Notebook: Tiger OL to be shorthanded vs. Georgia

The Missouri football team is currently enjoying its second idle weekend in the past month — this one actually scheduled. Just like when the Tigers’ game against Vanderbilt got postponed, head coach Eli Drinkwitz said one of the goals of the weekend off is to get his team healthy.

Yet he revealed in a virtual press conference Thursday that one bye week won’t be enough time to get everyone back on the offensive line.

Drinkwitz said Thursday that left guard Xavier Delgado underwent a tightrope procedure on his injured ankle this week. As a result, the redshirt sophomore will miss “several weeks;” however, Drinkwitz said the injury is not expected to be season ending. Delgado left the game in the first half of the team’s win over Kentucky two weeks ago and has not returned since. Starting right tackle Larry Borom, who also left the Kentucky game with an injury, will not suit up against Georgia, either. Drinkwitz said on Wednesday’s SEC coaches’ teleconference that Borom will be out “a couple more weeks” with a lower leg injury.

To make matters worse, Dylan Spencer, the true freshman who started in place of Delgado and played every snap against Florida, will not be eligible to play in the first half when Missouri hosts No. 5 Georgia on Nov. 14. Spencer was one of three Missouri players to receive a half-game suspension for his role in the halftime brawl against Florida. As a result, Missouri will be down to nine scholarship offensive linemen for the first half against the Bulldogs. The SEC minimum in order to start a game is seven.

Redshirt sophomore Mike Ruth is listed as a left guard on the team’s depth chart, but Drinkwitz said there will be an “open competition” to see who plays in Spencer’s place.

“Whoever is available to play at that position, we'll get them ready to play,” Drinkwitz said. “So, I don't have any name for you right now. It's kind of an open competition.”

Redshirt sophomore Javon Foster will start in place of Borom. When healthy, Borom has been solid this season. According to Pro Football Focus, he is Missouri’s highest-graded offensive player and hasn’t allowed a quarterback pressure.

“We definitely miss him,” Drinkwitz said of Borom. “But Javon Foster did his absolute best against Florida, and he's getting better. So we're excited about what he brings to the table and his opportunity to play and contribute. I mean, he’s a scholarship player that is capable of playing in this league, so it’s his opportunity and his turn.”

Without Borom and Delgado, Missouri’s offensive line largely struggled against Florida. The Tigers mustered just 40 rushing yards on 23 carries, with 32 of those yards coming on an end-around for receiver Jalen Knox. According to SECstatcat, the ball-carriers averaged just 0.39 yards before contact. Quarterback Connor Bazelak was also sacked three times and hurried 10, according to Pro Football Focus.

The other position where Missouri will be shorthanded for the first 30 minutes against Georgia will be nose tackle. Senior Markell Utsey drew a half-game suspension for the flurry of punches he threw during the fight. Utsey had been starting in place of fellow senior Kobie Whiteside, who has not played since the Tennessee game on Oct. 5 due to a leg injury. Drinkwitz said Thursday that Whiteside likely will not play against Georgia, although he left a sliver of room open for a return.

“He’s progressing back nicely, faster than we anticipated,” Drinkwitz said. “I do not know if that means he’d be back next week versus Georgia. Target is more the South Carolina week. But, you know, his work ethic and toughness may change that. But we’re not putting any timetable. When his body’s right, he’ll tell us.”

The good news for Missouri is that, as of Thursday, the team did not have any players in quarantine due to COVID-19. The Tigers had several players quarantined for each of the first three games of the season but haven’t had a player test positive since.

Upon telling reporters that, Drinkwitz literally knocked on wood, rapping his knuckle on the wooden podium in front of him. He’s not getting ahead of himself, noting that players will have to be smart about who they are around when they get a few days off this weekend.

“If you know anything about COVID, you don’t count your chickens before they hatch,” he said. “But I’m more worried about leg injuries than I am COVID right now.”

When Drinkwitz addressed the media following Missouri’s loss at Florida, he declined to speculate about how the halftime brawl had gotten started until after he’d had a chance to watch the tape. Asked about the donnybrook again Thursday, he opted for the politically correct answer, referring to a joint statement put out by Missouri and Florida on Sunday and saying the team has shifted its focus forward.

“We're moving on from the incident,” he said. “... Actions have consequences, and we're dealing with those consequences.”

But later, Drinkwitz couldn’t help but take a bit of a jab at Florida coach Dan Mullen. Mullen certainly helped escalate tensions when he sprinted onto the field following Missouri defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat’s late hit on Florida quarterback Kyle Trask. Mullen claimed that he was trying to get Florida’s players off the field, but the SEC issued him a reprimand and a $25,000 fine for his role in the incident on Monday.

Asked how he’s grown as a leader over the course of his first 11 months at Missouri, Drinkwitz certainly appeared to reference Mullen’s actions.

“I do know that I can keep my poise in situations,” Drinkwitz said. “I do know that I don’t tend to have an emotional reaction, or over-emotional reaction to certain situations.”

If there was any doubt that he was referencing Saturday’s game, he followed it up with this:“And I can flip the switch and have an overly emotional reaction when it’s fourth and one and you don’t take the free first down and somebody jumps offsides.”

After dropping nine passes across its first two games of the season, Missouri looked like it had rounded a corner. The Tiger pass-catchers didn’t drop a pass in wins over LSU and Kentucky.

Then, Saturday happened. On the first offensive snap, graduate transfer Damon Hazelton saw a short pass bounce off his hands and hit the turf. Later, Knox got behind the defense for what would have been, at minimum, a 30-plus yard gain, but he took his eye off the ball and it slipped through his grasp. In all, PFF assigned the receiving corps four drops during the game, while SECstatcat recorded six.

During Wednesday’s teleconference, Drinkwitz pointed to drops as one of the ways Missouri beat itself against Florida. Asked Thursday why they’ve tended to come in bunches this season, he said they’ve stemmed from a lack of focus.

“Can’t let one drop affect the next,” he said. “Got to have a this-play mentality. I felt like as a team, we allowed the drops to affect our psyche. And we can't do that.”

Drinkwitz later said the dropped passes contributed to Missouri never finding a rhythm as an offense against Florida. The Tigers mustered just 248 total yards against the Gators, its fewest in a game since Nov. 9 of last year against Georgia. He didn’t put all the blame on the receivers, however. He noted that Bazelak can be more accurate with his passes, and the coaching staff probably needs to substitute less frequently at wide receiver in order to let players get into the flow of a game.

“Our guys can catch the ball,” Drinkwitz said. “They've proven that they're able to catch the ball. They gotta focus on catching the football, and we gotta throw it better. I mean, some of these passes aren't accurate. So we're putting these guys in bad positions, and it's a consistency thing we have to address with everybody in the organization, including myself, and that’s what we’re working on.”