Eli Drinkwitz reveals he'll allow players transferring to stay with Missouri through bowl

This time of year, college football rosters are in flux. However, there is still a game to be played for many of those teams. So, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz has come up with a solution.

Instead of removing transferring players from the roster, he’s allowing them to stick with the team through the bowl game, assuming they want to stay.

“I would like to make the announcement that the players — I’ve given the players the option that if they’ve elected to transfer they can still finish out the season with us and participate in the bowl game,” Eli Drinkwitz said. “So, some of the guys that announced that they’re transferring were in the room today and were at practice this morning.”

Not everyone has chosen to stay, according to Drinkwitz. However, there are outgoing players still working with the team.

“There’s been a couple who have said they didn’t want to continue and go to the bowl game, but I think there’s only three of those guys who did that.”

The players who are choosing to stay, at the very least, get valuable practice time that they otherwise would have lost. For Eli Drinkwitz and Missouri, the team will be able to retain some of its depth going into the bowl game.

It’s an important bowl game for Missouri too. The Tigers are heading to the Cotton Bowl where they’re going to take on Ohio State. It’s Missouri’s first New Year’s Six bowl since going to the Cotton Bowl in 2013. That game was a win for the Tigers and this year’s team would love to replicate that win.

For Ohio State’s part, the Buckeyes are expecting to be without several key players going into the Cotton Bowl because they are transferring out of the program. Perhaps the most notable of those transfers is starting quarterback Kyle McCord.

Eli Drinkwitz describes the feeling of Missouri being in a New Year’s Six bowl

At the start of the season, almost nobody thought Missouri would be heading to a New Year’s Six game. However, now Eli Drinkwitz and the Tigers have found themselves there after an excellent season.

“It’s just a remarkable feeling,” Drinkwitz said.

“At the start of the year, there was a poll about would we even make a bowl game. Instead we’re a top 10 team in the country that’s going to a New Year’s Six Bowl game. That doesn’t happen without a lot of hard work, a lot of belief and a lot of determination. I’m thanking the seniors for making it happen.”