Notebook: Mizzou dealing with long layoff, short bench

If Missouri does indeed take the field against South Carolina on Saturday — no sure thing, according to head coach Eli Drinkwitz — the Gamecocks will feature a new head coach and a secondary down both of its regular starting cornerbacks, as well as a starting safety. The team fired fifth-year coach Will Muschamp on Sunday, naming offensive coordinator Mike Bobo the interim head man. Tuesday, four defensive players announced they would opt out of the remainder of the season, including start corner Jaycee Horn, a likely first-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Missouri might find itself in even stranger circumstances.

Saturday’s game would mark the Tigers’ first in 21 days. It would be the team’s third contest in 42 days. And it would be just the sixth total game of the 2020 season in the 18 weeks since team practices officially began. Plus, Missouri will have plenty of player absences of its own. Drinkwitz announced that, due to a combination of positive COVID-19 tests, contact tracing and injury, the Tigers had 56 scholarship players available as of Tuesday — three more than the SEC minimum to play a game — with one of those suspended for the first half of the team’s next game.

Welcome to college football in 2020, where who will win each week has often taken a backseat to questions about which players will be unavailable, and whether the game will be played at all.

“We're committed to playing, but I can't predict the future or forecast what the future is going to be,” Drinkwitz said. “I learned my lesson the hard way last week. So, you know, I'm trying to be as open and honest with information as I can and always will be about COVID and COVID related issues. But this is a year unlike any other, and we will do everything in our power to play football Saturday because our team or seniors deserve that opportunity. But obviously I can’t predict the future.”

As of now, of course, Drinkwitz and his staff are operating under the assumption that Missouri will be able to scrape together enough healthy players and are preparing to face the Gamecocks. In doing so, they’ve encountered some unusual circumstances. For one, several players have been thrust into unexpected roles. On the defensive line, which was hit particularly hard by contact tracing last week, resulting in the Tigers falling below the minimum four scholarship players at the position in order to play, Drinkwitz said junior Jatorian Hansford will likely make his first start of the season at defensive end. Hansford has started games in the past, but as of a few weeks ago, he was expected to miss the remainder of this year due to offseason shoulder surgery. He’s played just 11 snaps this season, all against Florida on Oct. 31. In addition, Drinkwitz said offensive lineman Drake Heismeyer has been practicing on the other side of the line of scrimmage to bolster the depth on the interior of the defensive line. The redshirt freshman has been listed as Missouri’s backup center this season but played on defensive line in addition to offensive line in high school.

Drinkwitz said there will be “opportunities for walk-ons to contribute” on the defensive line, as well. Yet he expressed confidence in the unit, which has been no stranger to shuffling. During Missouri’s win over LSU this season, the team took the field without three of its top four defensive tackles.

“I think that group’s just really resilient,” Drinkwitz said. “Extremely proud of the fight that this team continually demonstrates. No matter what's thrown out at them, they continue to respond and toe the line and keep getting back up. The defensive line is no different.”

Missouri’s secondary has lost players to quarantine, as well, so Drinkwitz said the staff has cross-trained a few wide receivers at cornerback and safety, just in case.

Those players who are able to take the field will do so after an unusually long break between games. Drinkwitz said the team tried to make last week feel as normal as possible even though the team’s game got postponed. It had typical game-week practices Wednesday and Thursday, even after the decision had been made that Missouri wouldn’t play, and the team held a scrimmage of sorts at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Still, Drinkwitz said he has “lots of concerns” about how his players will respond, chief of which will be tackling and turning the ball over. Starting quarterback Connor Bazelak expressed a similar sentiment, although he also pointed out that the team went virtually an entire offseason without contact practices, so this shouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge.

“We haven’t hit,” Bazelak said. “The offensive line hasn’t blocked and had full contact since the Florida game, over 15 days. So I think it’s just kind of focusing in on that in practice, trying to get that situated, and I think that’s the biggest thing is just the physical, receivers blocking, running backs taking hits, me taking hits.”

Staying engaged mentally through such a disjointed season has been equally as tough as the physical challenges. Bazelak acknowledged that it’s been difficult in recent weeks to focus on game-planning for the next opponent, while also knowing that opponent might change or the game might not happen. But even though Missouri has faced several unusual challenges the past few weeks and will face even more if it plays Saturday, Drinkwitz has confidence his team will be ready to play.

“This is not normal or new,” Drinkwitz said, “but this is a no-excuse league, and we got to figure it out as coaches and players.”

If there’s one position group that stood to benefit from the extra week of preparation, it’s Missouri’s offensive line. The Tigers have been plagued by injuries on the offensive front, and it showed during the loss at Florida. With both starting right tackle Larry Borom and left guard Xavier Delgado out of the lineup, the Tigers rushed for just 1.7 yards per carry and gave up three sacks.

To make matters worse, Dylan Spencer, who replaced Delgado at left guard, received a suspension for the first half of Missouri’s next game for his role in the halftime brawl against Florida. With Delgado “questionable to doubtful” to play this weekend, Drinkwitz said redshirt freshman Luke Griffin will likely make his first collegiate start. He also said the extra week of practice “gave us some good reps, and hopefully as an offensive line we were able to find some cohesion there.”

“We wanted to play last week bad, but it’s been helpful,” said redshirt freshman Javon Foster, who has replaced Borom at right tackle. “It gave us the extra week to get right and just do everything to clean up the mistakes that we had against Florida.”

The potential downside to the layoff: even more than most positions, the offensive line hasn’t been able to get in many full speed reps, due both to the injuries there and the shortage of defensive lineman. But Foster said the coaching staff has found other ways to keep the group sharp.

“Right now we’re just following coach Drink and just doing whatever we can,” he said, “and however many players we got, we just go with that.”

Yet another factor that could complicate Saturday’s matchup is the drastic changes to South Carolina’s defense. Muschamp, a career defensive coach, had been heavily involved with that side of the ball. Now, the unit will take the field down four players, including three starters in the secondary. Like the Tigers, the Gamecocks have already announced they’re moving a player from the offensive side of the ball to the secondary in running back Zaquandre White.

On the surface, that certainly seems like good news for Missouri. South Carolina’s defense had struggled in recent weeks even with a full complement of players. The Gamecocks surrendered 59 points and 708 total yards in Saturday’s loss to Ole Miss. They’ve allowed an average of 236 rushing yards per game across their past four contests. And against the pass, South Carolina ranks No. 110 nationally.

But both Bazelak and Drinkwitz said the defensive exodus wouldn’t impact Missouri’s game plan. Bazelak echoed his coach’s words, saying that Missouri’s preparation “is not about them, it’s about us.”

“If we execute, then we’ll play well,” Bazelak said. “It’s really just about us. I’m not too focused on who they’ve got back there.”

That said, Drinkwitz expressed a belief that Muschamp’s firing could light a fire under the remaining South Carolina players. A key for Missouri, he said, will be matching their energy.

“You know they're going to have great energy and rallying effort for the staff and coach Muschamp, and circle the wagons type game for them,” Drinkwitz said. “So really it's about us and making sure we execute our job more than trying to figure out who's going to be playing for them.”

It’s not just COVID-19 that has thinned out the Missouri roster. Drinkwitz listed four players Tuesday that sound like they might be on the wrong side of questionable to play Saturday due to injury.

Drinkwitz described Borom as questionable, while it sounds like Delgado is unlikely to suit up. Defensive tackle Kobie Whiteside, who hasn’t played since Oct. 3 against Tennessee due to a knee injury, will be “questionable, at best.” Drinkwitz said tight end Daniel Parker Jr., who didn’t travel to Florida after getting injured against Kentucky, is doubtful.

One other personnel note: Drinkwitz revealed that just one of the three Missouri players who received half-game suspensions from the SEC will be available Saturday, presumably due to COVID-19 quarantines. He wouldn’t reveal which. Those players included Spencer, the backup to Delgado, Markell Utsey, who had started the past three games in place of Whiteside, and backup linebacker Chad Bailey. As a result, Missouri will likely be shorthanded at both left guard and nose tackle for at least half of the game.