Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz met with members of the media Sunday following his team's bowl practice. Drinkwitz talked about how the Tigers are preparing for their Armed Forces Bowl matchup against Army while also recruiting. Here is a transcript of everything Drinkwitz had to say.
Opening Statement:
“Had two really good practices this weekend. Have slowly started preparing for the Armed Forces Bowl and our opponent, Army. Doing that while we're finishing up the official visit recruiting weekend, so been really busy, getting off the road doing all that. But it's the most wonderful time of the year: bowl season, football season, Christmas season and signing season all kind of wrapped up in one.”
I know you mentioned it’s been a busy time, but did you get a chance to watch the Army-Navy game yesterday?
“Yeah, I watched every snap. Obviously that’s one of the great Obviously, that's one of the greatest games in college football. You know, the passion that both teams play with, really good football game. I thought both teams battled really well. Very impressed with the discipline that Army plays with, really in both phases, in all three phases. They do a really good job of attacking your punt team. They do a really good job in special teams at putting the pressure on you, which was evident yesterday, should have had a blocked punt. back up. Offensively, they’ve got two dynamic quarterbacks. Both of them present different strengths. We're going to have to prepare for both the option, but they do spread out and run some conventional offense, too, which creates a whole other set of issues. And then defensively Nate Woody does a tremendous job. Multiple front defense, multiple pressure packages, zone and man coverage. And so it's going to be a real challenge, and you saw that on display yesterday.”
With playing a fairly early bowl game and all the recruiting stuff, does it make for a pretty challenging few weeks?
“Yeah, it's been a real challenge, just because we've known our opponent for a week, but, you know, I was out on the road from Sunday night all the way until yesterday. Really Friday afternoon. And then rolled right into a recruiting weekend. So we'll spend the next few days — like I said, we've done preliminary stuff, I've watched, on the road, in between, on flights, whenever I could, watch what I can. But we'll spend the next two days while our guys — we've also got finals going on, which adds a whole other layer of complication to it. So they’ll be utilizing the next three days for finals, we’ll be utilizing the next three days to game plan and National Signing Day, and then we'll begin our work week on Thursday, traveling on Saturday to the bowl site.
How tough is it to prioritize when you have an important bowl game and then this is a really important time for recruiting as well?
“Yeah, it’s tough. But it is what it is, and you’ve got to just maintain focus on what the most important task at hand is right now. That’s kind of what we’ve been doing.”
You’ve talked about bowl practices being an opportunity to see what you’ve got from some of the younger guys. Specifically at running back, how do you balance preparing Tyler Badie to play a featured role versus also seeing what you have in some of the guys behind him?
“We've really been able to get the last four practices and did some stuff last week in an unconventional way to get some work towards the future. You know, Tyler's Tyler. He doesn't need a whole lot of reps to stay ready to play. And so this has been really good for our guys to continue to get that work on how exactly we you run our schemes and what's the best way for those guys to get comfortable in those blocking schemes.”
What’s kind of the tone of these practices? I know you’re getting work done, but I’ve got to imagine these guys are pretty excited to be playing in a bowl game.
“Yeah, I think really since the bye week I think the camaraderie and the chemistry on this team has been really strong. And they still want to play. You get to this time of year, there's gonna be guys who don't necessarily, don't want to and whatnot. But these guys really want to play and they really want to be here. And I think it's also a really good carrot to have in front of them that they're gonna get to be home for Christmas. They kind of have an opportunity to play and then get to be with their families for Christmas and an extended break. But I've seen a lot of great attitudes. It's a celebration for them on the season, but they have to have determination to win the game.”
You’ve talked about that a lot, the bye week kind of being the reset. Was there a time you felt like in a practice or a meeting, hey, this clicked?
“I don’t know. I really kind of felt it more in the locker room after the Vandy win. There was a genuine excitement and celebration instead of, I felt like early in the season it was kind of like a relief when we won. Like it was expected. And when you feel like that, maybe you feel like there's too much pressure on the team instead of just playing for the joy and passion of playing and the enjoyment of each other. And I think maybe we were feeling that, and I think after the bye week it really game to the determination to win, and knowing that if we won we were going to get to continue to play.”
What does the tight end position look like? I know a couple guys left that room.
“Yeah. We’ve got some younger guys. Obviously Ryan Hoerstkamp can play and not burn his eligbility. We’ve got Kibet Chepyator that’s gonna be ready to go. And then we can potentially play some 20 personnel with two running backs on the field, we can potentially play with 10 personnel. We haven’t finalized what that will look like yet. I mean, obviously there's other guys on the offensive line that can maybe slide over and play some tight end, in-line tight end position. So we'll figure it out. Wish those guys the best that chose to move on, and like we do with everybody, I mean, college football allows for these guys opportunities to seek what other else, what other things might be out there, and I'm sure there's gonna be a few more. And that's all fine. We want guys who really want to be here and are committed to what we're trying to accomplish, and wish those guys the best as they move forward. But we’ll find a way to make it work.”
Is there someone who’s helping there as the position coach in the interim?
“Yeah, we've kind of had Keegan McDaniel, who's been a quality control assistant, has helped out right now. And then Cole Cook, who played tight end for me. They have both helped out. We'll figure out this week which one we elevate onto the field for the bowl game.”
How are the quarterbacks doing?
“It’s been really good. Great competition. And been wide open, been rotating who goes with the ones. Gotten some really good good-on-good work, some end-of-game scenarios, and we've thrown some touchdowns, we've done some interceptions. We're continuing to improve our decision-making and accuracy downfield, and look forward to continuing to see this competition.”
When you’re breaking that down, I’m guessing it’s not like a horse race. How do you look at that competition?
“Yeah, we really judge on basically five different things: Toughness, preparation, decision-making accuracy and leadership. And how those guys display those five things and characteristics, which we think are the characteristics of what they're going to need to help us win. I think within those, you know, you've got the decision making and accuracy, which are tangible. You can see that every play, whether or not they're making the right decisions on the reads or whether or not the accuracy of the pass. I think the preparation goes, you can see that on the field, but you can see that off the field, too, where guys are coming in, putting in extra time, understand the schemes that we want. Leadership, I think, is are the guys rallying around them and do they display, do they bring something to the practice, to the environment that they’re put in? So we’re evaluating all of that. And then toughness is how do you bounce back from a bad performance? Whether it's bad play, whether it's bad interception, whether it's a couple bad plays, how do you respond? And do you still provide the things that we need to this football team in order to help us win? So all that's in consideration.”
I know Akayleb (Evans) said he’s opting out. Are there any other seniors that aren’t playing in the bowl game that you know of?
“No. Wish Akayleb the absolute best. I know he got a Senior Bowl Invite. He’s choosing to get prepared for that. Have not had anybody come to me yet. So when we do, if we do, we’ll update you all as we get that information. But as of right now, pretty excited about what we’re doing and where we’re going.”
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