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Eli Drinkwitz talks masks, wideouts and more

During a virtual press conference with local reporters Wednesday, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz made one thing clear: He wasn’t willing to wade into speculation about the various forms a college football season might take in 2020. The first-year coach declined to answer whether it might be safer for student-athletes if a season is played versus sending them back to their hometowns, or whether he has started preparing for the possibility of an SEC-only schedule, or if a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases nationwide would improve the odds of college football being played in the fall.

That being said, the press conference was far from dull. True to his gregarious personality, Drinkwitz offered his take on mask-wearing and mixed in some current events references. He also provided a glimpse at who could emerge as playmakers for Missouri’s new-look offense whenever the Tigers take the field again. Here are some of the highlights.

YOU CAN WATCH VIDEO OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE HERE

During a virtual press conference, Eli Drinkwitz advocated for mask wearing and poked fun at President Donald Trump, among other things.
During a virtual press conference, Eli Drinkwitz advocated for mask wearing and poked fun at President Donald Trump, among other things. (MUTigers.com)
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Imploring Mizzou fans to 'mask up'

The last time Drinkwitz spoke to reporters, he made waves online for his Missouri-themed, Hawaiian-print shirt. Wednesday, he appeared wearing a different accessory: a black facemask emblazoned with the Mizzou logo.

Drinkwitz didn’t keep the mask on for long, but he said he hoped to use his platform to show people the importance of wearing masks to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to mask up,” Drinkwitz said, “and I know there’s a lot of hot topic opinions on it, but I choose to wear my mask because I believe that’s in the best interest of what we’re trying to accomplish from a public health standpoint."

Later in the press conference, the conversation shifted to masks again, and Drinkwitz took on a more fiery tone, expressing frustration that mask-wearing has become politicized and hasn’t been taken seriously by many. His opinion isn’t rooted in the belief that more people wearing masks in Columbia will make a college football season more likely — he noted that the SEC is a big conference and he has no bearing on the situation in, say, Florida. But Drinkwitz expressed the opinion that, if people want to avoid a return to stay-at-home orders, to send their children to school in the fall and enjoy local restaurants (he mentioned Murry’s, Booches, Shakespeare’s and Shiloh), wearing a mask can’t hurt.

“I think what we're trying to do is encourage people that it's okay to wear a mask,” he said. “It's okay to do it. I get there's arguments on both sides. I get that for some reason it's been politicized. I just happen to believe that it happens to be good public health policy. Does it solve all the problems? I don't know. I'm a football coach. I know how, in order to get things done, everybody has to buy into a collective vision. For us in (Columbia), we’ve got to buy into a collective vision. ... And that's what we're trying to do, and we'll see if it works. I mean, I guess I'm frustrated with the fact that when people argue against it, it's like, why are we not willing to try it?

“It's got to the point where there's, supposedly on Twitter, you got the coronabros and then you got ... the guys that think it's fake, and now you've got both sides rooting against each other. Like, I'm just rooting for the United States of America. And I'm just rooting for us to beat the disease. I don't care who's right or wrong.”

Preparing to face 'Lou Saban'

No surprise, the majority of questions for Drinkwitz centered on how he and the Missouri players have dealt with the uncertainty facing college football. With the season scheduled to start less than two months from now, a dizzying array of options remain on the table, from playing the originally planned schedule, to only facing SEC teams, to delaying games until later in the fall or the spring semester, to canceling the year outright.

Drinkwitz said he has tried not to give too much thought to each possibility, saying if he reacted to every new report he “would have less hair than I have and I’d be eating tiger streak Andy’s custard three times a day.” He remained steadfast that he still plans to kick off the season Sept. 5, when Missouri is scheduled to host Central Arkansas. Unless he hears differently from the SEC, that will remain the focus.

“I've been adamant with our team, with our coaches, following the direction of the SEC and our administration, that we're scheduled to play a football game on September 5,” Drinkwitz said. “And that's my focus, and that's what we're working towards every single day, is how do we play that football game on September 5 within the framework of the rules of what they've asked us to do? And I don't get caught up in public opinion. I'm not a Twitter chaser. I don't chase every opinion or tweet that somebody puts out there and has to have an immediate reaction. I'm focused on what they've asked us to do.”

Asked specifically about whether he’s started preparing for the possibility of an all-SEC schedule that could incorporate teams from the SEC West that weren’t previously on the schedule, Drinkwitz offered another zinger, poking fun at president Donald Trump calling Alabama head coach Nick Saban by the wrong name on a conference call Monday.

“If we play a conference only schedule,” he said with a grin, “would Lou Saban or Nick Saban be the head coach at Alabama?”

On changing the recruiting calendar:

One other potential change to the college football environment that’s been discussed recently has been an adjustment of the recruiting calendar. There’s talk that the early signing period, currently slated for Dec. 16-18, could be delayed or eliminated in order to allow prospects more time to visit campuses before finalizing their decisions. As a result of the coronavirus, the NCAA instituted a dead period in mid-March that prohibited players from visiting college campuses and coaches from visiting players. That dead period is currently scheduled to extend through Aug. 31.


Drinkwitz said he has not been a part of any discussions about changing the signing dates, but he cautioned against doing so for fear of a ripple effect. He also said he believes prospects can still make an informed decision without physically stepping foot on campuses. Missouri has recruited well during the dead period — the Tigers are up to 18 commitments in the 2021 class, tied for seventh most nationally among non-service academies, and rank No. 18 in the Rivals team rankings.


“What I've told our recruits that we're recruiting, the people we have conversations with, is we have to change the framework of what our expectation for recruiting has been,” Drinkwitz said. “In the past, we expected that you're going to be on campus multiple times, you get to see it and all that. That may not be the case this year. Doesn't mean it's impossible to make a decision, doesn't mean that you can't make a decision. I made a decision to join the University of Missouri as the head football coach and didn’t visit, but knew that that's where I wanted to be based off the opportunities presented to me. And I think we're asking young men to do something very similar. I think what the issue with all of these conversations is, we think that if we make the decision to push back a signing period, that doesn't have consequences or effects on everybody else, and it does. And so we have to understand that every decision we make is going to have some sort of consequence and effect on the next class.”


Playmakers already emerging

Amid all the talk of masks, schedules and politics, there was some football-specific discussion. Starting Monday, the team shifted from voluntary summer conditioning workouts run entirely by the strength and conditioning coaching staff to football-related workouts, which are mandatory and can include Drinkwitz and his 10 full-time assistants. Drinkwitz acknowledged that he “doesn’t have a tremendous sense of what we have,” especially on the offensive side of the ball, which figures to feature a near-total makeover from last season. He repeatedly expressed excitement, however, especially about a position group most fans might not expect: the receiving corps.

Missouri’s receivers combined to catch just six touchdowns last season, with four of those coming from Jonathan Nance, who has since graduated. Slot receiver Johnathon Johnson, who climbed to sixth on the school’s all-time receiving list, graduated as well, leaving the cupboard a bit bare. Drinkwitz and his staff addressed that by bringing in two immediately-eligible graduate transfers in Damon Hazelton, from Virginia Tech, and Keke Chism, from Division-II Angelo State. Drinkwitz beamed when speaking about both players Wednesday, especially Chism.

“The fact that nobody asked about Keke Chism on this phone call blows my mind, because that dude's an absolute freakin’ stud and a steal, and couldn't be more excited about this young man transferring into our program and being just an unbelievable person, great character, former high school quarterback that's really developed himself into a tremendous player and potential NFL player,” Drinkwitz said. “To be able to add him with a young man like Damon Hazleton on the outside, I mean, our quarterbacks, whoever our quarterback is, has added two tremendous weapons that are going to be tremendous.”

Drinkwitz didn’t just compliment the newcomers at wideout, either. He reeled off a list of returners and incoming freshmen who have impressed as well, saying the group “look like SEC receivers right now.” Combined with the running back duo of Larry Rountree III and Tyler Badie, he said the offense will have plenty of playmakers. Now, it’s just a matter of getting the group to gel as quickly as possible after a tumultuous offseason.

“We know we do have pieces,” he said, “it's just a matter of those pieces coming together, and that's our job as coaches is to get those pieces all pushed in the same direction as quickly as possible.”

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