10/19/2022 football Edit

Missouri Football Notebook: Starters returning from injury, suspensions

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

The bye week couldn't have come at a better time for Missouri (2-4). The Tigers enter their week eight matchup against Vanderbilt on a three-game losing streak and had some time to heal up. Starting cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine and starting linebacker Chad Bailey are probable to return from their injuries.

Abrams-Draine, who has recorded 14 tackles and five pass deflections this season, missed week seven with an undisclosed injury. Bailey had missed the last two games after leaving the week four loss against Auburn with his arm in a harness.

"You want to be full strength to get good players who've earned opportunities to play based on what they put into the season and eight months of training," Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "Injuries and knicks are part of the game but the fresher the horses the faster they tend to run."

Getting Bailey back, who is the Tigers' MIKE linebacker, means getting the player responsible for getting the defense set and calling plays. In his place, was Dameon Wilson, who recorded seven tackles and recovered a fumble in the two games Bailey missed.

"Anytime you have a fifth-year senior that is a captain on the football team 一 having him back from a leadership and vocal standpoint, I'm very excited to get him back this week," Missouri defensive coordinator Blake Baker said.

Getting Abrams-Draine back may be a bigger re-addition to the lineup considering the depth issues at cornerback. Drinkwitz said that he only brought three scholarship players to the game against Florida in week six. Part of that was due to injury but also due to the suspensions of DJ Jackson, LJ Hewitt and Davion Sistrunk.

Drinkwitz said Jackson is back, but Hewitt and Sistrunk remain suspended. A timetable on their potential returns is unknown.

"Kris has done a great job over the course of the season being more of a vocal leader and taking a little more of a leadership role," Baker said. "So, I'm excited about having him back in this game."

Dreyden Norwood and Marcus Clarke filled in for Abrams-Draine. Norwood recorded three tackles and a pass deflection against Florida while Clarke recorded a tackle (more on Clarke below).

Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw had his best game of the season without Abrams-Draine in the lineup against Florida. He had five tackles, two pass deflections and one forced fumble.

Marcus Clarke's transition from Miami

One of the players Baker said stepped up with the slew of injuries that have hit the cornerback group is Clarke.

Clarke transferred from Miami just before week one and got his first extended action as a member of the Tigers against Florida.

"I thought (Dreyden) Norwood and Clarke stepped up. I feel really good about those guys playing as well," Baker said. "We were counting our blessings. I think (cornerbacks) coach (Al) Pogue has done a phenomenal job getting Clarke up to speed. I would say he's caught up to speed 100% for what we want to do."

Clarke and Baker's relationship dates back to when Baker was the defensive coordinator at Miami and he was recruiting Clarke out of high school and Clarke would play one season under Baker at Miami. So, when it came down to making a quick choice as to where he would want to go next for his collegiate career it was an easy decision to come to Mizzou.

"Entering the portal, so many people want to contact you and want you to come to their school," Clarke said. "But you can't just go by what people say you just have got to trust the people that you know and that's why I felt like Baker (and Missouri) was the right fit for me."

Clarke described the first few weeks as a busy period trying to get school and football-related priorities in check but has now come to a comfortable point in his transition.

"It was pretty hectic when I first got here because I had to enroll in school and then get shots, take a couple of physicals, had a condition with my heart, but I was able to get that through," Clarke said. I know Jaylon Carlies from high school because we played against each other freshman year. He's the guy that reached out to me and then Joseph Charleston and Ty'Ron Hopper helped me as well."

Defending Vanderbilt's quarterback AJ Swann and the RPO

Last season, Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright had a great day through the air and on the ground against Missouri completing 14 of 28 passes for 122 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in the week seven matchup. He also had 14 carries for 152 yards. This season, it will be a combination of Wright and true freshman AJ Swann. Swann has completed 81 of 133 passes (60.0%) for 953 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions.

"He’s (Swann) a very smart decision-maker," Drinkwitz said. "Accurate passer. Knows who his go-to guys are and they use him a lot and RPO systems. I think he's got one turnover on the season. But does not put the ball in jeopardy."

"Both of those quarterbacks are really good players," Baker said. "When you look at Swann, he hasn't thrown an interception. So, as a freshman that's impressive, and then Wright can run. Look at what he did early on in the season and last season against Missouri. The guy is dynamic with the ball in his hand."

Like Florida tries to do with Anthony Richardson, the gameplan for Vanderbilt will be to get into third and short, so they could have an array of options when it comes to getting a new set of down. Early on in Swann's development he probably isn't going to sling the ball around the field to beat you, although he showed promise of the ability to do so against Ole Miss by completing 27 of 38 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns.

Setting the edges and gap discipline will be key in this matchup for Missouri and if the Tigers can force the Commodores to neglect the RPO or at least pass on the RPOs more than they run it then that will be a small victory for the Tigers.

Vanderbilt running back Ray Davis has rushed for 536 yards (fifth-best in the Southeastern Conference) and four touchdowns this season, and wide receiver Ray Sheppard has the fourth-most receiving yards in the SEC with 497 to go with his 31 receptions and eight touchdowns. So, they factor into a part of the RPO equation that Mizzou will have to watch for.

"We have to make sure we are not a one-dimensional defense and show people we can come at them all different types of ways," said defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat. "We are trying to make everything look the same. Make sure they can't run right or left and that they can't give us a deep ball."

It will be important to watch what happens if and when Vanderbilt gets in the red zone. The Commodores are ninth in the nation in red zone conversions at 21 of 22 (95%). Obviously, a lot of those opportunities came against overmatched teams like Hawaii, Elon and Northern Illinois, but Missouri has shown that it can't afford to overlook any opponent going forward.

Homecoming Week

This Saturday marks the 111th edition of Missouri's homecoming. Of course, the Tigers were the first school to come up with homecoming and it currently holds a 65-40-5 record in homecoming games with the Tigers winning their last five homecoming games. Last season, they beat North Texas 48-35.

For this game, it's been announced that the Tigers would be debuting a "Gold Rush" theme uniform.