Missouri (4-0) finally heads into conference play on Saturday when it faces fellow Southeastern Conference East division foe Vanderbilt (2-3). But before the Week 5 tilt, Missouri had its Media Day on Tuesday with head coach Eli Drinkwitz kicking it off by giving an injury update on some of the team's key players.

"Darius Robinson is going to be questionable this week from an injury in the game. We'll see how that goes. Mekhi Miller will be out this week. And Luther (Burden) and Brady (Cook) are both questionable as of today (Tuesday). Both will be limited at practice and even if they are available, we'll see."

Starting with Robinson, the defensive end has apparently been going through a nagging calf injury dating back to at least Week 3 versus Kansas State, possibly longer.

In the Tigers' postgame press conference after defeating Memphis last Saturday, Drinkwitz said Robinson's calf gave out on him in the fourth quarter versus Kansas State and gave out again in the first quarter versus Memphis.

He recorded two tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss, before his exit.

Robinson transitioned to defensive end from defensive tackle this offseason and had performed well before the injury. On the season, he's recorded 13 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

Miller played versus Kansas State with a hand laceration and he also played versus Memphis. It's unclear if the laceration is what already has him sidelined for Week 5 or something else, but Drinkwitz didn't seem too worried about what the Tigers will do if without him.

"I mean, Daniel Blood will be back. Obviously, you can slide Mookie (Cooper) into the slot. Marquis (Johnson) can play outside receiver. Josh Manning, he can play outside receiver," Drinkwitz said. "So, you know that's a really deep room. I know Coach (Jacob) Peeler will have a plan for us."

On "Tiger Talk," Drinkwitz said Cook and Burden, whose left cleat was taped up, were full participants in Tuesday's practice. This was hours after he said they would be limited in practice that day.

Offensive lineman Marcellus Johnson, who missed last week's game due to an ankle injury was also a full participant and so was Dreyden Norwood, who suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter of the Memphis game.

Tight end Brett Norfleet missed Week 4 with a rib cartilage injury but he was also at practice on Tuesday wearing a green non-contact jersey. Drinkwitz said he thinks Norfleet will be able to play this week.

Ennis Rakestraw was a late scratch last Saturday. His availability in Week 5 will be dependent on his week of practice.

"We will see how Ennis practices today (Tuesday) and tomorrow and make a decision for him. Obviously, we want to put his best interest ahead of everything and don't want to further injure himself by participating,” Drinkwitz said. “He was a full participant in yesterday's (Monday) walkthrough. So, we'll just see how his injury responds today going full speed in practice."

Besides injuries, Drinkwitz talked a lot about the Tigers' defense and some of the struggles the unit is having a quarter of the way through the season.

Entering Week 5, Mizzou has the nation's 42nd-ranked defense which isn't too bad but when you take a deeper dive into some things you realize that ranking doesn't tell the whole story.

Mizzou has the 85th-ranked pass defense, allowing opponents to average 238 yards per game.

It's limiting teams to 39% on third down which is good for 70th in the FBS. However, in the last three games, Mizzou opponents have converted 24-of-53 (45%) of their third down attempts.

That ranking plummets to 113th on fourth down, with Tigers opponents going 7-of-10 on fourth down attempts.

Also, the defense is tied for 120th in red zone defense, with opposing teams being 12-of-12 in the red zone with eight touchdowns.

Drinkwitz believes there's multiple factors at hand as to why the defense is struggling like it is.

"Yeah, there's a variety of issues, but it comes down to us executing our assignments. Coaches making the assignments more clear so that we can play with less confusion and more aggression," Drinkwitz said. "We got to stay in our rush lanes, we've got to cover better in man-to-man. When we mix up coverages and get to zone cover, we've got to make sure we're matching in our zones."

The common theme of Tuesday's presser about the defense was the poor coverage in man-to-man defense. No matter the topic, it always came back to that.

"I think it's more technique and fundamentals and making sure that when we have a man, we have our eyes where they're supposed to be and not get caught in the backfield," Drinkwitz said. "I think too many times, we're trying to make a play outside of the scheme. You've got to do your job. It's guys wanting to make plays but make plays by doing your job within the scheme and doing them well, doing the little things really well."

With a banged up cornerbacks room and the aforementioned poor play in pass coverage, it’s not an ideal week to play against the nation's 30th-best passing offense with these issues.

Despite Vandy perennially being at the bottom of the SEC standings, Drinkwitz said the Tigers won't be overlooking them due to how close the battles have been the last three of four years, which includes a 2019 loss. Drinkwitz is right. The Tigers shouldn't be overlooking Vandy when you consider what he believes is the Commodores' strength.

"They have some really talented players. I think their wide receiver group isas good as anybody in the SEC," Drinkwitz said. "Obviously, I think Will Sheppard is an All-SEC caliber wide receiver and plays at a high level. He's got elite ball skills, (the) ability to make catches in traffic (and) create separation."

Sheppard has racked up 27 receptions for 345 yards and five touchdowns, while fellow receiver London Humphreys has racked up 12 receptions for 299 yards and three touchdowns and Jayden McGowan has 23 receptions for 295 yards.

Obviously, a struggling pass defense versus a receiving core that features a player just as effective and efficient as Burden, isn't an ideal matchup for the Tigers at this moment.

However, the cornerbacks haven't been the problem, though. Four of the team's top five coverage players are cornerbacks, according to PFF College.

Kris Abrams-Draine leads the way with a coverage grade of 85.8, Norwood is second at 73.8, Rakestraw is third at 72.6 and Marcus Clarke is fifth at 69.7.

Meanwhile, the highest-graded safety is seventh on the roster, and three safeties have allowed at least 10 receptions for 100 yards or more and one touchdown.

Statistically, the safeties have been the sore spot in coverage.

Missouri's cornerbacks have allowed 188 passing yards this season. Four safeties have allowed 57% of that yardage or more.

Jaylon Carlies has more touchdowns allowed than pass deflections and or interceptions. Daylan Carnell has allowed almost 75% of the receptions the corners have given up, and no one except Abrams-Draine and Clarke have added to the takeaways this season.

So, if Mizzou plans to host LSU two Saturdays from now with a perfect record, all of the Mizzou defensive backs need to get on the same page.

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