Missouri football coach Eliah Drinkwitz met with the media after spring practice No. 2 on Saturday, here are a few of his quotes that stood out and what I think went unsaid in them.
This is the second edition of this story because he said a lot. You can find the first one I posted here.
When asked about maintaining the identity of the team from 2023 and 2024
What Drinkwitz said: “I think the No. 1 realization in college football is every year it starts over and it’s about re-establishing the culture and identity of the football team. You lean on leaders like Daylan Carnell and Connor Tollison and Jahkai Lang, some of these vets who’ve been here a while to understand that process. What you don’t rely on is being comfortable. So I’ve challenged everybody, let’s not be comfortable.”
What went unsaid: Yes, college sports have become a process of becoming an entirely new team every single year, but this year, there’s even less crossover in the leadership than usual.
The Tigers lost a lot of leaders from the 2023 team going into last year, but they still had Brady Cook and Johnny Walker and Cam’Ron Johnson and Theo Wease.
This year, you’re returning Carnell as a definite leader of the defense and I think probably the main team leader, but otherwise, you’re not really returning any key guys at major spots.
Which means someone is going to have to step up.
When Darius Robinson left, Walker stepped up. Now Walker is gone and it sounds like Drinkwitz thinks Lang is the next guy, him and Zion Young at the edge rusher spot. Triston Newson is back and has been around forever, Tollison will certainly be a leader but he’s dealing with his own recovery and that has to come first.
So get ready for some new guys to take major leadership roles. It’s not unfounded, Wease did it, maybe this year it’s Cayden Green, there’s a lot of potential candidates.
When asked about transfer offensive linemen
What Drinkwitz said: It always starts for us with athleticism. You know, we want big, long, athletic guys and then toughness. And you know, ultimately, we got to make sure that they’re a scheme fit. We start with the outside zone, we felt like those guys were athletic enough, able to handle it. Really appreciate what (Dominick Giudice) has done so far, you know, with Connor being out, he’s taken the challenge of being a center and snapped, you know, really well today, he’s got all the calls down. In fact, I joked when I walked by Connor and asked if he’s ever heard of Wally Pip, just to make sure he’s ready to roll.”
What went unsaid: With three starting offensive linemen out the door, the Tigers’ group of big boys is going to look pretty different.
During practice Saturday, we saw Giudice snapping, as well as Talan Chandler. We saw Keagen Trost filter in and out at both spots on the right side of the line and we saw some young guys taking a lot of reps all over.
It will be interesting to see how the Tigers want that group to play out. I have a feeling Giudice ends up as the backup center once Tollison is healthy, with West Virginia transfer Johnny Williams at left tackle and Trost at right tackle, but that leaves right guard available to one of the younger guys on roster.
I think if you have a line of Williams, Green and one of the other younger guys at right tackle, that sets you up well not just for this year, but for continuity next season.
When asked about early enrollees' performances so far
What Drinkwitz said: “It’s way too early to see, you see flashes right now, but the name of the game is consistency, right? It’s whether you can continually stack days. But I like where our guys are at. CJ Bass has really grown up, I thought Dante McClellan has been good, Marquise Davis had a really nice run on the outside zone. It’s been really positive so far.”
What went unsaid: There’s going to be a few of these early enrollees on the field early, Drinkwitz also shouted out both Donovan Olugbode and Shaun Terry and how well they’ve performed in a question about the receiver room. Whether the depth chart is going to allow more than special teams play for some of these guys will be the main question. But I could see Bass working his way into the back-end rotation if he lives up to the billing and both the receivers were working in on punt return drills, so that could be a good spot for them to earn some time.
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