Notebook: Drinkwitz plans to continue QB rotation

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Even though the Faurot Field PA announcer listed redshirt freshman Connor Bazelak as the team’s starting quarterback, providing one final dose of misdirection in the minutes leading up to kickoff of Missouri’s first game of the Eli Drinkwitz era, it was junior Shawn Robinson who took the first snap behind center on Saturday. Robinson took the vast majority of snaps, as well, finally answering the question that had persisted all offseason about who would win the quarterback competition.

But while the snap counts would suggest Robinson is Missouri’s clear-cut starter, Drinkwitz still isn’t ready to commit to one quarterback. The depth chart released by Missouri on Tuesday listed Bazelak and Robinson as co-starters. During his weekly press conference, Drinkwitz said he plans to continue to give both meaningful snaps during game action.

His reasoning: Not only is the backup quarterback one injury away from being thrust into the starting role this season, one positive COVID-19 test could suddenly sideline the starter for two weeks.

“I'm comfortable playing multiple guys meaningful snaps throughout the season,” Drinkwitz said. “I just, I don't think this is going to be the typical season like we've ever had before. ... I don't think we have enough data to think that we're going to be able to go through the entire season with one quarterback.”

Drinkwitz didn’t reveal how he would allocate snaps between Bazelak and Robinson moving forward, although he did say Bazelak’s series in the second quarter Saturday was planned prior to the game. The staff appeared to use the two quarterbacks slightly differently, with Robinson running more read and speed option plays and not throwing downfield as often. His average depth of target clocked in at 4.12 yards, compared to 8.85 for Bazelak, according to SECstatcat.com.

After some early-game jitters, Robinson settled in, completing 17 of his final 19 pass attempts. He finished the contest 19-of-25 for 185 yards and a touchdown. Bazelak, meanwhile, went 7-of-14 for 68 yards while adding 12 yards and a touchdown on the ground, although all but seven of his total yards came on the final drive of the game when the outcome had been decided.

Drinkwitz found things to both praise and criticize from both quarterbacks’ performances. He said Robinson, and the offense as a whole, needed to do a better job of limiting negative plays, while Bazelak missed the chance to scramble for what would have been an easy first down on a third-and-nine in the second quarter.

“I thought he showed some toughness,” Drinkwitz said of Robinson. “He took some hits in the pocket and stayed in there. But again, I think he had somewhere, minus-40, minus-35 yards rushing because of the sacks and negative plays, and those just cannot happen.”

As for Bazelak: “He had an opportunity on that scramble to get the first down with his speed. And that's the thing that we have to do. We have to take advantage of the plays that we have and make the layups that we have for us to consistently stay on the football field. And I thought he showed incredible growth, because on the last fourth down, he did use his feet to score, so that was positive.”

Fortunately for Missouri, the extended quarterback competition doesn’t appear to be anywhere near a quarterback crisis. Bazelak hasn’t spoken publicly this season, but Robinson said Tuesday he doesn’t mind not being named the solo starter or splitting snaps behind center. He would prepare for games the same way regardless of how many snaps the game plan called for him to take.

“It doesn’t change my approach at all,” said Robinson. “You’ve got to prepare to play, and (Drinkwitz) is going to play both of us, so whenever that time comes, just be ready for the opportunity.”

Drinkwitz didn’t only nitpick the play of the two quarterbacks on Tuesday. Taking a harsher tone than in his postgame press conference, when he praised the Missouri players for not giving in and scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns Saturday, he made clear that he’s not happy with just making the game competitive. Even in his first year, the goal is to win every game, and the team as a whole didn’t play well enough to do that against Alabama.

“There's no moral victories,” Drinkwitz said. “There's no, you know, ‘we fought hard.’ I mean, that's the expectation. Always compete is the expectation. That's the bare minimum for what we're trying to do here at Mizzou and what we’re trying to accomplish. So we’re not going to be satisfied with just being in the fight.”

Specifically, Drinkwitz took issue with Missouri’s “self-inflicted wounds.” Even though the Tigers only committed three penalties for 20 yards, in Drinkwitz’s mind, that doesn’t mean the team played a clean game. Missouri lost two fumbles, one on offense and one on a muffed punt, and had a few offensive miscues early in the game. Drinkwitz also said the team needs to play more complementary football; after the defense forced a three-and-out on the first possession of the game, for instance, the offense needed to put a drive together to maintain the momentum. Instead, it went backwards 10 yards and punted.

On offense, Drinkwitz pointed to the fumble, caused when Robinson flipped an errant lateral to Jalen Knox as he tried to elude pressure on a speed option, as well as sacks and drops as plays that need to be cleaned up.

“We had a fumble, we had at least three sacks, two of them for extreme lost yardage,” he said. “We weren't able to consistently establish the run game. We were behind the chains. Had at least three drops, maybe four of balls that hit us right in the chest. So things that get you beat. Again, those are self-inflicted issues that we’ve got to get corrected.”

Drinkwitz also noted that the special teams errors extended beyond the muffed punt by Barrett Banister. He said a blocker missed an assignment on the team’s first punt, which nearly resulted in a block. Later, on a kickoff return, Tyler Badie failed to reach the 20-yard line, which Drinkwitz called “unacceptable.” After that, the staff instructed the returners to fair-catch kickoff returns, which places the ball at the 25.

Drinkwitz didn’t lay all the blame on the players. He said he didn’t call plays well enough to win, either. But he’s not looking to use the unusual offseason or the fact that Saturday marked his first game at his new school as excuses, saying as long as football is being played this season, it’s his job to put a quality product on the field, regardless of what’s happened behind the scenes.

“Before we can win the game, we gotta keep from beating ourselves, and those were the things that showed up on tape,” Drinkitz said. “And it's not just one person. It’s everybody, and starts with me and works all the way down to the staff and the players.”

Cornerback Jarvis Ware left Saturday’s loss in the first quarter with what Drinkwitz said after the game appeared to be a knee injury. Ware underwent an MRI on Sunday, and while the exact nature of his injury has not been revealed, it does not appear to be season-threatening. Drinkwitz described Ware on Tuesday as “day to day.”

In Ware’s absence, redshirt freshman Ishamel Burdine played 51 snaps. Burdine, who missed most of last season due to injury, played in just one college game prior to Saturday. Drinkwitz voiced confidence in Burdine, saying the staff planned to work him into the game even if Ware hadn’t gotten hurt.

“Ish is a good player,” Drinkwitz said. “… We had a plan for him to play the game regardless of what happened with Jarvis, so we knew he was going to play, we were confident in his ability to get in the game.”

Drinkwitz revealed that a seventh Missouri player, junior linebacker Aubrey Miller Jr., has opted out of the 2020 season. Miller joins Chris Shearin, Chris Daniels, Maurice Massey, CJay Boone, Thalen Robinson and Jack Buford in sitting out this year due to COVID-19 concerns.

Miller elicited quite a bit of hype during his college career but never saw it turn into consistent production, in large part due to injuries. He played just one game last season before undergoing season-ending surgery on his knee. As a true freshman in 2017, he missed three games due to a cracked bone in his leg. He was listed as the third-string weakside linebacker, behind Nick Bolton and Chad Bailey, on Missouri’s first depth chart of the season and did not play a defensive snap against Alabama.

Miller’s departure leaves Missouri with 69 healthy scholarship players for this season. The SEC threshold to be able to compete in a game is 53, although a school can opt to play with fewer. The good news for the Tigers is that no players tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, according to Drinkwitz. The team also might get some players back who were forced to quarantine during the Alabama game, if they test negative this week. The only scholarship player who appeared to be missing from the sideline Saturday was backup center Drake Heismeyer.