Missouri closed out the 2024 season with a Music City Bowl victory, securing back-to-back 10-win seasons and a spot in the final AP Top 25.
Coach Eli Drinkwitz is back for his sixth season with the Tigers, who will have a new-look roster in 2025. Missouri saw key departures to the NFL and lost depth pieces to the transfer portal, but also welcomed a strong group of impact players through the portal.
With spring football underway, Drinkwitz addressed many of the biggest questions surrounding the team, from roster changes to the injury status of key players.
Here’s a full transcript from his press conference:
Opening Statement
“Alright. A lot to cover since I’ve last seen y’all. So appreciate y’all being here. First, I wanna congratulate Robin Pingeton on win 250. What a great career she’s had at the University of Missouri, and I hope the Mizzou family and fan base will send her out right tomorrow and send her off for all the things that she’s done for our community and for the University of Missouri and so really proud of her.
Number two, good luck to coach Gates tonight. What an awesome job he’s done with our basketball program. He deserves all the credit and absolutely should be under consideration for SEC coach of the year and national coach of the year for the job that he’s doing and just really, really proud of him.
I’m a proud Columbia, Missouri resident. My family and I live here. We’re really happy to be a part of this community. Our players live here. Our coaches and their families live in this community, and, yes, I choose to participate in the democratic process, but I have no comment on, and cannot comment on, anything outside of those comments right there in regards to anything else.
The last part is Derek Nicholson, our new linebackers coach. What an incredible hire we were able to get. We wish DJ Smith all the success in the world as the new defensive coordinator at App State, but we’re really proud of being able to hire D Nick, a guy who’s coached at multiple places throughout college football, an elite recruiter. He’s got the credentials from playing in the NFL and also the players that he has, developed. So, really proud to add him to our staff. And so with that, I’ll open it up with questions.”
On the absence of Brady Cook, Theo Wease Jr. and Johnny Walker Jr.
“Yeah. It’s honestly surreal to not have those guys who’ve been with me the whole time, but this is a new group. It’s a new energy. It’s good. There’s a competition going on with the quarterbacks and the linebackers, so there’s still a freshness. You still got old vets. Wiley vets like Dalen Carnell and Connor Tollison. It’s good, but it’s definitely different.”
On what he’s seen from Penn State transfer quarterback Beau Pribula
“Beau is extremely diligent in his work, does a lot of preparation, and excited about what he’ll be able to contribute.”
On what he’s seen on the new additions to the team
“I mean, we’ve got a ton of new guys here. Between early enrollee freshmen and then transfers. It’s important for us. Spring is all about individual player development. It’s all about their growth.
So not to try to put too much pressure on themselves to come out here. I told them today should be the worst day you are as a Missouri football player because it’s your first day. You’re unsure of everything. From this point on, it’s about growing and getting better. I’m confident all those guys will do that.”
On Connor Tollison ‘s recovery processes
“He’s doing really good. He’s able to be out here and snap during seven-on-seven. Obviously, he’s no contact, but he’s really attacked his rehab and I’m really proud of him and how much he’s gotten done.”
On Brett Norfleet’s recovery process
“Man, our our medical staff did an excellent job getting that surgery done. Obviously he was disappointed he had to miss the bowl game, but was able to get a head start on that. We like where we’re at. Obviously, we’re gonna be very cautious in how we try to utilize him this spring. Don’t want any setbacks. So he’s out there in non-contact situations and drills so we can protect him. In drills that could threaten re-injuring that he won’t participate this spring. “
On Darris Smith’s recovery process and the depth of the defensive line
“Darris is out there right now. He’s going through what he can. He’s one of those that we wanna be really cautious just because of his length and speed and twitch. Everything’s on track, but we limit the contact that he can have. He’s going through individual. He’s doing all the non-contact stuff that he can, but we just don’t wanna put him in a negative situation. We know how physical and talented he is. Now it’s just about getting him back, acclimated and excited about what he’s gonna contribute.
That defensive end room—you know, you combine Dame, Nate, Langdon, Javion, Eddie, Zion, D Smith, Jakai Lang—just good old solid Jakai Lang who shows up every day and does his job. That is a really talented and deep room right now for us.”
On Sam Horn’s current condition
“Sam looks great, fully cleared, throwing the ball. So no concerns with him at all and it’s been fun to watch him, see how much he can apply his growth from watching.”
On deciding a starting Quarterback
“There’s an old saying “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
So, the quarterback position, there is no timeline, no timetable. When the starting quarterback makes himself known to the rest of the team, we’ll announce the starter. I told those guys that there is no plan to try to name a starter through spring. I don’t really believe in that because I think it puts too much pressure on the team and everybody involved. This is about individual player development.”
It is about each player trying to get better and better every single day. And you know how we decided who’s gonna be the first quarterback out there today? Old fashioned paper, rock, scissors. So don’t look too much into that. It’s about player growth and not having pressure performance right now. That’ll come, but it’s about these guys making plays.”
On Quarterback developement
“My biggest thing with the quarterback is really about what’s his growth and learning potential. The thing about Brady Cook is he didn’t make the same mistake twice. Right? So we lost a lot of one-score games in his first year, and then the last two years, we won a ton because he learned from those situations.
What we’ve gotta force these quarterbacks to go into is you gotta we gotta put you in the red zone. You gotta make a mistake and then not make it again. You know, we gotta put you in a two-minute drill when you make a mistake and not make it again. That’ll be the growth that we’re trying to see.
Somebody making a great throw in a four set rack, we’re not gonna get real excited about. It’s gonna be about how do they respond to the mistakes they make, and that’ll put us on the right path. As far as playing everybody’s strengths right now, we’re just putting in an offense and then we’ll tailor that offense to whoever the starter is once we get there. The thing about Coach Moore’s offense is it’s got a multiplicity to it. So, these guys are just getting the DNA, and then they’re gonna make plays within the DNA of the offense.”
On every season being a new start
“I think that the number one realization in college football is every year it starts over. It’s about reestablishing the culture and identity that you want on this football team. You lean on leaders like Daylan Carnell and Connor Tollison and Jakai Lang. Some of these vets who’ve been here a while that understand that process. What you don’t rely on is being comfortable.
I’ve challenged everybody. Let’s not be comfortable. Let’s not be complacent. Complacency will kill our team, and being comfortable will kill our ability to win. So we’ve pushed our guys.
That’s why there’s open competitions and a lot of positions.”
I think it’s his opportunity for him to lead. You know, he played as a freshman. Last year, it was kinda somebody else’s turn because he was new. He’s not new anymore. He’s a leader. He’s an excellent player. Especially with Connor being out right now, he’s really the old reliable in the room. And so, gotta continue to see him be vocal, but he’s got it in him. And now he’s just gotta cut it loose and be that leader we know he can.”
On kicker Blake Craig’s developement
“First off, love the way he puts in the work. He’s one of those guys that always is working. We identified that exact same thing, between the forty and forty-nine yard line was the biggest issue that we had, and so that’s something we gotta attack. One of the things that we felt like is maybe charting the wind to see if we’re over-adjusting for the wind because, on our practice fields, it can tend to be windy up there.
So we just gotta make sure that we are, putting him in the best position possible. Also, we were using movable goal posts on the practice field instead of the exact same replica goal post that we have in the stadium. And so we’ve made an adjustment to that, just to make sure that we’re putting our guys in the best position possible for practice execution in this game day reality.”
On quality he looks for in offensive linemen
“It always starts for us with athleticism. You know, we want big, long, athletic guys and then toughness, and ultimately, we gotta make sure that they’re a scheme fit. We start with the outside zone. We felt like those guys were athletic enough to handle it. Really appreciate what Dom’s [Guidice] done so far, with Connor being out, he’s taken the challenge of being a center, snapped really well today. He has all the calls down. In fact, I joke when he walked by Connor and asked him if he ever heard of Wally Pipp, just to make sure he’s ready to roll.”
On not bringing in any intererior defensive linemen through the transfer portal
“We like what we got there. We feel like we’re with Chris and Sterling and Marquise and Jalen, Sam, you know, Bodford, Jason Dowell coming in. We feel like we got some depth there, but there’s another portal window coming open, and I’m not saying anything. I mean, why stop now? “
On leadership in the wide receiver room
“Obviously, you know, you got guys coming back like Josh Marquis, Logan Muckey, Daniel Blood, but, man, Kevin Coleman’s played a ton of football, and he made some incredible plays today. Long deep wall down the side line, did a wonderful job in some of our own ones. So we know he understands what it takes to be successful, and his leadership will rub off on the rest of that group. Marquis and Josh Manning are gonna always guys that they know what an elite edge looks like and is, and they understand what the culture of NWO is, and then you got Logan Muckey. So feel confident in that room, you know, really was impressed with the two, rooks today. Donovan and Sean, I thought both of them had some really good reps.”
On the roles of early enrollee frehsmen
“It’s way too early to see. You see flashes right now, but the name of the game is consistency. It’s whether you can continue to stack days. But I like where our guys are at. CJ Bass has really grown up. I thought Dante McClellan’s been good. Marquise Davis had a really nice run on the outside zone. It’s been really positive so far. You know, one thing I do need to mention is Whit Hafer has moved to the tackle position, and I was really impressed with what he put on tape today.”
On Luther Burden III 40 time
“I don’t have a prediction, but it’ll be fast enough that nobody can tackle.”
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