Sunday grade card: Alabama
The Sunday morning after every Missouri football game, PowerMizzou will hand out grades to each of the Tigers' position-groups based on their performance. Here are the scores from Missouri's 38-19 season-opening loss to No. 2 Alabama.
Quarterback: Shawn Robinson got the start and played the vast majority of snaps. His performance was a bit of a mixed bag. He struggled early, although that might be a product of nerves, as he hasn’t played a football game in nearly two years. As he settled in, he made a few very nice throws and showed some mobility that came in handy playing behind a shaky offensive line. He also had a few inaccurate throws, made the wrong decision in the option game a few times and had an errant pitch to Jalen Knox that turned into a turnover. Overall assessment: he showed promising flashes but needs to be more consistent, and he said as much after the game. Connor Bazelak played just one meaningful series and made a couple nice, crisp throws, plus his knee looked healthy on his touchdown scamper. But he also didn’t see a wide open receiver on a third down and missed an open Tyler Badie late in the game. GRADE: C
Running back: Larry Rountree III didn’t always have a ton of room to operate, but he made the most of it, gaining 67 yards on 14 carries. In typical Rountree fashion, he looked to get better as the game went on. Badie didn’t get much going running up the middle against Alabama’s massive defensive front, but he did get free as a receiver for Missouri’s only touchdown of the game. I think he needs more touches as a receiver and in space moving forward. GRADE: A-
Wide receiver: Despite apparently missing most of camp with a hamstring injury, Damon Hazelton was the most popular target for the Missouri quarterbacks. He struggled a bit, dropping two balls that he probably should have caught, but he also made a couple solid grabs in traffic. Missouri will hope the drops can be chalked up to first-game jitters rather than the start of a trend. Knox looked much more comfortable in this offense and is a guy that should continue to get at least a half-dozen touches every game moving forward. As usual, Barrett Banister found openings and was sure-handed (in the receiving game, at least) and Dominic Gicinto flashed a couple times. The one disappointment was Keke Chism. The Angelo State transfer who drew nothing but praise during fall camp had just two catches for 12 yards. He hardly hid his displeasure after the game, too, saying “I can’t throw it to myself.” Aside from a few drops that need to be cleaned up, the one other thing you’d like to see from the receiving corps is more players getting separation downfield. Missouri didn’t look downfield much Saturday, which might be in part due to the offensive line’s struggles, but it’s not like guys were running open down there, either. GRADE: C+
Tight end: Daniel Parker Jr. had about five targets in the passing game but turned them into just three catches for six yards. He dropped what would have been a touchdown in the red zone. Niko Hea caught one pass, but other than that the tight ends weren’t really a factor as receivers. Watching the game live, it was hard to really assess their contributions as blockers. GRADE: C-
Offensive line: I was prepared to give this unit a lower grade, but Drinkwitz actually praised the group after the game, especially their run-blocking. To me, that showed how low his expectations were, which is fair considering the group had to replace three multi-year starters, had to adjust to a new offense and new position coach and has been rocked by injuries, opt-outs and COVID-19 quarantines. That said, though, the group needs to be better in pass protection, especially with blitz pickups. At least twice Saturday a blitzer hit Robinson after coming unblocked. GRADE: D+
Defensive line: It’s hard to draw too many conclusions from a matchup against a team as talented as Alabama, but if there’s one aspect of Saturday’s performance that’s cause for concern going forward, it’s the pass rush. Until Alabama swapped out starting quarterback Mac Jones for backup Bryce Young and removed a couple starting offensive linemen from the game, Missouri’s front four never even got close to a sack. At times, it looked like Jones was playing seven-on-seven. That has to get better, because no matter how strong your secondary is, you can’t ask guys to cover SEC receivers for seven or eight seconds. Now, Alabama does have a monstrous offensive line, and the front four was better in the run game, so it wasn’t a total dud, but definitely an area that needs to be addressed going forward. GRADE: D
Linebackers: Alabama looked like it was trying to scheme away from preseason All-American Nick Bolton as much as possible, which led to the two middle linebackers, Devin Nicholson and Cameron Wilkins, combining for 13 tackles. Bolton still added eight. No one from the position group made any particularly flashy plays, aside from Bolton’s late fumble recovery, and you might have liked a little bit more in short-yardage situations, but they didn’t appear to blow any gap assignments, either. GRADE: B
Secondary: Facing DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle was always going to be tough. After cornerback Jarvis Ware went down with a knee injury and the defensive front failed to generate pressure, it became borderline impossible. Certainly, the end result didn’t look great for the secondary, but there might not be a defensive back in college football that can cover Waddle if he plays like he did Saturday. I can’t be too hard on them for this one. GRADE: C-
Special teams: The kicking game looked solid. True freshman kicker Harrison Mevis didn’t appear afraid of the big stage, which was positive. Graduate transfer punter Grant McKinniss was fine. Kickoff man Sean Koetting put all his kicks out the back of the end zone, not allowing Waddle a return. The only issue was a muffed punt by Banister, which should give true freshman Kris Abrams-Draine an even stronger grasp on that job. GRADE: B
Coaching: There are no moral victories at this level of college football, but the fact that Missouri fought back is at least worth some consolation, especially considering how often the Tigers seemed to crumple after getting punched last season. The team played a relatively clean game, too, especially considering the long and unusual offseason. A few of Drinkwitz’s game-planning and play-calling decisions — third down play calls, the lack of downfield shots, not quite enough carries for Rountree — could be second-guessed, and he admitted as much after the game, and I would have liked to have seen the defense try to bring more blitzes when it became apparent that the front four wasn’t getting it done in the pass rush, but overall, you have to be pretty impressed with the product this staff put on the field after a coaching change and such a bizarre offseason. GRADE: B-
FINAL OVERALL GRADE: C