A year ago, when Missouri took the field for its first spring practice under head coach Eli Drinkwitz, Connor Bazelak had to watch from the sidelines. The Missouri quarterback was still rehabbing his knee after tearing his ACL in the 2019 season finale. At least at the time, it looked like he would have to make up quite a bit of ground to catch Shawn Robinson in the competition to be the Tigers’ starting quarterback.
Fast forward 12 months, and Bazelak opens the spring as Missouri’s unquestioned starter behind center. Despite missing out on most of the practices and drills of a normal offseason due to both his injury and the COVID-19 pandemic, Bazelak supplanted Robinson as the starting quarterback midway through last year and played well enough that Robinson moved to the defensive side of the ball. Now that he doesn’t have to worry about rehab, competing for the top spot or a pandemic sending the team home for three months, Bazelak’s teammates say he has a different aura about him.
“When I look at Connor, I see a guy that's taking full control, especially going into year two,” wide receiver Keke Chism said. “He's a confident guy. He has great leadership, and he's definitely taking this team under his control, and I mean we're gonna go as far as he carries us. So I'm excited about him.”
Bazelak performed well in 2020, especially considering his relative lack of preparation for the season. He completed 67.3 percent of his passes and threw for 2,366 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions. Twice, he was named the SEC freshman of the week, including after he lit up LSU for 430 yards and four touchdowns in Missouri’s upset victory. Drinkwitz also praised Bazelak’s poise and toughness.
But both Bazelak and Drinkwitz said the third-year freshman has areas in which he needs to improve, specifically in the red zone and throwing the deep ball.
“I think the the biggest thing that I saw was just how many missed opportunities there were in the red zone, and even in the open field, just to kind of put the dagger in teams that we were up, or continue to keep up with the teams if it was close,” Bazelak said. “So I think just being able to throw more touchdowns in the red zone, I think there were opportunities that I missed, and I know coach Drink has said stuff to me about that, and I think this year, I know in the spring we're going to going to be a lot more aggressive and kind of put the ball in the end zone more through the air.”
The word “aggressive” has come up a few times about Bazelak. Drinkwitz said earlier in the week that he wants Bazelak to use spring practices to be aggressive without becoming reckless. So much of Bazelak’s focus after taking over as the starter mid-season was on not making mistakes. Now, Drinkwitz wants him to use the safe setting of the spring to push the limits of his comfort zone and familiarize himself with which throws he can confidently make and which ones to avoid.
“I don't want to see him be reckless, but I want us to be aggressive this spring and figure out, I can throw the ball through this window, I can put this ball here, I can back-shoulder this one, I can fit it into that tight window and make mistakes and learn from those mistakes,” Drinkwitz explained.
The downfield passing game will be a particular emphasis. Bazelak completed just 14 of 40 passes that traveled more than 20 yards in the air a season ago.
“I think the biggest thing I want to work on is my deep ball accuracy,” said Bazelak. “We've got to be better on our vertical passing game, throwing the ball down the field. So I think the spring is a great time to practice that, kind of get the timing with the receivers down on deep balls.”
Finally getting a full offseason with his coaching staff and teammates should help Bazelak in that regard. He said the easiest way to improve his deep ball will be simply through reps with Missouri’s pass-catchers. It also doesn’t hurt that, this year, his teammates see Bazelak as the leader of the offense and know he can produce. Drinkwitz said he views this spring as “an opportunity for some major growth” for his quarterback.
“I think it's an opportunity for some major growth, one in leadership and commanding the team and knowing that it's his football team and his offensive side of the ball, and then, two, just making sure he understands concepts and knows how to play the play within the play,” Drinkwitz said. “Like today, he asked me about a specific way he wanted to run the play, and like I told him, you know, I buy the groceries, he cooks the meal. So I'm just giving him the recipe, and what he does with it's up to him.”
New defensive assistants getting acclimated
Missouri’s newest assistant coach, defensive backs coach Aaron Fletcher, arrived in Columbia for the first time on Thursday. By Friday afternoon, he was coaching practice.
“That was probably a first for me and him,” Drinkwitz said. “I don't know that I've ever hired a coach and the next day, put them on the field to coach.”
Fletcher’s situation may be unique, but he was one of several new faces on the defensive coaching staff during Friday’s practice. The practice marked the first for defensive line coach Jethro Franklin, as well as defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who until his hire about a month ago hadn’t coached in college since 2005.
Like the new additions to Missouri’s roster, who took the field without numbers on their uniforms, Drinkwitz said there will be a learning curve for the new coaches. He emphasized that the primary focus of the spring is not implementing the new defensive scheme, but developing the players.
“I think it’s reasonable to expect that we never score a touchdown against their defense all spring,” Drinkwitz joked. “No, again, that's why, for us, I started with our spring goals, number one is individual player development. … Because we're going to have people missing in the spring with surgeries, people in and out because of different injuries or sicknesses or whatever. Let’s make sure that we're giving every player a chance to develop, and the way to develop in football is to practice football. And so that's the number one goal. And then two is the foundation of our offense, defense and special teams, and so guys understand that terminology, they hear it, they see it not in a meeting room but on the field and see how all 11 players work together. So for us the reasonable expectation is for those two things to occur.”
The most drastic changes will come in the secondary, where Wilks and Fletcher will replace Ryan Walters and David Gibbs. Wilks will coach cornerbacks in addition to coordinating the defense. Fletcher’s exact role has not yet been publicly divulged. Starting safety Martez Manuel said the unit is only “a couple plays into the playbook,” but so far, he likes what he’s seen. Manuel said he anticipates playing a more versatile role this season, splitting time between deep safety and lining up in the box, where he spent almost all his time last season.
Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw, too, said both Wilks and Fletcher have already made positive impressions. Fletcher offered him a few technical pointers Friday, even though the players weren’t wearing pads and didn’t do any full-speed scrimmaging. Wilks had a conversation with Rakestraw shortly after arriving in Columbia that left Rakestraw, who started all 10 games at cornerback last season, impressed.
“The man knows what he’s talking about,” Rakestraw said. “Just had a conversation with him, he came to my house and he was talking to me about, within five minutes, I learned something new. So if you can learn something new in five minutes, it’s going to help you grow or be a better player. Me coming in as a freshman and then it’s a whole different coaching change, it’s a lot of stuff that goes through your head, like dang, they left me and stuff like that. But change is good. … I feel like he’s going to be good.”
Injury report
Earlier in the week, Drinkwitz named a handful of players who wouldn’t be able to take the field for spring practices as they recover from injuries: defensive end Jatorian Hansford, defensive tackle Kobie Whiteside, safety Jalani Williams, linebacker Cameron Wilkins. Friday’s practice revealed a few more absences.
Cornerback Jarvis Ware, wide receiver Jalen Knox and tight end Niko Hea, all of whom have starting experience, will miss the entire spring after undergoing surgeries during the offseason. Ware, who has started for the majority of the past two seasons, tore his ACL late last year and is currently rehabbing in his home state of Florida. Drinkwitz said Knox and Hea both had minor surgeries, Knox “on a lower extremity” and Hea “to clean up an injury from the fall.” He expressed optimism that both players would be back to full speed by the start of summer workouts.
Defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat also did not participate in Friday’s practice. Drinkwitz did not say what is ailing the reigning first team all-SEC pass-rusher, but he said Jeffcoat is considered “day to day.”
