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Everything Eli Drinkwitz said on Tuesday heading into Week 12 vs. NM State

Missouri (4-6) will be looking to bounce back from one of the worst losses in school history in week 11 to Tennessee when it hosts New Mexico State (4-5) in week 12. Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz met with local media on Tuesday afternoon in advance of that game. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.

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Opening statement

Start with sending my prayers and thoughts to the University of Virginia football team and the university. I’m just praying for peace and comfort for all those involved, the families of the young men, the football team, the coaching staff, specifically, coach Tony Elliot.

Des Kitchings and I were colleagues for three years at North Carolina State. He is currently the offensive coordinator. So, just heart goes out to them in such a difficult time. I do know that you know, both Tony and Des and that staff is made of the right stuff to be the right kind of presence in such a tough difficult time but man what a sad story and hopefully there's some positive that can come from this tragedy.

With that, for us, this is a big week. It's Senior Week. And it's an opportunity for us to acknowledge and show our appreciation to all the seniors for all that they have done for our program whether they chose to be here for the last six months or if they've been here for the last five to six years. And in Barrett Banister’s case, his whole life.

We just really appreciate what they've done and the sacrifices that not only they've made but their parents and their fans and their families to come to the games and put a really good product on the field. I think these 21 seniors that we have — have represented the Mizzou football tigers in the right way and they are true sons to this university in this state.

Jack Abraham, a quarterback from Oxford, Mississippi, graduated from Southern Miss and transferred here to give us an opportunity to play quarterback. he has done everything we've asked him to do as far as be a great teammate and a leader on the football team. He plans on enrolling in dental school and following in the footsteps of his father in continuing the practice of being a dentist there. So the good news is I'm going to be able to have the ability to get my teeth cleaned later in life.

Barrett Banister is a wide receiver from Fayetteville, Arkansas. What an incredible story. He is a guy who chose to walk on here and now has over 1000 yards receiving over 100 catches and just does all the little things right. “Third and Bannister.” He’s just somebody who you can count on and really excited for him to walk this year. He's going to have that rare distinction of walking twice for senior day.

D.J. Bullard, an offensive lineman walk-on from Fenton, Missouri, who has contributed to this football team will graduate in the spring of 2023.

Kibet Chepyator, a tight end from Carol Stream Illinois. He graduated from undergrad in 2021, Masters in the fall of 2022. A young man who walked on our football team has earned a scholarship and was a walk-on tryout similar to wide receiver Boo Smith last year. Just somebody who shows up every day and puts in a lot of work and we're really proud of him.

Tauskie Dove is a wide receiver from Denton, Texas. He graduated undergrad in the spring of 2022, Master's Certificate in the fall of 2023. He made a big-time catch against Tennessee on fourth down. Obviously, always will remember his flea flicker versus LSU in 2020 — a big catch right there that led to the first touchdown of the game and gave us a seven-point lead. Big-time catch against South Carolina in 2020 on a nine ball and give us the first touchdown of the game too.

Bobby Lawrence, an offensive lineman from St. Joseph, Missouri, graduated in the spring of 2022. He will graduate with a Master's certificate in the fall of 2023. Recently engaged, I like to call Bobby The pride of St. Joe. He wants to be an athletic director in the future. So, really proud of Bobby Lawrence for his commitment to our team, this university and doing things the right way. That's been derailed a little bit from an injury standpoint but shows up and continues to work.

Nathaniel Peat, a running back Columbia, Missouri, will graduate in the spring of 2023. A transfer. He obviously played at Rock Bridge, and transferred back this year and I appreciate the contributions that he's made to our football program.

Zeke Powell from Georgiana, Alabama, is going to graduate. He was a young man who came here at the end of July 2020, in the COVID year. A junior college kid, started at South Alabama went to junior college then came here. He’s has had ups and downs throughout his career. He started his first year than last year had to face battle competition. He battled back. I’m disappointed that he didn't get to finish the year the way he wanted to because of an injury but really proud of him for the ways he’s responded these last three weeks with getting his surgery and getting his academics in order and getting that that second part of what we talked about chase two dreams and that’s with football and a life outside of the game and get his degree.

Trent Sedarwall, an offensive lineman from Ozark, Missouri, just had a birthday and I appreciate all that he has contributed to our team.

Richard Taylor is an offensive lineman from Ellenwood, Georgia who graduated in the spring of 2021 and should complete his master's certificate in the fall of 2022. A young man who worked extremely hard, he was Tyler Badie’s roommate and earned a scholarship last fall for everything that he did.

Connor Wood from Meridian Idaho, transferred from Montana State. He’s a guy who has played a lot of football for us at a lot of positions on the offensive line. He has a great attitude every single day. He shows up to work and has a bright future in front of him. He's going to be used to weather like this today. No problem practicing for him today at all.

DJ Coleman, a defensive and from Atlanta, Georgia, graduated from Jacksonville State and transferred here. he has worked extremely hard to be a very productive player for us. We appreciate his belief in us and his willingness to embrace his role whatever it was throughout the season.

Tyrone Hopper, a defensive end from Roswell, Georgia, is another career seventh-year guy. He has graduated from UNC and worked real hard for us and embraces his role whether it's 10 reps a game or 20 reps a game. He does whatever we asked him to do.

Trajan Jeffcoat, a defensive end from Columbia, South Carolina, graduates in the fall of 2022. Obviously, he has been a big-time player for our university for a long time and I really appreciate all that he's done. He’s battled through adversity throughout his career and is walking to get his degree.

Martez Manuel, a safety from Columbia, Missouri, will graduate in the summer of 2023. Martez brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm. He loves this city and loves representing and playing for the University of Missouri and we're really proud of him.

Isaiah McGuire, a defensive end from Tulsa, Oklahoma, will graduate in the summer of 2023. A young man who's worked really hard to develop into our most consistent defensive player and affects the game. That was our defensive MVP last year and it's looking to be that same player for us this year.

Devin Nicholson, a linebacker from Detroit, Michigan and will graduate in the summer of 2023.

Darius Robinson, a defensive tackle from Southfield, Michigan, and will graduate in the spring of 2023.

Jalani Williams, a safety from St. Louis, Missouri, graduates in the fall of 2022, a guy who's battled a lot of injuries and consistently shows up. He does everything we asked and is ready at a moment's notice. And as long as I'm coaching I’ll remember Jelani’s hit in that bowl game on fourth down. Obviously, it led to an injury, but man he came up and filled the hole and gave us a chance to get the ball back to go down and take the lead in that game.

Jake Hoffman is a long snapper from Kearney, Missouri. He’s just a special young man you know when he gave his senior talking fall, talking about how he grew up coming to the University of Missouri football games and dreamed about being a Tiger is now his dream has become reality. He earned a scholarship and does a heck of a job.

Sean Koetting is a kicker from Columbia, Missouri. Sean's been through a lot being from here earning a scholarship, and having personal difficulties he's had to work through with family-related issues. I’m just really proud of Sean and his commitment to our team and continuing to play and show up every day for us.

These seniors deserve this week for us to again show our appreciation to them for all they've done. We have one of the unique traditions in college football that if you win on your Senior Day, the seniors get to go and get a rock from the M and they get carried off the field by their teammates. So, that's our focus this week. That's our focus this week is to celebrate the seniors to make it about them to play to our standard, not to play to an opponent but to play to our standard, to get better at the simple things, to execute at a higher level than we have in the last two weeks, to play to our standard to play and to be excellent in the simple things that we can improve on. And to make sure that when this game is over, our seniors get the opportunity that they've worked so hard to get.

Is the fact these guys are going through senior day an indication this is their last year or is that already decided? I know some can't come back.

The long and short of it is I don't know. There are a lot of guys on here who are confirmed with what their plans are and what they will be doing moving forward in the future. But there is still a handful that has decisions that need to be made maybe after a bowl game or in consultation with some other factors. You know, maybe paperwork coming back from the NFLPA that sort of thing. So like you said, when I think you opened up your question --- seniors are kind of a moving target. We're trying to do the very best we can with some uncharted waters here.

Just how much does that change? Just roster management these days with that year that's still out there. I mean, not everybody has the COVID gear on your roster, but some still do.

Yeah, it's an interesting thing because you have the COVID year, you have transfer ability and you have guys who could go to the NFL. I think the good news is what the NCAA did was allow for an 85 for 85. But what you're a little bit stuck with is and being a little bit handicapped by is not for sure, knowing how many high school players you can recruit versus what's going to be a transfer. You know, for us right now we currently have 14 high schoolers committed. We only have 18 high school scholarships available. We're really in a target of trying to hit 16 high school guys, and then after that transfers. We haven't really been recruiting high school guys to take those transfer spots. So, that would have to go to the portal. So, it's a unique plan. But it's one that I think since 2020, we've kind of adopted this to be flexible.

Across college football have you seen guys, especially quarterbacks who’ve benefited from having that sort of the extra year of eligibility to develop?

I'm trying to think about across college football right now. You know, I haven't really. I don't know that one. I would think anytime you have a year in college football to get better. It's good. I think some of the quarterbacks that are playing at the highest levels right now are guys who've gone through some growing pains.

Looks like more designed runs for Brady Cook on Saturday. Was that the idea going in or was that 'Hey, this is working. We're gonna stick with it as the game unfolds'?

Both you know, I felt like again, in the South Carolina game, we kind of had a template, and then obviously in the fourth quarter of Georgia, Brady was able to use his legs to get going and I think play a little bit better. And so trying to incorporate that combined with what they allow you to do.

And some of those fourth and shorts on maybe your own 40-yard line where you punted against Tennesse, what was the thought process behind punting on some of those and what would you have decided to do differently looking back at it?

There was a fourth and short in the first half of the game. Correct? The score was 14-7. And then there was another one later in the game we went for and then there was another time that we went for it, but we got a penalty to get back to fourth and sixth.

So the first one at 14-7 we felt like we were still in the game and didn't want to give them a short field. So, obviously played the game the way we felt like we need to play — don't put our defense in a bad position. In the fourth quarter, it was 49-24 at that point, we went with a play that we've been running a lot we just haven't ever gotten to the second part of that play, which was to flip it out to Elijah Young obviously and we didn't execute that. I felt like we had an opportunity there from the look. And then the last one was we were going for it on fourth and one but when we got the penalty I think at that point it was 59-21 and fourth and sixth at midfield. I felt like I didn't want to do anything else to give them the ball that close. Trying to preserve maybe another touchdown. Obviously, that didn't work but that's the thought process. That’s the only three that I can recall.

Your defense has not had many instances this year where they've kind of got a bounce back from getting punched. I mean, what's been your sense the last couple days of where those guys are at after what happened on Saturday?

I mean, I think from top to bottom, whether it's offense, defense or special teams, we all felt like we didn't play to the standard that we needed to starting in the third quarter. I think that all of us have the ability to either hide from that or face it and we're not going to hide from it. We're going to face it and we have an opportunity this week to play to our standard and obviously, we didn't do that.

The seniors on your defensive line in McGuire, Jeffcoat and Robinson, they've been through a lot here and last year was tough on them I'm sure. But just what's it been like to see them kind of have this year that they have put it all together and that's been a strength to your team?

Yeah, really proud of all three of those guys. Darius has been such a leader since I've been here and his commitment to his body and work ethic and development. He hasn't always been able to play he's had injuries the previous two years and missed extended time, but this year he has been able to play consistently and I think he's played his best football the last three games. I mean, he had a really good game against this opponent. And Isaiah McGuire had a really good game against this last opponent and it didn't show up necessarily, but those guys have been giving us a chance each week and I felt like other than a couple of big runs that split out there — I thought those guys provided pressure on the quarterback or condensing the pocket and got sacks. Darius is a real matchup problem on the inside and so been really proud of those three guys and their commitment to each other and commitment to this team and commitment to growth and I think they're all three going to be rewarded in April.

I don't know if Hyrin White and Chad Bailey went through Senior Day last year. But has Hyrin already decided he's going to try to get a waiver? What’s the situation with those two?

Yeah. My conversations with Hyrin and his parents are that we're going to apply for a medical redshirt for this year and we feel confident that the NCAA will grant that. We're very excited that if that's granted he would spend another year with us. And that's really for him the best possible outcome for him to be able to rehab and retrained and still have an opportunity to play at the next level. So, that was something that we had been working towards and why we felt like the bye week was the target week if he could have gotten back and played we would have done that but just never got to where we felt comfortable that he was going to get enough reps to put himself in a position to play the next level. So, for us, that's a huge opportunity for us to solidify our offensive line for next year and give us another big-time offensive tackle who has got a lot of game reps.

Chad Bailey has another year of eligibility, so right now, he is not walking on Senior Day because he wants to finish out his opportunity to play football. So, really excited about that. A young man whose best football is still ahead of him and continues to improve and be a leader on our football team. So, that's a big time get for us to be able to retain those two players.

The stakes in the next two weeks to get a bowl game. How much of the focus is on the importance of that versus I'm only focused on Senior Week?

The only message for us and our football team is these seniors this week and getting the rock. Chase two rabbits and you’ll catch none. We're focused on what it is for us to do, to honor our seniors to play to our standard and to be excellent at the simple things. And that's really the message for us. There's nothing else besides that there's only this week there's only today's practice. Our message has always been and will continue to be 1-0. For our seniors, this is what you come here and play for. So, you have an opportunity to carry that rock off so you put in a lot of work to get that tangible reward. So, that's what we're here for.

So with this being Senior Day, is there still an opportunity for some of the younger players that maybe haven't seen as much game time to get into this game?

We're going to play to our standard. I have no idea what that final score or what the game is going to hold. So, I have no idea. Whoever has earned the opportunity to play he's gonna play based on the game, so I don't ever really consider anything other than playing to the standard.

I know a couple of years ago you had Nick Bolton out for Senior Day, even though he was strictly a junior because he was considering going to the NFL. Is there anyone this year, who's making that consideration?

The guys that are listed are the guys that are listed right now. So, these are the guys that have told us that they're seniors and that we’ve communicated with and have celebrated with. One of the cool traditions we have is we have a senior dinner to start the year and they all get fitted for suits and we buy them a suit, so that when they have their opportunity to go interview for a job they're already prepared with an interview suit. So, this is something that's been going on all year, and this is the group of seniors. I can't speculate on anything else.

Is there a reason you don't do it before the actual final home game?

Well, consideration this week was a couple of things. With next week being Thanksgiving we didn't know with all the students being gone and all that (if the atmosphere would be the same). Hopefully, this will be. Our students have been awesome. They've been incredible. We really want those guys to show out. Also, that last game is in a compressed six-day window. And there are a lot of things that are going on. So just trying to reduce the amount of stress there with that week and put Senior Day this week. And then next week focus on the final game.

This New Mexico State team won four of its last five games and they’ve got a pretty solid defense. Obviously, they haven’t played the same level of competition, but they still have a good defense. What have you seen from this New Mexico State defense and what are you trying to prepare for this week?

Yeah, absolutely. They’ve won three in a row. Obviously, scored a lot of points and play a very unique style of defense. They are very multiple and play a lot of pressure and coverage. They've got a lot of transfers. I think they had five returning starters and the rest are transfers. They've got a big size up front of me when you look at them. Lazarus Williams and Justin Segura both 6-5 and 270 pounds. So, they've got size. Their nose tackle is a 300-pounder. They've got multiple linebackers that play at a really high level.

Their nickel cornerback is a transfer from Michigan from Detroit, who was a four-star player. On the offensive side of the ball, they've got a really good scheme. I think the head coach and offensive and defense coordinators spent time at Pittsburg State, so they're familiar with the area.

The defensive coordinator was at SEMO last year. So, I have a lot of respect for what they're doing. They played really hard on special teams, and have played their best football late in the year with a commanding victory over Lamar last week.

So, we definitely have our work cut out for us. I know our staff knows that. I think our players understand that. And again, that's why I've been preaching about we have to play to our standard. We can't just assume that this is a team that's going to come in here. I mean, they're going to want to make a name for their program and themselves. And they're playing at a high enough level to do that. So we have to play to our standard. And that's the challenge for us. We've got to do the simple things well. They do a lot of things on defense, they do a lot of things offensively that make it difficult for you, so we can't get caught up chasing a lot of scheme.

We've got to do what we do at a really high level. We got to block better, we got to have our hands inside, we have to have better tackling angles, we have to identify what our matchups are in man-to-man and make sure we have the right technique. We have to run our routes at the right depth. We have to get through our progressions at the quarterback position. So, all of those things are things that we've been doing since we've been here. We just got to do them really well this week in order to have an opportunity to win.

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