9/20/2022 football Edit

Everything Eli Drinkwitz said on Tuesday heading into Week 4 at Auburn

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

Missouri (2-1) will look to carry over the momentum from its week three win over Abilene Christian to its week four matchup against its first conference opponent in the Auburn Tigers (2-1). 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.

Opening statement

Awesome week to open SEC play. We're excited about that within the program. I know our fans are excited. It's a great opportunity for our team to travel to Auburn. For the first time I believe in school history. It's obviously a good matchup between two SEC teams and excited that we get a chance to be on ESPN. Obviously, I know Coach Harsin very well indebted to him. And his wife Kes, (they’ve) got three great children. You know Coach Harsin, gave me an opportunity and believed in me when not very many other people did and really kept me in college football in 2013. And so I'm very appreciative to him for that and will always be indebted to him. And the opportunity that he gave me and my family to stay in college football. So I have a lot of respect for him as a football coach and as a person.

He's got a tough football team. They've got some really talented players on both sides of the ball and in the special teams phases. They've got good schemes and coaches, they're going to have a great atmosphere. But with all due respect, the challenge is really internal. For us, how much do we improve this week? How much better can we get? And really, all of our focus is on that.

We need to get better really in all three phases at the fundamentals. Blocking on the perimeter, catching the football or delivering the football on time.

On defense, our tackling angles, staying on top of routes, not turning back and getting our eyes to the quarterback too soon on deep balls and making sure we have ball disruption on deep plays.

On special teams, covering kicks, making sure that we really hold up versus rush on our punt team and making the right decision as a returner. And so really our team's attitude and our focus is that's all within our control.

And that's what we're focused on this week. And really excited to get going on that journey that started yesterday. Our guys have already been in for weights this morning and we'll have a team meeting at 1:45 p.m. to continue our focus.

You mentioned being indebted to Bryan Harsin. In 2013, what were you thinking about at that time?

At the end of the 2012 season coach Gus Malzahn had been hired at Auburn. And at that point, I had been offered a position as really an off-the-field guy in operations at Auburn and (so I) interviewed for a position on the field at Arkansas State with newly hired Bryan Harsin. I didn't know coach Harsin. I never met him and I had no connection to him. I interviewed for the job, and he kept me on and gave me a chance as the running backs coach and co-offensive coordinator, so that's kind of how that worked out.

At your first press conference, somebody asked about your offense and you said it was kind of a mix of what you learned from Gus (Malzahn) and from Bryan (Harsin). What specifically did you learn from them about offensive football and how much of your next few years was that a part of what you did?

Yeah, obviously I learned the Boise State offensive philosophy and model and then our task in 2013 was to take the Boise State offense and add tempo and be able to play in kind of a no-huddle, open style, which is what Coach Malzahn had learned from him. So, that's really what I've learned, and then obviously now through the course of however many different coaches have come in and out and worked with me we developed our pro tempo style, but when you really dig it down to the core, there's going to be some of the same things that we all believe in. Downhill runs, controlling the passing game, particle throws off play action 一 we all love trips and special.

Neither one of you guys is going to do the same thing as you did seven years ago or whatever. But when you are going against you're kind of familiar with, is there anything different about kind of the chess match going into a game like that?

I don't think so. I think we're both focused on attacking the other team's schemes. And both of us have evolved so much, and football has evolved so much since 2013. That I doubt or even 2015 the last time we've coached together I mean, that's over seven seasons ago. There are a lot of things that have changed.

Eli going back to Auburn for you. Just how much of a career risk was that when you took that quality control job there with a young family?

I think it was a big-time security risk. I mean, you think about my wife and I were teachers. We had a mortgage payment and no benefits. So, you go from the security of you know, at the time both of us would probably make close to you know, $90,000 to go to make $13,000 without much of a savings account. There's not much of a parachute there. I think it's it was a risk for sure. But that's where the fun is man. Taking risks and seeing if you got the right stuff and it's been a heck of a 12-year journey for sure.

That was a good first year. Did you think this was pretty easy?

I thought college football was easy. Get the best quarterback on the planet and go win the national championship. So yeah, I mean, that was a remarkable year. I remember some of those stadiums were rockin’, good players, lots of fun stuff.

What do you make obviously very familiar, familiar with Jordan Hare (Stadium) in that environment? I mean, what can make that a tough place to play with confidence for road teams?

You know, it'd be interesting. I haven't been back since 2013 when we played there when I was at Arkansas State. So, they made some additions relative to the video boards and all that stuff, but I just think it's the passion of the fan base. You know, that eagle comes down and lands and that stadium gets going. So, we got to do a really good job to try to take the energy out early. We can't let them dictate the terms of the game for our fans. But yeah, I mean, obviously what makes it tough is the student section. The fan base is right there. The passion of those fans.

How do you prepare your guys for an SEC environment? For some, it is their first SEC road game. How do you prepare them for that?

Yeah, I mean, that's what it's about. It's about building to it and taking the test. Not doing what you want to do, learn from it and then reapply it. So, I think that's what we'll do. Not gonna make it bigger than it is. I mean, it's a road game we played in some road games before. Just happens to be a lot of these guys' first time at this one. So, but won't make it bigger than that. Like, take what you learned from what you thought you didn't do well at Kansas State. What are the things that put us in a bad situation and let's learn from it. Go out there and try it again. That's what it is 一 to try it again.

You mentioned on Saturday having to kind of go back maybe this week and evaluate the offensive line what's that process looked like this week? And where are you at?

We evaluate everybody, in each game. And you know, that position, the inconsistency. I think the biggest challenge for us has been the penalties. You know, we've had 13 offensive line penalties in the first three games. And that's not any one person's fault, but it's an alarming trend that needs to be fixed. So, it's about creating competition today and tomorrow and seeing who has the best week of practice and whoever does will run out there on Saturday and that's, that's really it. It’s no deeper or more challenging than that. We can't have penalties. We cannot have negative yardage plays on first down or running the football and who's going to take that off the tape.

Auburn’s got a good front seven led by All-SEC player Derick Hall. What does he do well and what are some other guys on the other front that you're worried about this week?

Yeah, to be honest, they've got a tremendous front four led by Derick Hall no doubt but Colby Wooden is a tremendous defensive tackle. I've been impressed with Marquis Burks. I think he's been a good player. Marcus Harris I believe is a transfer from Kansas. Eku Leota plays the field defensive end, who's really got length and rushes and bends well. Owen Pappoe is a very physical third-year linebacker. He plays downhill, he can match up in coverage and so that front seven is very talented. They've got a lot of experience. They play extremely physical. They've got great size. I mean they're what Auburn’s played with on their front seven, as long as I've ever remembered Auburn. So, it's a tremendous challenge for us to get the run game going.

Does the quality of that front seven add urgency to figuring out some of the offensive line issues?

No, we got it figured out our offensive line issues because we got to figure it out ourselves first. it's about us. We're going to play good opponents every week and holding penalties don’t have anything to do with the opponent. it has to do with having hands inside and being conscientious of not grabbing. False starts have nothing to do with going against a good defensive line. It has everything to do with understanding and having discipline and choosing to get off when you hear the snap count. So, there's urgency because we have to get it fixed. But that's the reason.

Have you seen your (offensive) line kind of take that competition head on and maybe you know, obviously going to fix this?

Yeah, I mean, I think Sunday they recognized that and they saw it on tape. And then today, we'll see the response.

You mentioned some of the tackling issues, especially in the first half considering. With Tank Bigsby on the other side how big a deal is it going to be? Maybe a little bigger deal than some other times?

It's a big deal. If you're going to be a good defensive football team, the first man to the ball carrier needs to tackle and take leverage. It's one thing to miss a tackle. It's another thing to overrun a tackle and now the rest of your other 10 players don't know how to fit off you. So, we talked about, hey, you got to dictate leverage for the other 10 players on the field. And that was the area that was really lacking so our tracking angles were not good. That's a big deal, regardless of whether your playing Tank Bigsby or any of their running backs because they're all really talented players and it was a big deal Saturday. We gave up three third-down conversions off of missed tackles and poor tracking angles. It was not anything else other than that. So, that's a point of emphasis today, and that's a point of emphasis every day when we go out to practice and it's something that we have to be focused on and that's something that we control. It really doesn't have anything to do with your opponent, it has to do with you making sure you're tracking the near hip, understand the difference between a profile and frontal and use the proper techniques on a profile tackle, make sure we understand the proper techniques on frontal tackle. And if we can do those things, then whether it's Tank Bigsby or anybody else, you're going to be in the right position to make the play.

For Dominic Lovett, a breakout game like that on Saturday. What does that do for him confidence-wise?

I think we've always had a lot of confidence in Dominic love it. I think it was good to see him and Brady connect on that deep ball because we'd seen it a bunch of practice but we hadn't been able to put that on the tape. I mean, I guess in Kansas State we put that one on tape so to see that continue to grow obviously in the key third down. He made a very tough catch. That ball is on the back hip, which is a really difficult catch on the slant route. So, I think it just creates confidence that there are players on the field that we can find. It just creates confidence that when you make plays and you win, you create confidence. And that belief in each other is what builds solid teams. Confidence in each other is what builds teams and that's why you gotta continue to grow.

Can you get more out of your defensive line? You haven't seen the tackles for loss or really think disrupted plays the last two weeks?

Yeah, that's been something that we've really been focusing on, have not seen the chaos that we need to and that's not just focused on the defensive line. Our linebackers have to hit gaps. We've got to create more disruption in our pressures. In our simulated pressures and in are zero pressures. And so, I think it's a combination of a lot of things. And again, those things usually have to do with just us and us executing and getting those things the way they need to go. That's a great observation.

I know Brady Cook’s running abilities have been a big thing and you don't want to take that away but have you talked to him about when to slide at all? He appears to have taken a decent number of hits.

You know, you want people to be tough, and you want people to display toughness. There's tough and dumb tough. We don't need to be dumb tough. We need to be tough. And so, I think that's just the conversation with Brady. We need you to display toughness, especially in the quarterback position. We never want to take away his competitive toughness but let's not be dumb tough.

Playing a team that declined to name a starting quarterback for this week. Does that alter your preparation at all?

No, not at all. Because again, it's not about who they put at the quarterback position. Every quarterback has some unique nuances. But for us it's about do we stay on top of wide receivers when they get vertical releases on nine balls (vertical streak routes) or are we not inviting those? Are we going to get penetration in disruption at the defensive line, which will cause them to be behind the chains or are we not letting them stay ahead of the chains? Are we gap sound? Do we know who our quarterback player is? Those things really don't have anything to do with which guy is taking the snap. They're going to have somebody that takes the snap from the center. Whether it's any one of the talented quarterbacks they have, which they have plenty of talented quarterbacks or whether or not they want Tank Bigsby back there in Wildcat formation. There's gonna be somebody back that we have to be ready for. That's what we're prepared for. We're prepared for all of that. And it's really not about them. It's about us.