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Revamped Mizzou defense eager to prove itself

ATLANTA — A year ago at this time, Missouri fans and players alike talked excitedly about new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, about how the longtime NFL coach might be able to elevate his unit into one of the best in the SEC.

The results, of course, did not live up to the hype.

The Tigers got gashed on the ground a season ago, especially early. Missouri gave up 275 or more rushing yards to six of its first eight opponents, including 458 yards in a rout at the hands of Tennessee. The defense, which at the halfway point of last season ranked dead last out of 130 FBS teams against the run, finished the year No. 124 in rushing defense and No. 113 in scoring defense. Starting safety Martez Manuel said a major reason for the early-season woes was players struggling to grasp Wilks’ new scheme.

So, one year later, it feels a bit weird that the Missouri defense, once again led by a new defensive coordinator in Blake Baker, could be a source of optimism. But a quietly confident Eli Drinkwitz all but guaranteed that the unit will be significantly better in 2022 when he took the stage Monday at SEC Media Days.

“We will be improved on defense,” Drinkwitz said. “People have been asking me, what is it going to look like for us to have a successful season? Number one, we have to improve on the defensive side of the football. We are going to.”

Senior safety Martez Manuel said Missouri is hungry to improve defensively and finish above .500 this season.
Senior safety Martez Manuel said Missouri is hungry to improve defensively and finish above .500 this season. (Mizzou Athletics)
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Indeed, the Tigers will likely go as far as the defense can carry them, especially in early-season road tests against Kansas State and Auburn. On the other side of the ball, Missouri will be breaking in a new starting quarterback and trying to replace All-American running back Tyler Badie, as well as two starting offensive linemen and its entire tight ends room from a season ago.

The unit’s leaders echoed Drinkwitz’s belief that it can rise to the occasion.

For one thing, Missouri returns nine players on the defensive side of the ball who have started at least six games. And as painful as it was for those players to get torched on the ground a year ago, safety Martez Manuel said they learned from the experience. As Baker implements his defense this season, players now know what not to do.

“It kind of teaches me and my teammates just that we have to pay attention to the details more, because they matter,” Manuel said. “Last year I feel like, not that we didn't pay attention to details, but we weren't probably as precise on them. And now we know the expectation.”

It helps that Baker has made an effort not to drastically overhaul the defensive scheme. Baker, who previously coordinated defenses for Miami and Louisiana Tech, told reporters last spring that he would maintain the 4-2-5 base formation employed by Wilks while adding a few wrinkles of his own. Manuel said Baker’s defense is “not super hard to understand.”

“He's taken a collaborative approach with Coach (DJ) Smith and Coach (Kevin Peoples) and coach (Al) Pogue and Coach (Al) Davis, and really focused in on, okay, these were the things that we did well, this is where we’ve got to improve,” Drinkwitz said of Baker. “These are some things that we can do to help our players be more successful. And this is how we can utilize our players’ strengths.”

The unit also got an infusion of talent from outside the roster. Of the 16 scholarship players that Missouri added from the transfer portal or junior college ranks, 10 play on the defensive side of the ball. Every defensive position saw at least one player transfer in.

Manuel said the transfers have not only addressed areas where Missouri’s defense was deficient last season, but added depth at every position, which has only enhanced the offseason competition. The one transfer whom both Manuel and defensive end Isaiah McGuire mentioned by name was former Florida linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper, who McGuire called a “baller.”

“Due to the talent, due to the transfer portal, every position is stacked,” Manuel said. “Nobody is safe, in a sense. Everybody is going to have to compete, push each other, and that competition is only gonna make each other better.”

Drinkwitz believes he has found the right coach to lead the defense and the right players to fill his scheme. Perhaps most importantly, those players are hungry to prove him right. Coming off a third straight .500 regular season that saw the defense get embarrassed at times, Manuel and McGuire both said the unit's leaders are approaching 2022 with chips on their shoulders, motivated to erase memories of last season with a successful campaign.

“Man, we're very hungry,” Manuel said. “... We say it all the time. Every single year I've been here, we’ve literally been .500. So that can be very frustrating. And I feel like the biggest thing we have to figure out is just what's that thing that takes us over the edge.”


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