Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz held his weekly press conference with the media Tuesday as the team reflects on its win against Oklahoma and prepares to hit the road to face South Carolina.
I picked a few of Drinkwitz’s quotes that I thought were most telling.
When asked about the team's confidence in Drew Pyne vs. a version of Brady Cook that's not at 100 percent
What Drinkwitz said: “We have a lot of confidence in Drew. Whoever gives us the best opportunity to win is who will play. We won’t know anything on Brady until later in the week, but I would anticipate Drew’s gonna, we’re preparing for Drew to start.”
What went unsaid: The media still isn’t allowed at practice, so it’s now been almost a month and will be more than a month at least between times anyone but the team staff is able to see for themselves how Brady Cook is recovering.
I’m pretty confident saying Drew Pyne is going to start again this week and he’ll face a tough test in South Carolina’s defense. But he’ll now have a month of starter reps in practice and a good game to build his confidence.
When asked about Drake Heismeyer's preparation to take over at center
What Drinkwitz said: “I think he’s been preparing for it. … The thing about Drake is he loves being part of the football team. He’s embraced his role, he’s one of the best, he’s our middle shield on punt team and takes an extreme amount of pride in that. Knows all the looks, understands it. So he’s played quite a bit of football and just hasn’t played in the role we’re asking him to play now.”
What went unsaid: Not unsaid, but confirmed in Drinkwitz’s opening statement that Monday’s report about Connor Tollison being out for the year was accurate.
Drake Heismeyer played well when he came in for Tollison on Saturday, especially in pass protection. And the snaps looked good. But going on the road is a different story, especially for a center. We’re definitely going to have to keep an eye out for some communication issues with a backup quarterback and backup center both on the field.
Drinkwitz, as always, said all other injury questions would be directed to the SEC injury report coming out tomorrow. It’s good that the SEC started mandating that, but it really provides an annoying shield for any questions about player health.
When asked about the development of the young running backs
What Drinkwitz said: “Obviously, I think coach (Curtis) Luper’s done a really good job. You know, we’re kind of in this spot where we want to play Kewan (Lacy), but every moment is a huge moment. We just don’t want to have a huge mistake that costs us. So I look for Kewan to get some more carries, hopefully, the next couple of games.”
What went unsaid: I think if Lacy wasn’t getting work with Nate Noel out, dropping him a spot further down the depth chart isn’t going to open up more opportunities with him back. The Tigers are at a point where every game is huge and they’re already operating from a disadvantage because of injuries and don’t have the chances they had in some late games last year to get young guys extra opportunities in low-stress situations.
If the Tigers are up big in any game rest of the way (hey there Mississippi State) then sure, Lacy could get some run. But I don’t expect it this week.
I’m also just a bit confused because he’s right on the edge of keeping his redshirt at four games played. Why use him at this point when you’ve found your rotation of backs already?
When asked about the success of the defensive line
What Drinkwitz said: “I think that for them, let’s see what we do this Saturday. The challenge for us is how we match up week in and week out. … We’re five weeks into the SEC and really, we’re going to be defined on how we play the last three games in the trenches. And so those guys, let’s not pat them on the back too much yet.”
What went unsaid: This week especially is a very tough test for the defensive line. Raheim Sanders and LaNorris Sellers are both big, powerful runners who present a lot of issues.
The Tiger defensive line and linebackers have been pretty good stopping the run through the past few games, but that won’t matter if they get gashed this week. Kind of along the same line as the Lacy answer, every moment from now through the next three weeks is huge and will determine how the season is viewed as a whole.
It won’t matter that the run defense has been pretty good for most of the season if it loses an opportunity here.
Those are the answers I found most telling. Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss the press conference and so much more.
