Drinkwitz talks transfer portal, introduces new additions
In years past, Eli Drinkwitz would have spent the first Wednesday in February introducing Missouri’s new crop of incoming freshmen. Instead, this year, the majority of Drinkwitz’s press conference was dedicated to the team’s incoming transfers.
It was a sign of the changing times in college football — a change Drinkwitz and his staff have embraced. The Tigers still inked a highly-rated corps of high school prospects in the early signing period in the early signing period. But instead of adding a few late-bloomers or recruits who de-committed from other schools to that group on February’s National Signing Day, Missouri turned its attention to the overflowing transfer portal. Wednesday, the school formally announced the addition of 10 transfer players who have joined the roster since the end of the 2021 season. All 10 are already enrolled in classes and on campus.
That’s easily the most transfers Missouri has ever added to its roster in a single offseason — not a shock considering the NCAA’s recent decision to allow all players to transfer one time without sitting out a season, not just graduates. Drinkwitz and his staff are hoping to use the transfer portal both to replace departing players and to speed up their rebuild of the roster.
“In a pre-transfer portal world, we would only have added high school players, and you're talking about, with transfers, your team's gonna be really young, and, boy, you don't know,” Drinkwitz said. “But now with the portal, used correctly, vetted right, you're able to add to your roster and try to strengthen your roster and strengthen the competition.”
Drinkwitz didn’t rule out that Missouri might not be done adding transfers, either. The Tigers still have five openings to sign additional players in the class of 2022, although the team is currently above the NCAA limit of 85 scholarship players. It will have to trim its roster to that size by the start of fall camp. Drinkwitz did say that any future additions would likely wait until the team finishes spring practices, which are scheduled to begin later this month.
Asked whether taking double-digit players from the portal would become the new normal, Drinkwitz said he wasn’t sure. It would largely depend on how many players from the previous year’s roster transferred out or left school early. But he did note that not all transfers are the same, particularly after the NCAA opted not to count the 2020 season against any player’s eligibility.
In the past, transfers were generally expected to be immediate-impact players who had one or two seasons of eligibility left. Missouri still grabbed a couple players who figure to contribute right away next season, such as linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper and tight end Tyler Stephens. But the Tigers also signed a few transfers who are basically in the same boat as the high school additions to the class. Both former Auburn defensive lineman Ian Matthews and Texas A&M transfer cornerback Dreyden Norwood, for instance, didn’t play during their first college seasons and have four years of eligibility left. Drinkwitz characterized both as players who will need to develop.
“Every situation is a little bit different, every position’s a little bit different,” Drinkwitz explained. “Like you had some that you really needed immediate help, like at the tight end position. And so bringing somebody like Tyler Stephens, instead of signing another high school player, we felt like we had enough youth and competition there with Gavin (McKay), Ryan (Hoerstkamp) and Max (Whisner), but we needed somebody with some playing experience. And so we really wanted to go with somebody more that could fill an immediate need. Ian Matthews is a guy who's got great potential and he’s got to continue to develop and he's gonna have an opportunity to play, but we're not expecting to come in immediately and just become a day one starter. That was a portal transfer, same thing with Dreyden Norwood, it's a guy who has the opportunity to really come in and compete for an open position, but him being young and being able to add quality competition to a position that has some openings there.”
The defensive side of the ball received the most noticeable makeover from the transfer portal. Six of the 10 additions Missouri announced Wednesday will play on that side of the ball, including a pair of relatives. Former North Carolina defensive end Tyrone Hopper announced that he will play his seventh college season at Missouri on Jan. 17. Less than two weeks later, the Tigers also landed his cousin Ty’Ron Hopper, previously a linebacker at Florida.
“We recruited Tyrone Hopper on his own, strictly for him as the defensive end,” Drinkwitz said. “Once he was here and had a week under his belt, you know, heard that his cousin was going to go in the portal. And once he went in the portal, then we made a move and let him know that we would be very excited, have an opportunity for him to come up here and potentially have a scholarship and play together, and got him on an official visit rather quickly. Had kind of learned through the process of trial and error that if you ain't first, you're last in the transfer portal business, and so wanted to make sure that we were one of the first to get him and really built a quick relationship, and I think obviously having a relationship with his cousin helped us quite a bit.”
Other notable portal additions included one-time Missouri offensive lineman Dylan Spencer, who transferred back to the Tigers after spending a year at Jackson State, and former Stanford running back Nathaniel Peat, who grew up in Columbia and played his high school ball at Rock Bridge.
Wednesday, Drinkwitz commented for the first time about each of the 10 transfer additions. Here is what he had to say about each.
* Joseph Charleston, 6-2, 200; S (Clemson):
"Excited about the versatility he brings at the DB position, the safety position."
* Dreyden Norwood, 6-0, 180; CB (Texas A&M):
"A defensive back that we had recruited from Fort Smith, Arkansas and were one of his finalists before he picked Texas A&M. Wanted to transfer, and again, another position where we lose two players with Akayleb (Evans) and Allie (Green) moving on and then the loss of a transfer. Really felt like we needed some help there.
* Ty’Ron Hopper, 6-2, 205; LB (Florida):
“Guy that had, I think, 15 tackles, a sack and four TFLs against us. Could not forget him. ... Somebody who we really think can come in and help and contribute and immediately compete at a high level and help our defense.”
“He’s a long, physical, downhill player who can really read and react and dissect the offensive play and play downhill. For me, it was just quite simply watching him against us and deciding, you know, I hadn't seen a lot of players play that fast against us. Except for a guy who plays for the Chiefs on Sundays right now. And I'm not trying to make that comparison, but he is a long, physical linebacker who can really run and plays at a high level.”
* Tyrone Hopper, 6-4, 254; DE (North Carolina):
"A position that we felt like, with the loss of a couple of players, we really needed to add some depth there."
*Jayden Jernigan, 6-1, 285; DT (Oklahoma State):
“A defensive lineman from the state of Texas by way of Oklahoma State, actually had a very good bowl game in their bowl game and played really well, and obviously with the loss of some of our defensive tackles needed some help in the interior."
“Jaden has an opportunity to play. Obviously we've got some other guys in that room who can also help contribute and create that competition, but he's a guy who obviously has played. I think he's played in 27 games, and has played a significant amount. Really has natural pass rush ability, does a great job of shocking and shedding blocks and tracking the ball down in the run game. So excited about what his potential is and look forward to him creating competition within our room.”
* Ian Matthews, 6-5, 290; DL (Auburn):
"A defensive lineman that we signed as a transfer from Auburn, will be in classes this week. And so really felt like we needed some help there at the defensive line to continue to add depth. Look forward to him joining in."
* Bence Polgar, 6-3, 288; C (Buffalo):
"A center from Buffalo, what a great story. First generation transfer from Hungary. Parents live in Myrtle Beach, and just got a great story, really excited to add him to our team. Obviously got a need there with Mike Maietti leaving, and so to be able to add somebody to the competition was important for us."
* Dylan Spencer, 6-4, 300; OL (Jackson State):
“It just started with tell us why, tell us why you left and tell us why you want to come back? And did we believe those responses were both genuine? I think, for me, understanding these young men are 18 to 22 years old. Dylan went through a global pandemic, lost some people that were close to him and felt like getting home was really important to him, and then when he was home, realized, you know, maybe staying here and playing in the SEC and playing for us wasn't such a, was what he really wanted to do. And so having those conversations, seeing if he was in shape, seeing if he was still the type of player that we believed he was, a player who played a lot in the Kentucky game, started in the Florida game, was pretty valuable to us. He's gonna have to start at the bottom and work his way to the top. I think he provides position flexibility. He’s a big, strong, physical young man, can play both guard and tackle. But I think the biggest thing for me in this situation was having empathy and understanding, man, that global pandemic is no joke.”
* Nathaniel Peat, 5-10, 195; RB (Stanford):
"Running back from Stanford, who originally played at Rock Bridge Excited. Obviously needed to add some versatility and some help there, and his speed and his familiarity with us and our area was exciting."
“Trying to create competition. Last year we weren't sure. We knew Tyler was a great player, but we didn't know how good of a player he was or how elite of a player he was. And so, I think it's the same thing here. We wanted to add enough ingredients into the mix and see, as they say, the cream rise to the top. … So we have a lot of guys. And you know what, it's going to allow us this spring to really create the competition that we need in play and allow guys to really show us what they have.”
* Tyler Stephens, 6-6, 229; TE (Buffalo):
"A position of need as we've lost three players to the transfer portal at the tight end position. Really felt like his length, athleticism at the tight end position will be really exciting and helpful for us.”
Tigers round out high school class with two late additions
The spotlight Wednesday wasn’t solely on Missouri’s transfer additions. The Tigers did sign a pair of high school prospects, both of whom were completely unknown commodities prior to visiting campus last weekend.
Louisiana linebacker Carmycah Glass committed to the Tigers Sunday, on the heels of his visit. In an interview with Rivals Midwest recruiting analyst Clint Cosgrove Wednesday morning, Drinkwitz said that other area coaches raved about the Ouachita high product. Offensive lineman Curtis Peagler provided a little bit of signing day drama, accepting a Missouri offer and signing with the Tigers on Wednesday morning. At 6-foot-5 and 340 pounds, Peagler certainly has SEC size.
Drinkwitz credited his recruiting staff for doing some “old-fashioned” recruiting to uncover Glass and Peagler, neither of whom had a Power Five offer before visiting Missouri. He said assistant coaches found out about them through word of mouth and then talked to several other coaches in the area to learn more about them. He also said the staff was also purposefully sneaky in not publicizing their visits prior to their arrivals on campus and not extending offers until they were ready to commit to avoid other schools poking around.
“Felt like we did a really nice job of evaluating that and kind of playing coy a little bit with not really unveiling our intentions too soon, getting him up here on a visit and then keeping it quiet that we had offered him over the weekend,” Drinkwitz said. “Just to make sure that nobody came in late.”
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