Spring Review: Missouri Tigers

Spring practices have concluded across the Southeastern Conference. You kept a close eye on what was happening with Kentucky football, but how did the Wildcats’ opponents fare? KSR has everything you need to know from spring about the guys that will line up on the other side of the line of scrimmage this fall. Next up is the Missouri Tigers.

Spring Review: Vanderbilt Commodores

Spring Review: Florida Gators

Spring Review: Georgia Bulldogs

Spring Review: Mississippi State Bulldogs

A shift change on offense

Eliah Drinkwitz became an SEC head football coach primarily due to his accomplishments as a play-caller. The former Arkansas high school coach was hired by Auburn in 2010 as a quality control working under Gus Malzahn. From there, he followed Malzahn to Arkansas State in 2012, and became Bryan Harsin‘s co-offensive coordinator in 2013, and followed the former Texas offensive coordinator to Boise State. In 2015, Drinkwitz was promoted to play-caller and led the Broncos to a top-50 finish in SP+ where the Broncos averaged 39.1 points per game. That work would give Drinkwitz his first Power Five opportunity.

The 33-year-old was hired by Dave Doeren to call plays at NC State in 2016 and stayed in Raleigh for three seasons. In the ACC, Drinkwitz had two top-30 offenses with Boise State QB transfer Ryan Finley followed Drinkwitz to NC State and ultimately became a draft pick after throwing for 10,501 yards and 60 touchdowns over three seasons. After Scott Satterfield left Appalachian State for Louisville, Drinkwitz left for the Sun Belt and led the Mountaineers to a conference title and Power Five wins over North Carolina and South Carolina in year one. App State put up 38.8 points per game and spent most of the season in the top 25. That work got him to Missouri.

Unfortunately, the offensive results have not translated to the SEC.

The Tigers have never averaged more than 29.1 points per game under Drinkwitz and have never finished better than No. 49 in points per drive. The only top-50 finish occurred last year when Drinkwitz relinquished play-calling duties to Bush Hamdan in the middle of the season. Hamdan would leave the program to call plays at Boise State after the regular season finished. To replace Hamdan, Drinkwitz looked to the Mountain West and hired Kirby Moore.

The younger brother of Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has been a full-time college football assistant since 2017 spending six years working for his alma mater. In 2022, Moore was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after spending five seasons coaching wide receivers. In his only play-calling season, Moore helped lead the Bulldogs to a Mountain West title ranking No. 35 in points per drive (2.62) and No. 65 in SP+ despite dealing with some QB injuries. Now Drinkwitz will be rolling the dice with the inexperienced play-caller and QB coach.

Moore has a very interesting background with his brother and working for Chris Petersen, Jonathan Smith, Kalen DeBoer, Ryan Grubb, and Jeff Tedford. The coaching and family pedigree is intriguing, but this is a risky hire by Drinkwitz.

In the spring, Moore was without quarterback Brady Cook who was recovering from offseason labrum surgery, but the St. Louis native is the heavy favorite to be the team’s starter in Week 1 despite Mizzou adding Miami transfer Jake Garcia. Therefore, the defense got the better of the Tigers, but there is some excitement about wide receiver (hello, Luther Burden), and some work in the transfer portal has raised the offensive line’s floor and ceiling.

Missouri’s 2023 season and Drinkwitz’s future could be riding on what Moore can produce in year one making this one of the more fascinating units in the SEC.

What can Blake Baker accomplish in year two?

Eliah Drinkwitz hired LSU linebackers coach Blake Baker to coach safeties at Missouri following the 2021 season. Less than a month later, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks left Columbia for the NFL. Drinkwitz quickly promoted Baker — a former defensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech and Miami — to a play-calling role.

That was a great decision.

In Missouri’s first season under Baker, the Tigers switched to a 4-2-5 scheme that lived and breathed off havoc production. Mizzou brought pressure from numerous exotic looks often asking the defensive line to twist and stunt. The new scheme led to production.

Baker’s unit led the SEC and ranked No. 11 in tackles for loss per game (7.23), led the SEC and ranked No. 12 in sack rate (8.84%), and forced 18 takeaways in 13 games. Missouri finished the season No. 19 in SP+ and No. 38 in points per drive (1.95). Mizzou got offenses behind the chains, didn’t give up a ton of chunk plays, and gave this team a chance to win a bunch of games last season.

Now Baker will attempt to reload.

The Tigers return 7 of their top 10 tacklers highlighted by cornerbacks Kris Abrams-Draine (48 tackles, 14 passes defended) and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (34 tackles, 13 passes defended). This duo could be the best cornerback tandem in the SEC. Former Florida transfer Ty’Ron Hopper (78 tackles, 14 tackles for loss) should appear on some preseason All-SEC teams at linebacker. Replacing the pass rush production lost with DJ Coleman and Isaiah McGuire (12 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 55 pressures) will be difficult, but the pieces are there for this to be a top-25 defense again.

Missouri’s defense appeared to dominate the offense in the spring, and that should not be a surprise. The Tigers won’t have the outstanding defensive line depth they had last season, but this is still a unit with multiple playmakers in the back seven and an active front that will give offensive lines issues. If Missouri has a good season, it will be due to another strong performance by this defense.

Does hot seat watch ever kick in?

To just about everyone’s surprise, Eliah Drinkwitz received a two-year contract extension through 2027 on Nov. 5 just hours before Missouri played a huge home game against Kentucky. The Tigers also extended Blake Baker heading into that contest. Kentucky was able to leave Faurot Field with a win.

Kentucky takes the lead! Will Levis to Dane Key. pic.twitter.com/TqtUEXOo4F

— Rare Rookies #BBN (@rarerookies) November 5, 2022

After two October wins against Vanderbilt (home) and ranked South Carolina (away), the Tigers went 1-3 against their remaining Power Five opponents with a 42-point loss to Tennessee and a double-digit loss to Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Drinkwitz enters year four at Missouri with a 17-19 (11-15) record. The 40-year-old has never posted a winning season in Columbia. Drinkwitz does own home victories over LSU (2020) and Florida (2021). Mizzou is 2-1 against Arkansas and 3-0 against South Carolina. However, this team is 0-4 under Drinkwitz in bowl games and non-con contests against Power Five opponents. The Tigers haven’t figured out quarterback, the offensive results have been middling, and the defense stunk until last season.

A lot is riding on the 2023 campaign.

The Week 3 home game against Kansas State is significant for multiple reasons. A win can end that bad mark out of SEC losing streak and set the stage for a 5-0 start with LSU coming to CoMo on Oct. 7. A loss could have Missouri at 3-3 and playing Kentucky on the road at a place they haven’t won at since 2013. The 2023 season could be quite the pressure cooker.

Athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois could have a tough decision to make if things get sideways just a year after handing out a contract extension that was not needed. We could know where Drinkwitz stands before Mizzou makes travels to Kroger Field on Oct. 14.