Eli Drinkwitz reflects on what this senior class has accomplished at Missouri

Last Saturday was senior night for Missouri and the Tigers’ veteran players were able to go out on top in their last game at Memorial Stadium, defeating Florida 33-31 in a back-and-forth battle finished off with yet another game-winning field goal from Harrison Mevis.

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz called the game the story of the senior’s career, which he explained more in-depth following their big win.

“You look at the seniors, we got a couple of different groups, but my group that joined in they started with COVID and we had some highs and lows in that season. We overachieved. The next year we kind of took a step back, fighting our way through, losing the bowl game. Last year we had the ups and downs and some very difficult losses, some close wins. And then this year to be able to just consistently overcome adversity,” Drinkwitz explained.

Drinkwitz is in the midst of his fourth season at the helm for Mizzou, leading the Tigers to a 5-5 finish in his first year followed by consecutive 6-7 seasons. But his first-ever recruiting class is now all seniors who have battled adversity, and are reaping the benefits of their hard work and dedication.

Mizzou’s win on Saturday marked their ninth of the season, giving them the best record the program has seen since 2014 with an opportunity to reach double-digit wins in their regular season finale versus Arkansas. But it was not easy or handed to them, as the Tigers throughout the season have shown on numerous occasions that they’re one of the toughest team in the country that refuses to quit.

“I mean you look at that game, and I don’t know off the top of my head how many times we were down, I know we were down 7-3. But whether it was K-State, whether it was Kentucky, whether it was Tennessee we were down, this game, our team always fights back. They believe in each other,” Drinkwitz said. “A part of our acronym is grit, a stubborn refusal to quit, and I just think that’s part of this senior class’ makeup.”

The makeup of Drinkwitz’s senior class has paid off in a major way for the Tigers as they’re in the midst of a historic and special season in Columbia. Which they’ll look to keep going this Friday as they finish off the regular season on the road against Arkansas in a matchup kicking off at 4:00 p.m. ET on CBS.