In 2020, Missouri opened its season with a home game versus Alabama, a team that had a "down" year by its standards the year before by going 11-2. That 2020 team still had Nick Saban as the coach.
It would defeat Mizzou 38-19, go 13-0 and win the national championship.
On Sunday, as Mizzou held its Media Day for the Tigers' 2024 Week 1 opponent, Murray State, head coach Eli Drinkwitz said preparing for this game has been the hardest Week 1 game he's had to prepare for in his tenure as Mizzou's head coach.
"Probably the most difficult opening game that we faced since I've been here," Drinkwitz said. "They have a whole new staff. Around 60 new players that they acquired, whether they were from high school or through the transfer portal. So, it's a real challenge to have any idea of what they're going to do schematically, whether we're talking offense, defense or special teams."
When Drinkwitz puts it like that it makes a little more sense. At least with Alabama, the Tigers knew what they were getting heading into the game. Versus the Racers on Thursday? Not so much.
The Racers have a new coaching staff led by head coach Josh Wright, who has never been a head coach or coordinator in his career. One of his Co-offensive coordinators, Jimmy Ogle, hasn't coached college football since 2021 at Jacksonville State. He's been coaching high school football for the last two years.
Missouri has been having to scrape together film from all over the web just to give the team a slight idea of what it may see in Week 1.
"It's not just the coaching staff, it's the combination of coaching staff and new players," Drinkwitz said. "This is a new area in college football. You could have a replacement of coaches before, but you could have been able to go back and looked at previous tape and say, 'Okay, well, they're returning this guy, this guy and this guy.'
“Their starting quarterback played at South Dakota School of the Mines. He was a finalist for the Harlon Hill award (NCAA Division II MVP) and we're watching Hudl tape in order to figure out what he's done on the internet. It's a unique challenge."
It's nothing safety Daylan Carnell has ever experienced. Carnell is going on his third year as one of the team's three starting safeties and said the team is preparing for a little of everything since they can't pinpoint things to prepare for.
"It's definitely different, especially with it just being on a Thursday," Carnell said. "It was going to be different regardless, but not having as much information on them with all the new players and the new staff, we're really just trying to focus on what we're doing. So, just applying our rules to whatever we see when we get out there. So, we can play fast and know what we're doing,
"They've showed us a little bit of everything. So we're prepared for anything. It's not like really one thing we're keying in on. They have been showing us a bunch of different things that we could see so we're ready for it all."
Missouri has the talent and skill to win, but it appears for Week 1, the Tigers will be going into the game almost blind.
Carnell's safety room has undergone a few changes this offseason despite six of the top seven players at the position returning to the team. Jaylon Carlies, the lone player out of the top six to not return, decided to go to the NFL. However, despite losing an NFL talent, Carnell believes the safety room may be deeper than it was last year.
"Yeah, you can say that. JC (Carlies), as good as he was, it's hard to replace him, but we've got guys in that room," Carnell said. "Marvin (Burks), he's going to have a real big year for us. I love how he's been practicing. He's going to be a real dude, for sure.
"Caleb Flagg, he has a tremendous motor. He comes in ready to work every day. He's a real ball hawk. He makes plays on the ball. He always finds the ball. He's going to contribute to our team, for sure."
The team also revealed uts first depth chart of the season and Burks won the starting free safety job while Flagg, a walk-on transfer from Houston Christian, is his backup.
In addition to Carlies' departure, the room lost safeties coach and defensive coordinator Blake Baker to LSU. Then, it brought in Corey Batoon in late January to do both jobs before promoting defensive assistant Jacob Yoro to safeties coach before fall camp started.
The safety room is making the necessary adjustments to get on board with the new defensive leadership, as well as learning some of the new terminology Batoon has installed.
"They're just two different people (Baker and Batoon), two different leaders. So, it's going to be a little bit different," Carnell said. "I feel like Coach Batoon is preparing us very well for the game. He's been showing us any and everything that we could possibly see on Thursday. So, I feel like he's been doing a great job preparing us.
"It (the terminology) has changed because we got some new calls. Not all the way. Everything hasn't changed. But a good amount has changed. We all understand the defense by now. We're all good to go."
One of the most anticipated position battles of the offseason for the Tigers has officially come to an end. Nate Noel has won the starting running back job but that doesn't mean there's no place for Marcus Carroll.
Drinkwitz said the plan for the team is for Noel and Carroll to split the reps to keep a fresh running back on the field while giving the Tigers two different types of rushers out of the backfield.
"Nate Noel will go out there first, and then him and Marcus will rotate through," Drinkwitz said. "I think those guys have good, complementary football skills, and they know how to play off of each other. I think we understand we're probably not going to have somebody that's going to be able to carry it as many times in the game as Cody (Schrader). So, we'll have to do a good job of making sure we allow the starter to get into (a) rhythm, but also make sure they're fresh."
Carroll has already shown he can be a workhorse if need be.
The former Georgia State Panther led the nation in carries per game at 22.83 a year ago. However, he's more than okay with splitting the carries with someone else.
"It's definitely a plus to have somebody and not having to take all the load and stuff like that," Carroll said. "As far as reps, it's a lot of experience for me, but having a deep running back room with a lot of experienced guys is definitely refreshing."
The running back by the committee should help Carroll, who is coming from the Sun Belt to the SEC. Typically, players coming from other conferences say the biggest adjustment to the SEC for them is the speed, athleticism or physicality of the game.
The biggest adjustment for the 5-foot-9, 216-pound Carroll isn't any of those. It's gaining the trust of his teammates.
"The biggest hurdle I guess is just getting acclimated with the brotherhood, putting in the work and having the grit so my teammates can trust me," Carroll said. "That's really my biggest thing. Of course, the playbook (is) coming along pretty well and stuff like that. But yeah, just getting acclimated into the brotherhood."
Someone else who has also been getting acclimated to the brotherhood is South Alabama transfer linebacker Khalil Jacobs, who reunites with Batoon, his defensive coordinator for the last two seasons with the Jaguars.
As a player who knows Batoon and his scheme better than anyone else, Jacobs said the scheme is something that works because it allows everyone to play a part.
"Everybody can contribute to it," Jacobs said. "It's not just like safeties making plays, linebackers making plays. Everybody comes together. We fit up well and make sure the pieces are connected together."
Jacobs is listed as the team's backup WILL behind Triston Newson, and said he's learned a lot from him and MIKE linebacker Chuck Hicks.
"Chuck Hicks, Triston Newson, those older guys are older than me, and they've been, making sure that all the backers come up and be able to learn the new plays, the new guys that came in, and the freshmen," Jacobs said. "I've been playing a part in that as well. But we've all collectively been getting better as a group."
Jacobs will show what he and his fellow linebackers can bring to Batoon's defense in three days, but they'll have their work cut out for them as they try to gameplan for a mysterious Murray State.
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