No. 9 Missouri (8-2, 4-2) is riding high after its 36-7 rout of then-No. 13 Tennessee last week but the Tigers have already put that game in the rearview mirror with sights set on their Week 12 opponent, the Florida Gators, and one of the biggest days of the year, Senior Day.
Here's a list of the players who will be walking on Senior Day. Players with an asterisk have another year to play if they choose to use it.
RB Cody Schrader
WR Peanut Houston*
WR Theo Wease*
WR Mookie Cooper*
WR Micah Manning
TE Shawn Hendershot
TE Tyler Stephens*
OL Bence Polgar
OL Javon Foster
DT Jay Jernigan
DT Josh Landry
DE Nyles Gaddy*
LB Chad Bailey
LB Ty'Ron Hopper*
LB Ben Straatmann
CB Ennis Rakestraw*
DB Caiman Hayes
When it comes to the legacy of these players, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz believes this senior class has helped propel Mizzou forward and hopes that the team can build off what looks like a magical season.
“Restore the roar of Faurot Field and hopefully, it's a new trajectory of Tiger football,” Drinkwitz said. “We've kind of been stuck there in that middle. And now obviously, this year, we're not, you know, I mean, obviously, we got to finish. We got to finish the season.
“But there's a new respectability to our program, whether it's on the recruiting trail or on the football field. And that's a tribute to those guys. And their belief, and when others chose to leave, they chose to walk shoulder to shoulder and move forward together. And that's a pretty special thing.”
In the last few years, Drinkwitz has said that he has to re-recruit his players every year because of the transfer portal and it was no different last year. However, when it came to convincing some of the upperclassmen to stay it wasn't because he gave them some big recruiting pitch.
He believes the players who chose to stay did so because they trust and believe in the coaching staff, the strength and conditioning staff, the nutrition coaches and everyone in between.
"I think it's a consistency in the people that we've surrounded them with," Drinkwitz said. "I don't necessarily know that it's me. It's more about the people that we've surrounded them with."
To Robinson, the season the team is having now is something he's looked forward to for a long time, and leaving the program in better shape than it was when he got here, has also been something he's looked forward to.
"It (this season) means everything," Robinson said. "My whole career was 5-5, 6-6 and right now we're at eight (wins), but there are still two (games left). We've got to keep going so we can finish better. It means a lot because it took a lot of adversity, a lot of different things like coaches. So, as long as we can just be 1-0 this week and then we will really enjoy this moment."
Award tour?
On Tuesday, a slew of award nominations were announced with various Mizzou players and coaches receiving nominations.
Brady Cook was named a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback), Schrader was named a finalist for the Burlsworth Award (best former walk-on), the Tigers' offensive line was named a semifinalist of the Joe Moore Award (best offensive line) and defensive end coach Kevin Peoples was named a Broyles Award (top assistant coach) nominee.
The announcement for most of these awards happened during Media Day. When Drinkwitz heard about Peoples nomination he gave him his flowers for upping the play of the defensive ends, a position he admitted he was the most worried about entering the season.
"It was a position that we were very nervous about going into the season. I think I read today we're third in the league in sacks," Drinkwitz said. "So, he's taking a guy (Robinson) who had never played the position and molded him into one of the top players in our league at that position, as well as bringing Johnny Walker along (and) getting the most out of Nyles (Gaddy) and Joe (Moore).
"When you think about Assistant Coach of the Year on our staff, I think he represents exactly what we're trying to do, which is to coach our position at a high level and recruit at a high level. A lot of times, coordinators deserve a lot of credit, and all three of our coordinators could be easily deserving of that credit. But it's pretty special when a position coach gets that opportunity, too."
Robinson, who was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week for Week 11 and has recorded a sack in six straight games, credits Peoples with helping him transition to defensive end from defensive tackle and calls him the best coach he's ever had.
"Coach Peoples has been a great coach. Honestly, (he's) the best coach I've had. Ever, like in my whole life of playing sports," Robinson said. "The way he's able to break the game down to you step by step and allow me to grow into a better player really changed my career. I give him a lot of credit for that because he's a man with a plan and he's the best. That's why I tell our freshmen if he gets on you a little bit, it's okay because it's from the place of being there and knowing what it takes. So he's definitely the best of the best."
After Schrader's historic day in Week 11, it's no shock that he's a finalist for the Burlsworth Award.
In what has become one of college football's better stories of the year, Drinkwitz playfully said Schrader's story will definitely be one used on the recruiting trail.
He also said Schrader embodies the state and someone people can relate to.
"I think it'll be pretty, pretty significant, "Drinkwitz said trying to hold back laughter. "Honestly, it's going to be story of the University of Missouri for a long time. I know that this place has a bunch of great history but when I think of the midwest I think of a place like the University of Missouri. We've always talked about you got St. Louis and Kansas City, but rural Missouri is kind of the spirit of this state.
"You got a guy who really embodies the spirit of the state. The hard work and determination. Self-made people. There's a lot of farmers in this state. There are a lot of cattle ranches. Those people are self-made. They show up every day working extremely hard, unsure of what the future always holds, but they bet on themselves. And I think that's, you know, it's kind of the story of Cody Schrader."
During Cook’s presser, he was actually in the midst of talking about how much Schrader deserves the Burlsworth Award, when Mizzou's official football Twitter account announced that Cook had been named a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Award.
"I think that's a testament to the work I've put in, and (I'll) do my best to continue on that train," Cook said. "But at the end of the day, we all know it. The awards are fun, and they're cool, but you know, we've got a game to play this weekend. The awards probably won't work out quite as well if we don't win this one."
Mizzou's switch to the odd-man front
If you watched Missouri's win over Tennessee, you may have noticed the Tigers' defense pulled out a new wrinkle and went with an odd-man front that consisted of three down linemen instead of their normal four-down front.
It caught the Vols off guard, and their then-No. 3 ranked rushing attack was limited to 83 yards on 23 carries. They also had just six explosive plays all game, which is the fewest the Tigers have allowed in a game all year.
"It creates a whole new set of problems for your angles as far as how you're trying to block stuff and just how you can climb up to your linebackers," Drinkwitz said. "We were able to add JC (Carlies) and Daylan Carnell into our run fits, and even Joseph Charleston some. Joseph has always been a really good tackler. So has JC down in the box, and it takes a little bit of pressure off of your corners not playing so much isolation and having some underneath coverage."
Mizzou has flashed the front at times throughout the season, but Drinkwitz said after last week's dominating performance, fans should expect the odd-man front to be something the defense keeps doing in the future.
"It's definitely a regular part of our package going forward. We had done it quite a bit early in the year, and we did it versus Middle (Tennessee State) and even versus Memphis, but we ended up dropping our defensive end into coverage," Drinkwitz said. "And it's not really what any of our defensive ends were built to do. And so I think those guys on the defensive side of the ball found a different way to get it done with this personnel."
Robinson has started to come around a bit on playing defensive end. This is a few weeks after he said he missed playing on the inside at defensive tackle. Well, last Saturday, he returned back to his roots and played inside due to the odd front, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
"It just depends (on whether he likes defensive end or defensive tackle more) because when we played Tennessee, I was inside a lot and I had a lot of fun with that," Robinson said with a big smile. "Then it's like when we go back to our base front, I go back outside, and I have a lot of fun. So, whatever the coaches need me to do and then at the next level, whatever they want me to do, I'm going to do it. Regardless. I just like playing football, honestly."
Carnell and linebacker Chuck Hicks said their roles don't change much in the front, but Jernigan said his does. Nonetheless, all were content with the results in their new roles.
Carnell had three tackles, a pass deflection and an interception returned for a touchdown. Hicks had six tackles and Jernigan helped stuff the running lanes.
"So, my role really last week was playing 4i and I was really taking on a lot of double teams during the game," Jernigan said. "It was different playing 4i and 0-tech. We showed that a little bit with our different formations throughout the season, but we haven't really changed into that formation fully.
"It's really just effective. It gives them a different look. It changes up the blocking scheme to really give you more one-on-ones."
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