11/8/2023 football Edit

Missouri Football Notebook: Linebacker Chad Bailey out for season

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

Coming off of its Week 10 loss to No. 2 Georgia, No. 14 Missouri (7-2, 3-2) doesn't have time to weep about what could've been. It realizes it has to realign its focus to the upcoming matchup versus No. 13 Tennessee (7-2, 3-2) this Saturday.

However, it's going to have to realign its focus without one key player in the lineup.

Starting MIKE linebacker and team captain Chad Bailey will not only miss his second straight game due to a core injury, but he will not suit up again for the rest of the season.

"Chad has had a reoccurrence of that injury that they had in the summer and we're going to do what's in the best interest of him, so he'll be out for the remainder of the season," Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said during his Media Day presser on Tuesday. "He's going to continue to help our team as best he can with being in meetings and helping coach linebackers, serving with leadership and captaincy, but he'll be out the rest of the year. He's going to get a second opinion on what's the next step for him and hopefully, we can get him healthy enough to pursue his dream of playing at the next level."

Bailey was in his last year of eligibility. So, effectively his playing career at Mizzou is over.

He only played in five games this season and recorded 17 tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a pass deflection and a forced fumble.

For his career, he will finish with 140 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, four pass deflections, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.

Chuck Hicks has been Bailey's primary backup and has started all but five games this season. He admitted he feels bad for Bailey but it has to be a next-man mentality for the team the rest of the way.

"Just that situation in general, I feel terrible for him because I know how injuries go and I know I've been injured in my career," Hicks said. "I was injured (for all of) last season. So, it's hard, especially when you become the captain. (He's a) great football player. Great linebacker Great role model for his team. I wish he could be playing, (but) as for the team, I feel like we've got to look at it like the next guy has got to step up."

During Tiger Talk later that day, Drinkwitz said Hicks played his best game of the season against Georgia after he recorded seven tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass deflection.

Drinkwitz gave other injury updates this week with defensive tackle Realus George and wide receiver Luther Burden III being listed as questionable.

The former wasn’t seen during Tuesday’s practice while the latter was in a green non contact jersey with both of his ankles taped.

Wide receiver Theo Wease, quarterback Brady Cook, running back Cody Schrader and cornerback Ennis Rakestraw are all probable.

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Drinkwitz explains disconcerting signals

It was Week 6 versus LSU when the Tigers were called for multiple disconcerting signal penalties.

Defensive end Darius Robinson said after that game he didn't really know what it meant then. Now, Drinkwitz and his staff have helped the players get hip to what it means, but it's still something that may be confusing to some people still. So, Drinkwitz explained what it means and why linebacker Ty'Ron Hopper got flagged for it versus Georgia.

"Disconcerting signals mean that the offensive cadence is protected from the defense right? So if your cadence is "set hut" then in theory, defensive players cannot say "hut," right? Well, most people have a clap as their cadence now.

"So when you are a defensive player and it's loud and you're trying to get the attention 一 so what happened was we were in the wrong front and Hop is trying to get the attention of the defensive line to shift the front. You can't hear (in the stadium). You're yelling but they can't hear you, so what's something that can get their attention (Drinkwitz makes clapping noises with his hands)? Okay, what am I hearing? Why is someone clapping? Well, they go on, clap. That's a disconcerting signal.”

So, in short, when a defensive player is clapping he's probably not trying to force a false start. He's really trying to alert his defense that some type of shift or audible has to be made and that's he's likely already tried to say something and no one heard him.

But it doesn't stop there.

When asked what would stop an offense from using a clap for the cadence knowing the defense wouldn't be allowed to do it, Drinkwitz gave a bit of a sly smile and explained an exploitation that is happening with college football offenses concerning the rule.

"Well, now that you brought up that question 一 you can only protect one (cadence). You can only have one. And so let's just say that you give a verbal cadence to the O-line to let them know that 'Hey, we're fixing to clap.' So, that the O-line is not just sitting there the whole time, like for 40 seconds with their hands on the ball, like 'Oh my gosh, it's fixing to come.'

"So, maybe you say something like 'ready.' Okay, ready? Then they know after that, ‘Hey, that clap could come any time.’ But if the other team says ready, you can't protect ready and the clap. So, there are some good gamesmanship going on right now."

So, essentially, if a quarterback says something like "ready" or "set" they need to also snap the ball with a verbal cadence and not switch to a clap.

Hicks said he didn't know of the rule until Missouri and other teams started getting called for it earlier in the season, but he and the defense knows the rule now.

The next problem is just finding another form of communication that works if they can't verbally communicate effectively or clap.

"Get up there close to somebody's ear to tell them (something)," Hicks said. "So, I think that's going to be the hardest thing to do. Being able to just use our hands without clapping and just talk to them."

Special teams struggles

Missouri's special teams has been through its fair share of ups and downs, most notably in the kicking unit for PAT and field goals.

Kicker Harrison Mevis missing his first career PAT in Week 2 versus Middle Tennessee State and already tying his career-high for missed field goals (15-of-21) in the first seven games of the season.

Mevis has made his last four field goals and 24 PATs and thinks himself, as well as short snapper Trey Flint and holder Luke Bauer, may have turned the corner as far as correcting their issues they were having earlier in the season.

"Whenever you get into a new operation, you know, new snapper and holder 一 I think Bauer and Trey have handled it well, but just getting a new operation is obviously a new bump in the road," Mevis said. "But I think it's more of just finding a rhythm and like I said for fall camp, that's what I really want to do is find a rhythm. We obviously had early season bumps in the road, but I think we've kind of greased up and we're only getting better."

So, while the field goal unit is seemingly on the up-and-up, a new kicking issue has found its way into the fold, that being kickoffs.

Mevis, who became Missouri’s all-time leading scorer during the Georgia game, is in his first year of doing kickoffs and has struggled to force many touchbacks despite his booming leg.

According to Football Database, Mevis ranks 33rd in the nation in touchbacks with 33.

"If we can take away a play from them having the opportunity to score we're trying to," Drinkwitz said. "Which is what ultimately what a touchback does. So, we're trying to create touchbacks every time but for whatever reason 一 I don't know if it was the grass. We talked to Harrison about it yesterday (Sunday). He thought maybe his approach was a little bit too wide.

"We just weren't able to put the ball on the spot that we normally put it in. So, we're going to look back at that this week, and maybe too, it shouldn't have mattered coming off the bye week but you know, with having three games left, we're going to see if Blake Craig can just focus on kickoffs and let Harrison look at field goals. We're going to look at that this week and see if that may potentially be an option to just take a little bit of work off of his leg on gameday."

This season, he hasn't had a game when all of his kickoffs were touchbacks.

In the first four games, he went 5-of-6 on touchbacks in each game, before going 5-of-7 in the fifth game.

Since that fifth game (at Vandy), his touchback numbers have declined.

He was 4-of-7 versus LSU, 2-of-8 against Kentucky, 2-of-7 versus South Carolina and last week against Georgia, Mevis was 0-of-5 on touchbacks with four returns for 105 yards (26 yards per return).

"Obviously, this is my first year kicking off so I'm still learning some new stuff. I didn't really kick over the bye week," Meivs said. "And that was probably on me. Probably should have gotten the leg going a little bit. (The) leg wasn't going how I really wanted it to against Georgia. But again, it's a learning process. I know who I am. I'm going to go put the ball in the back of the endzone.

"All while thinking about the future, we want to get Blake some reps and if we can do that, then that helps Mizzou football in the future. So, I'm going to do that and help them in any way he can. But, you know, I think it's just a few technical things that I got to fix and tweak but it's nothing huge."

Mevis said the mechanics of kickoffs are different than the ones from kicking PATs and field goals. He believes he's kicking kickoffs like field goals and that's part of why he isn't getting the results he wants.

Dealing with Tennessee's rushing attack

In the last couple of years, Missouri has been on the wrong end of a couple of beatdowns at the hands of Tennessee, with the Volunteers outscoring the Tigers 128-48 in 2021 and 2022.

In 2021, Mizzou allowed the Vols to score eight touchdowns and amass 683 total yards, with the Vols racking up 458 yards and five touchdowns on 59 carries (7.8 yards per carry).

In 2022, the Tigers allowed nine touchdowns and 724 total yards with Tennessee's nation-leading passing attack leading the way with 460 yards and four touchdowns while completing 73.7% of its passes.

This season, it appears the pendulum for the offense has swung in favor of the run game, which is third-best in the nation, averaging 227 yards per game.

"Well, I mean, he's got the No. 1 rushing offense in the SEC and the No. 1 rushing defense in the SEC. So, I think, (Tennessee head coach) Josh (Heupel), who much like good offensive coordinators do, always start with trying to figure out how to run the football," Drinkwitz said. "Then, if they try to take the run away, he has answers vertically down the field throwing the ball. It seems to me that's still what he's doing.

"Last year, teams weren't able to defend the pass with the dynamic wide receivers they had and this year, he's been able to do a really good job of scheming up runs, utilizing the quarterback's legs, but I think he's always been able to do that. At least against us, he has."

Leading that rushing attack is the three-headed monster of running backs Jaylen Wright, Dylan Sampson and Jamari Small.

Wright leads the way with 826 yards and three touchdowns on 110 attempts (7.5 yards per carry). He also has 19 receptions for 111 yards.

Sampson leads the team in touchdowns with eight (seven rushing) to go along with 405 yards on 71 carries. He also has 14 receptions and 160 yards.

Small has 81 carries for 415 yards and two touchdowns.

"They're really good at running back and they've got really good depth and all three of them are tough runners," Drinkwitz said. "They've got great speed (and) good vision. The first guy (Wright), especially back-end players, don't normally bring them down. So, we have to do a good job of maintaining gap control and having overlap players in our defense."

That's not to mention, quarterback Joe Milton, who is second in rushing touchdowns with five and has completed 65% of his passes for 2,016 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions.

So, the Tigers will seemingly have their hands full again this season with the Vols, but instead of locking in on the pass, they'll have to lock in on the run more while also not forgetting about the Vols' 58th-ranked passing attack that can still move the ball.