Everything Eliah Drinkwitz said ahead of Week 1
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz met with the media Saturday ahead of the Tigers’ season-opening matchup with Central Arkansas.
Here is the full video of the press conference.
And for those who would rather read it, here is a transcript of everything Drinkwitz said.
Opening statement
Drinkwitz: “Got a couple updates here. Just want to share with everybody. First off, Jason King will represent where number 25 as we honor the legacy of Aaron O’Neill on the 20th anniversary of his tragic passing. And understand the significance of his life and story to our university and the significance of the changes that were brought about with the NCAA and sickle cell testing. So Jason is excited to wear that. He’s from St Louis and he is a linebacker, so it was awesome for that to occur.
“Logan Reichert suffered a lower-body injury two days ago that will keep him out six-to-eight weeks. So that’s going to be the, really, the first, hopefully only, injury that will keep somebody out of the game. We are monitoring a couple other situations, but feel good that we’ll have everybody healthy.
“Quarterbacks, we have a plan in place and have discussed with the team, and feel prepared to execute that plan. And don’t feel the need to share that plan with you. So just want to make sure that we all know that.
“As far as University of Central Arkansas playing the purple bears, famous alumni, Anna Drinkwitz, she’s a proud graduate. I don’t remember the year, but my sister graduated from there. Have a lot of respect for their for their program and their head coach, Nathan Brown. He had a storied career there as a quarterback and player, and now obviously a very successful coach. And has done a tremendous job building and maintaining the success of that program through a lot of different head coaches. I think he’s been there since ‘oh four’04 as a player, his entire career has been there. Have great relationship, long term relationship, with their tight ends coach, Brooks Hollingsworth. Brooks used to recruit the area when I was a high school football coach. And so had a lot of respect for him and his career as a football coach.
“You know, UCA is used to winning and has an established program. Last year, played a very difficult, tough game with Arkansas State. Scored 21 in the fourth quarter and plays a very detailed style of brand of football. Always going to be a physical football team. Their defensive coordinator comes back. He’s been there for a long time went the Southern Miss, and now he’s back. So I know that they’re going to be really prepared.
“Really exciting opportunity for me personally. Malachi Henry their freshman wide receiver, I coached with his dad, Mo at Springdale for several years, ’06-’09. Malachi would have been four or five at the time, and so awesome to see his career develop. And will be excited to face him and to watch him chase his dream as a Division I football player. So pretty cool. Pretty cool moment there.
“So, you know, really important for us this this week as a football team, to establish and bring our identity to life. We want to be a tough football team and a team that plays well under pressure and executes in tough moments. And so that’s going to be really important for us. That’s our message to our team this week, is make our identity come to life. You get one shot at first impression. And what, what impression are we going to have as team 136 and this brotherhood? So with that, I’ll open up for questions.”
Quetion: “Eliah, with the quarterbacks, even if you won’t share the plan, can you just share what the reasoning and decision making behind making that decision was?”
Drinkwitz: “Oh, you’re, yeah, sorry. Yeah, absolutely. I felt like both quarterbacks played really well. Really since the spring. I think they both established the leadership with the team, as evidenced by both being voted captains. And just didn’t feel like I could make a decision without a little bit more information. And I didn’t want to rush the decision. I think the decision of the starting quarterback for me personally, is something that I’m going to have a lot of conviction about.
“And like both of those guys, like I said, played winning football throughout the camp. And I had a lot of confidence that both executed a high level. So really the only other thing to measure was to put them in live competition. Nowadays, I’m never going to do that in practice. Just because of the nature of college football now and the investments that we have in those positions. So the ability to play live football Thursday night, the ability to watch these guys prepare, to see how they handle, the preparation, I felt like was the best course of action. And uh, that was the decision. Done that before and it worked out pretty good.”
Question: “What do you feel like you need to see specifically from whoever will emerge as the starter in that game day experience?”
Drinkwitz: “Yeah, I don’t feel the need to share that with anybody. I just feel like that, I feel like both of them need to play football. I think they both demonstrated the ability of toughness, preparation, decision making, accuracy and leadership in a practice setting. But that doesn’t mean they’ve done it the game setting for us. And I know both of them have played college football before, but they haven’t played it in this situation before. So we’ll get to demonstrate, they’ll get to demonstrate that this week, all those this week, and in the game.”
Question: “Is there a scenario where they don’t separate themselves and it carries into the next week?”
Drinkwitz: “No.”
Question: “You kind of mentioned it there. But how important is the next five days of this pre-game rhythm to, in addition to what they actually do on the field?”
Drinkwitz: “I think it’s important for everybody. We’ve talked a lot throughout the fall camp about establishing a process. Whether that’s you’re, you’re a senior, you’re a freshman, you gotta establish a process for how you prepare for the game. And so, you know, it’s gonna be an opportunity for everybody, outside of just the quarterbacks. There’s a lot of focus on that. Which is awesome. But it’s important for everybody to establish a rhythm and routine and a process.
“I think you look back at the success that we’ve had, whether it’s here or App State or NC State, the best players that we’ve coached have had a game-week rhythm and routine that they could rely on and was able to keep them steady through the ups and downs of the season. I think about Brett Rypien, Ryan Finley, I think about Cody Schrader, Darius Robinson, Kris Abrams-Draine, those guys, Brady (Cook), they all had routines that were unique to them, that they were able to establish and maintain.”
Question: “Coach, uh, about UCA, I mean, what do they do well offensively and defensively that you guys have to key on this week?”
Drinkwitz: “Yeah, you know, it’s a challenge obviously to figure that out, to some extent. Because they do have new coordinators, from a calling it standpoint. Obviously, Nathan has taken Coach Brown has taken back over the play calling duties. He hasn’t done that, I don’t believe, since, since he was the coordinator under Steve Campbell. So, you know, we can watch last year’s scheme. It’s always been a little bit similar to the, the scheme that he played for when he played for Coach Conque.
“So they’re always going to establish the run, but they got a big, big running back. I think the (Landon) Chambers kid played quite a bit for them last year. They’ve got two really good guards that will allow them to try to establish the line of scrimmage. They’ve always been a gap scheme. That’s something coach Hollingsworth has always believed in when he was the line coach, even now as the tight ends coach. Obviously Malakai was a freshman all American wide receiver. So they’ve got unique skill set there.
“You know, Nathan threw the ball around a lot as a quarterback. So he’s, I’m assuming he’s going to want to get back to doing that. Feel like the comments that were made was they didn’t have enough variety or explosives on offense. But we look forward to them to try to, I look for them to try to bring back some explosive style of offense. You know, the quarterback, I think Austin Myers from Vilonia was a really good high school football player in the state. Big tall, got great arm, size. So, you know, not a ton of film. I think he’s got less than 100 snaps. So that’s a little bit of a challenge to know exactly what the offensive identity is going to be.
“Defensively, coach comes back from Southern Miss, but he had been there before. I think it’s going to be a similar style defense to what they’ve been running. But they do have variations of what they do, both in the coverage aspects and in the front. They play multiple fronts, four down odd and we’ll play some bear. So that gives you a unique thing for your offense. To have to prepare for all three different fronts. To know how to block them and protect them. So you know that’s going to be a challenge.
“Special teams wise, they’ve made some changes on their operations and even talked about getting back to being a more aggressive style of special teams. So we haven’t seen that on tape. We don’t know exactly what that looks like, so we’re going to have to be prepared for a lot of different things. But at the end of the day, it’s about us. It’s about us establishing our identity. It’s about us establishing the brand of football that we want to play. And I look forward to seeing that this week.”
Question: “What are the challenges of your own preparation when there is a little big of an unknown about your first opponent?”
Drinkwitz: “Yeah, you know the challenges are, there’s not quite as much film that you’re going to be able to dial in and say, ‘OK, this is, this is what they do.’ But it really comes back down to our preparation, you know, our fundamentals and techniques, our execution on the offensive side of the ball. You have base rules that you understand versus four-down front, odd front or bear front. We got to be able to execute that regardless of what front they’re in. We have sound DNA plays that we can execute versus any team. We’ve got to be able to do that.
“You know, quarterbacks are going to have to go through progression reads and understand, you know, what the progression is. Trying to identify coverage and understand how that changes, changes their progression. Which is a good challenge, so that what that is.
“On the defensive side of the ball, it’s going to be all about reading your keys. You know, you’re not going to be able to have run-pass tips going into the game. Because you don’t see those on tape. So you’re going to have to rely on and trust on your keys and make sure in the secondary we have our eyes in the right spot. In the front seven, we have to be physical, dominate our block and dominate the blocker. We have to read and react based off of the type of block that we’re getting. So you know, it’s really a good challenge. It’s a good test, and it’s something that I think our team looks forward to.”
Question: “Coach, you said a little while ago that Kevin Coleman was atop the punt return depth chart. As far as the kickoff return depth chart. What went into deciding who was going to man those duties heading into the season?”
Drinkwitz: “Well, as far as the punt return standpoint, you know, obviously Kevin’s done it at a high level in this league. So that was an easy one. Daniel Blood shared some of that responsibility last year. But we’ve really been proud of the DaMarion Fowlkes and his ability to catch kicks and be explosive. I think he’s had, you know, we haven’t obviously done that phase live, but it’s been something that I think we’ve done quite a bit, and he’s been the most explosive in that. So that’s been fun to watch and develop.
“As far as the kickoff return, you know, I think T-Man (Tavorus Jones) has been here for a long time, and he’s done a lot of different things on special teams. But he’s really had an explosive camp, both as a ball carrier and we try to evaluate what’s going to be the best opportunity for us on the kickoff return squad. We want a big, physical guy who can run through tackles, flow through smoke, and still have the ability to make people miss. And I just felt like through evaluating fall camp, he gives us the best chance.
“Obviously, Jamal (Roberts) has always been an off returner for us, and he’s done a really good job on the other side of that. So he can be an off returner, he can also be a returner. Gives one of our playmakers an opportunity to touch the ball.”
Question: “What stands out about Ahmad Hardy?”
Drinkwitz: “Wow. You know, Ahmad’s been really remarkable in his ability to assimilate to our team. He’s just got an infectious personality with his teammates. But make no mistake about it, he’s a visible presence playing, running the football, and he’s got the right kind of mentality, mindset with the ball in his hands. I think, I think that combination has been really good. You know, he’s got the, ‘I ride horses cowboy,’ and takes people with him to do that.
“But, man, when he puts his helmet on, and once you get after it, he gets after it, he talks a lot of trash to the defense and has a lot of fun. He’s just got one of those, just a really, he’s one of those guys you love to have in the locker room, because he’s about his business when he needs to be, but he’s also about enjoying the journey. I’ve been really impressed and pleased with him, and look forward to seeing him play.”
Question: “We got to talk to Logan (Muckey) just a few days ago. Tell me what his journey as a walk-on and beating cancer has meant to the team and this program.”
Drinkwitz: “Yeah, you’re gonna have to start identifying. We got a lot of people the same first name. So Logan, right? So yeah, Logan, man, what an awesome young man. And coach (Ryan) Russ(ell) says this really proudly, that when you look at the evolution of our team and the establishment of our culture, guys like Logan Muckey, Anthony Favrow, Tommy Lock, Chris Cray, I know I’m leaving, Freddie Bolton and I’m leaving some of them out.
“Those guys as walk-ons have had as much to do with the transformation of that locker room and establishment of the Elite EDGE culture as anybody. And I think Logan is a really, really strong representation of that, you know, guy who just shows up every day with the right kind of energy and attitude and effort. Makes plays, no job’s too big or too small for him, and he’s willing to hold people accountable.
“We talk about being accountable to the standard, or responsible for the standard. He’s one of those guys that feels responsible for the standard that’s been established and set. He holds people to that. He’s willing to call people out, and you can only do that if your life and your action, are, if you’re accountable to the standards. So I think he’s done a really, really good job, and we’re just proud of
him, thankfully on the team.”
Question: “With Muckey, when you first offered him a spot here to walk-on, what was it about him at that point that you wanted to give him that chance?”
Drinkwitz: “I think, pure desperation,” said with a laugh. “You know, I think we do a really good job in the walk-on category, from establishing the high school players early on who can play, who we think can help us. When we first got here, that wide receive position was a position that we really needed to flip that room. And whether that was through transfer, or whether that was through scholarship or walk-ons, and Logan, Logan had all the right things about him. And obviously, you know, he was coming from a really good high school that we wanted to recruit some players from, too. So that helped us.”
Question: “You mentioned it already, but are there any other specifics on the defensive side of the ball that you want to just see go well in Week 1?”
Drinkwitz: “All of them. I mean, it all starts with us stopping the run, I think we want to make sure we can establish the ability to stop the run. I think we want to see if we can rush the passer without having to be too exotic in our pressures. Let’s see if we can establish the ability to affect the passer. I think we want to see what kind of coverage ability we have.
“Are we going to have to be a team that, can we be a team that denies the ball or do we have to be a team that has a touchdown-proof defense and just trying to keep everything in front of us. Can we force takeaways? Can we tackle well? So there’s a lot of things to figure out. I think we know going into it what we want to try to establish. But you know, everybody goes in with a plan. You’re gonna have to react to different things that occur.”
Question: “Coach, you’ve been a fan of the 9-game schedule. With the SEC releasing that, how do you feel about that?”
Drinkwitz: “Changed my mind,” said with a laugh. “You know, look, I don’t know. I said this at media days, and I still believe it. The two most important is the factors of making decisions, in my opinion, from a conference standpoint, or for college football, is the fans and the players. And everything else is really secondary. I don’t think we should weigh in conference affiliation or finances or all that different stuff is, is my opinion really caused a lot of the issues we have in college football right now, because it’s really been about, anyway. So I think from a fan standpoint, it’s awesome. I really do think adding those games are great for the fans. I think it’s going to be a challenge.
“Obviously. I think there’s going to be unintended consequences from increasing the schedule difficulties. I think there’s going to be unintended consequences with having a four- and five-game rotation, where you only have four conference home games and there’s going to be five conference road games. Which now makes scheduling even more challenging, because you just told us that we have to have one Power 4 outside of that, which you could be looking at a six-home game, six-road game schedule, which would make no sense when we spent $250 million building a North End Zone project.
“So I think there’s a lot of challenges there that we have to, we have to figure out and get right. So you know, and it’s not exactly like they’re giving us a lot of time to do that. We don’t even know who our three permanents are. We don’t know what the schedule looks like, and we got to do it here in the next nine months. So, or really, six months. And you have to buy out some stuff.
“So we figured it out before. But I do think there’s a lot of unintended consequences that, hopefully, that everybody was aware of on that stuff. You know, we’ll go from there. But I will say this, I just hope we get through this season first, because there’s no guarantee anything for next year, right? So focus on being 1-0 those this year. We’ll figure out next year’s challenges next year.
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