Connor Tollison injury update: Report reveals severity for Missouri OL

Missouri center Connor Tollison will miss the remainder of the 2024 college football season with a knee injury, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports.

He was injured during Week 11’s victory against Oklahoma on Saturday. He was reported as having a lower-body injury and was taken to the locker room for further evaluation. Tollison was later seen on crutches on the sideline after being ruled out for the remainder of the game.

It’s a big blow for Missouri, as Tollison has started 34 games along the offensive line for the Tigers since joining the program in 2021.

He’s a former four-star recruit for Mizzou, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. Tollison was the No. 313 overall player in the 2021 recruiting class out of Jackson (MO) High School.

Eli Drinkwitz blasts media with full-throated defense of QB Drew Pyne

The Missouri Tigers were able to survive a close game against the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday night despite head coach Eli Drinkwitz needing to turn to backup quarterback Drew Pyne.

Following the game, Drinkwitz gave a passionate and full-throated defense of Pyne, blasting the media and other outside noise for how they’ve handled his play. In particular, he made sure to praise Pyne for his play in the win over the Sooners.

“I just can’t say how proud I am of Drew Pyne for all the crap he’s taken,” Eli Drinkwitz said. “You know, I feel like I’m up here all the time having to defend my quarterback, which is not great, but for all the crap he’s taken on Twitter and X, for him to come out here, ignore the noise, some of it from y’all in this room, he goes out there and y’all can raise up at me and look like it’s not, but it is.

“He goes out there and delivers in the keyest moments in the fourth quarter after fans have been booing. He just goes out there and delivers.”

Pyne, a transfer who played at Notre Dame and Arizona State, was forced into action because of the injury to Brady Cook. After Pyne struggled in relief of Cook against Auburn and Alabama, there were some vocal concerns about his play going into the game.

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.