Connor Bazelak missed practice due to a “minor illness,” according to Eli Drinkwitz.
Bazelak’s absence doesn’t look like cause for alarm, however. Drinkwitz said that the staff expects Bazelak to recover within about 24 hours. The staff administered a test for COVID-19 Thursday morning “just to make sure,” but Drinkwitz said he doesn’t anticipate it to come back positive. He noted that Bazelak has been vaccinated for COVID-19.
“Do not anticipate it being any longer than 24 hours, but obviously we’ll update it as it goes,” Drinkwitz said. “We did test for COVID. He is vaccinated. We did test just to make sure, but don’t believe that to be the case.”
In Bazelak’s absence, backup quarterbacks Brady Cook and Tyler Macon got a chance to lead the first-team offense during the team’s closed scrimmage. Drinkwitz said last week that he expects the competition between the two St. Louis natives for the No. 2 spot to “extend for a while.” Thursday, he acknowledged that both players have room to improve.
“I think it’s different when you’re anticipating a guy being out there and then he’s not there and all the reps are going to go to those two guys today,” Drinkwitz said. “I mean, it’s never as good as it seems, never as bad as it seems, but there’s going to be a lot of things on film that we want to correct, want to get coached up, and we’ll go from there.”
Bazelak wasn’t the only starter who didn’t participate in the scrimmage portion of Thursday’s practice. Drinkwitz said the staff held center Michael Maietti out, as well, even though he’s healthy. Maietti has started 42 games in his college career. Drinkwitz noted that one practice isn’t going to make the difference between Maietti being ready for the season opener or not. He also said the coaching staff wanted to simulate some of the adversity that will inevitably arise during a football season.
“Football’s about adversity,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s not always going to be perfect, it’s not always going to be ideal circumstances or situations or field conditions or the health of your team, whatever it might be. And really the only thing you can control is your response to that. So really we try to put these guys in those type of situations and see how they respond.”
One positive of having Bazelak absent Thursday, wide receiver Keke Chism noted, was that it gave the receiving corps a chance to develop some chemistry with Cook and Macon.
“You never know what can happen on each snap of the ball, so you always have to have that emergency ready,” Chism said. “So today I feel like was a good day for us. Hopefully we won’t have that problem during the season, but if it does happen, I mean, we have to be able to adjust and respond, and we have to be able to be on the same page with the next guy and keep this train moving and keep this offense flowing and doing elite things.”
Drinkwitz pleased with defensive performance
Following Missouri’s first scrimmage of fall camp a week ago, Drinkwitz made it clear that Missouri’s offense looked better than its defense. While that offense was down its starting quarterback Thursday, Drinkwitz noted some improvement from the defensive side of the ball.
The two areas Drinkwitz specifically asked to see improve last week were tackling and pass rush. Steve Wilks’ unit apparently looked better in both areas this time around. While the defense isn’t allowed to take down the quarterbacks during camp, Drinkwitz said the staff credited the unit with nine sacks Thursday.
“I think they had three turnovers, forced three turnovers,” he said. “I think they had a total of maybe nine sacks. … Thought our tackling was much better than the first scrimmage last week, which was good. That’s what we want to see is continued growth.”
Drinkwitz specifically pointed to the defensive backfield as a unit that has improved over the course of camp. Wilks has thrown a lot at the secondary, most notably asking them to play more zone coverage than a year ago, when Missouri used press man coverage almost exclusively.
Drinkwitz also said he’s been pleased by the competition within the defensive back room. He said both Tulsa transfers, Akayleb Evans and Allie Green, have pushed the returning cornerbacks. He also praised Ennis Rakestraw and Ishmael Burdine for rising to the challenge. He noted that Green has forced turnovers in each of the past two practices, and former receiver Kris Abrams-Draine had an interception Thursday.
“We’re asking them to do some stuff a lot different than the things they were doing here in the past,” Drinkwitz said. “So sometimes that takes a while. There’s a lot of different coverage concepts that we’re playing. And I think all of them have done a really nice job of grasping that.”
Taylor earns a scholarship
Drinkwitz has implemented a new daily tradition since the start of fall camp. Every day after practice, players who impressed the coaching staff receive a juice box, signifying that they “brought the juice” that morning.
Wednesday, one of the players awarded a juice box was offensive lineman Richard Taylor. That wasn’t his only prize. Drinkwitz asked Taylor to read the label on his juice box, which said “scholarship juice.” Taylor’s teammates burst into cheers as the fourth-year player from Georgia realized he’d received a scholarship.
Thursday, Drinkwitz admitted the presentation was a bit corny, calling it “Ted Lasso-ish” after the popular Apple TV series. But he said Taylor deserved both the scholarship and the fanfare, noting that Taylor received an undergraduate degree from Missouri in three years while also working two jobs.
“We didn’t give it to him, he earned it,” Drinkwitz said. “Got the right kind of character and grit, embodies the four core values of our football team. So it’s something he earned and something we were happy to reward him with as a team.”
“Richard, he’s a guy that embodies everything it means to be a Mizzou Tiger,” said Chism. “He comes in to work each and every day, never complains, goes out there and gives 110 percent and does everything that he’s asked to do on and for this team. So you love seeing a guy like that rewarded for all his hard work, and I know that he’s going to make a huge difference and continue to be that guy that he’s always been.”
Pinkel addresses team
Taylor receiving a scholarship wasn’t the only noteworthy development during Missouri’s Wednesday team meeting. Former head coach Gary Pinkel addressed the team, as well.
Pinkel, whose 191 wins at Missouri make him the winningest coach in school history, has been more involved with the program since Drinkwitz took over from Barry Odom. Drinkwitz said he spoke about the process of building a program into one that won multiple Big 12 North and SEC East division titles.
The speech wasn’t just for the players. Drinkwitz said he took about two pages of notes.
“When you’re a part of a program like Mizzou, you gotta be connected to the past, you gotta understand the brotherhood, the traditions,” Drinkwitz said. “Obviously to have the all-time winningest coach come and address your football team and tell them how he was able to accomplish it, give them some pointers on the process of being a Missouri Tiger and a champion and how they were able to complete that narrative, it was really insightful.”
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