Eli Drinkwitz reveals confidence in Kirby Moore as primary play-caller

Eli Drinkwitz is handing over pay-caling duties to new offensive coordinator Kirby Moore for the 2023 season, and the Mizzou head coach could not be more confident in his abilities heading into the new year.

“I do not plan on calling plays,” Drinkwitz said at the podium during SEC Media Days. “I plan on being involved offensive side of the ball just as I am on special teams and the defensive side of the ball as the CEO of the organization … I have no qualms of handing it over to somebody and feel like Kirby will do an outstanding job for us.”

Moore heads to Columbia after six seasons at Fresno State, including serving as the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator in 2022. There, he helped Fresno State win the 2022 Mountain West Conference Championship and a Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl victory as well.

Drinkwitz expects Moore to find similar success with the Tigers.

“I hired Kirby Moore, who has a similar offensive vision and philosophy as I do,” Drinkwitz said. “Low ego, high output guy who’s got the great understanding of the pass game and play action. He’s an absolute grinder. Loves to watch tape, tremendous teacher.

“Low ego, high-input kind of guy. Look forward to looking with him and the rest of the offensive staff to put our players in position to be successful. I tell him all the time if we can average just one more touchdown a game, we’re going to be really happy at the end of the season. We’re in that constant quest to find one more touchdown.”

Before joining forces with Drinkwitz, Moore helped lead the Bulldogs to become the top offense in the Mountain West, averaging a conference-leading 402.6 yards and 30.6 points per game in his first season as their offensive coordinator.

Moore is only 32 years of age, making him one of the youngest coordinators in the SEC, but hopefully for the Tigers, he and Drinkwitz can turn things around for an offense that’s coming off of their worst scoring season since 2015.

The Tigers kicks its 2023 season off on August 31 against South Dakota, and will also compete against Middle Tennessee State and Memphis during three of the first four weeks of the season before diving in to conference play in late September against Vanderbilt. However, hosting LSU on Oct. 7 will be the first prove-it game for Mizzou this season.