Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said Ahead of 2024 Season Opener

The Missouri Tigers head coach held a press conference Sunday afternoon to preview Mizzou's week 1 matchup against Murray State.

Oct 22, 2022; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz on the sidelines against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the first half of the game at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports / Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Throughout the offseason, Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz has emphasized multiple times that their full focus heading into the season is on Murray State. The Tigers will host the Racers Thursday, August 29, at Faurot Field. To preview the matchup, Drinkwitz spoke to the media Sunday. Here's all that he had to say:

Opening statement

"Excited to kick off the season. Obviously exciting time for college football, and I know our team is ready to put this off season behind us and get started on on this season and this challenge. It's going to be a difficult challenge, probably the most difficult opening game that we faced all since I've been here. They have a whole new staff, around 60 new players that they've acquired with our high school or through the transfer portal, so it's a real challenge to have any idea of what they're going to do schematically, whether we're talking about offense, defense or special teams."

"Coach (Jody) Wright is is an excellent football coach. He does an outstanding job. He's got experience in both SEC pro level, and it's been tremendous at all the different places and stops that he's had before. He's got a lot of different types of coaches on his staff, and so we're trying to pull film from a lot of different places to get an idea of what they're going to do. So we spent a couple extra days preparing and giving our guys up as much information as we possibly can. Trying to figure out what the scheme is, combined with not knowing the personnel. It's going to be a real difficult challenge for our team and our staff, and so we're going to have to really focus on us and our execution and make sure that we're ready to play, make sure that we have the most excitement, make sure that we're focused on tackling and taking care of the football. Make sure that we win situational football and execution is going to come down to a premium. So that's really the challenge that we have for us. And look forward to seeing everybody."

Optimal balance between excitement and focus

"I think everybody wants to be excited to play. You want those guys to have great energy on game day. You only get 12 guarantee opportunities and for the seniors, you only get seven at home. So you want them to be really excited, but you want to focus on the display mentality and make sure that you're executing every play to the very best of your abilities. Don't wish it's the fourth quarter. Don't wish it's the third quarter. Just focus on right now."

Trends/Issues that are common in week 1

"I think if you watched college football yesterday, you saw some tackling issues. Obviously, last night in the game, special teams issues certainly showed up and caused situations. Three of the four games that I saw came down the last two minute drives. It's trying to be prepared for all those options and I think as coaches, we have to do a great job to make sure that we leave no stone unturned, knowing that you know at any moment you're going to have to be thinking about a play call or be able to manage this situation, knowing who's in the game, and if this guy's injured, who's next up. I think obviously penalties and special team situations and turnovers and tackling are usually the things that show up the most. And that's typical for any extended delay in playing the game."

How he will evaluate week 1

"It's a whole different situation as far as the evaluation. We just want to see how we compare, how we compete compared to another team. Ultimately, this is the measuring stick. We've said before you practice to get better, you play the games. To get better, you play the games and decide if you're going to win or lose. So we'll see where we're at and play this game."

Challenges for Offense in 2024

"We want to see the downhill run attack. We want to see an explosive offense. We want to see an offense that creates pressure through tempo. We want to see an offense that executes in situational football defensively. We want to see a group that stops the run, it's multiple on third downs, and wins situational football is really good at tackling and taking the ball away special teams. We want to do a great job covering kicks so and we want to be really good in the kicking phase. All those things are what ideally we picture it, and we'll see where we're at come Thursday night."

Split between running backs

"Nate Noel will go out there first, and him and Marcus will rotate through. I think I think those guys have good complimentary football skills and they know how to play off of each other. I think we understand we're probably not gonna have somebody that's going to be able to carry it as many times in a game as Cody [Schrader], so we'll have to do a good job of making sure we allow the starter to get into rhythm, but also make sure they're fresh."

Injury Updates

We've got two guys that are still battling their way back, and I think both of them today would be questionable as Ja'Marion Wayne and Jordan Harris. He he's been in a green jersey for the better part of the five days, but having things felt like he's 100% yet. So I'd be very careful where I put him in harm's way."

Brett Norfleet's health after suffering a minor injury in fall camp:

"Full go. He's been really good at fall camp here."

What he's looking for in Week 1

"I think the first part of the season is about eliminating bad football. It's about seeing the issues on tape and figuring out how to win football games and then slowly get those issues off tape, and then figuring out the identity of your team and playing to those strengths. And until you play in games, you're not always going to know. I think we're battle ready. We've tackled live more than we ever have in any camp. We've got more practice reps this camp than we've had in the previous three seasons. We put in more situational football time we have in any previous three seasons. But it's about 11 guys putting it together against an opponent who's got a say in the outcome too. And so that's going to be a challenge, and I don't really have any preconceived notions on what it's going to look like until we do it."

What Chris McClellan did to earn starting spot

"I think Chris [McClellan], Kristian [Williams] and even Marquis [Gracial] right there. But those three guys have been really good, consistent, really proud of the way Chris and Marquis have competed and battled. I think both of them did a tremendous job this summer of managing their weight and getting it down to what we wanted to be. And then we challenge those guys to really run the football. Be disruptors, push the paint. In past defense, and those guys have consistently done.

Will playbook be limited in first few games?

"No. We're trying to win week 1. Most important game that we have on our schedule is this one period. There's no guarding, there's no hiding, we just want to win. In order to win, you gotta call what you know you're guys can execute, ones your guys have had consistent reps at. It doesn't mean that your playbook is going to be wide open. It means that you're going to call what you have repped in the 25 previous practices, key situations your guys can execute. So I don't think our playbook will be limited. Won't be anything we won't call it's just we won't call it because we don't have confidence that we can execute it at a high level."

Have you ever had a game where there's this much uncertainty about the opponent?

"It's not just the coaching staff, it's the combination of coaching staff and new players. This is a new area in college football. You could have a replacement of coaches before, but you could have been able to go back and look at previous tape and say, Okay, well, they're returning this guy, this guy and this guy. Their starting quarterback played at the South Dakota School of the Mines. He was the finalist for the Harlon Hill award watching huddle tape in order to figure out what he's done on the internet. It''s a unique challenge. they've got several players who transferred in at key positions that we're trying to figure out."

"We can go back and watch their tape last year at their previous schools, but we don't know what that means they're going to be doing in this scheme. So it's kind of a kind of challenge. Their offensive coordinator, the last time he called plays was with Jacksonville State two years ago. He's been a high school coach the past two years where he was the tight ends coach, he wasn't a play caller. So we're going back and watching Jacksonville State tape. We're looking at what coach (Wright) has done in South Carolina when he was the tight ends coach, and trying to guess what they're going to do."

Are kick (Marquis Johnson) and punt returners (Luther Burden) solidified?

"Obviously Luther is listed as the No. 1 punt returner. Theo Wease could absolutely go back there. Marquis and Daniel blood have also been very good at it. So I think, just depending on where the game is, who's fresh, I think any one of those four going to be back there, punt return, kickoff return. Josh Manning's been getting quite a few looks. Mookie Cooper's been getting a few looks. So, again, just depending on where the game is and how it's going, I think you could see multiple people."

Read more Missouri Tigers news:

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