Everything Eliah Drinkwitz said ahead of Alabama

Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz met with local media Tuesday to discuss the Tigers’ upcoming matchup with Alabama.

Here is video and a transcript of everything Drinkwitz said.

Drinkwitz: All right, great to be back. Had a great work week last week with the players and the staff. We really had three goals, we were focused on sharpening our edge, improvement and recovery. Now really looking forward to moving on to Alabama. Which is a really, really good football team and a very difficult test for us. I think Coach (Kalen) DeBoer has his team playing at an elite level, obviously. Now that his team and culture is really installed, you can see why he’s one of the elite coaches within college football.

“He’s got great assistants that have really established their identities in all three phases. I think obviously (offensive coordinator) coach (Ryan) Grubb on the offensive side of the ball. You can see his influence the offensive dynamics, very explosive offensively, especially through the pass game. He really does a great job of utilizing formation to the boundary early in the game to dictate what you’re going to be in from a play caller standpoint. And then knows how to attack those coverages.

“I think it’s his ability to do that. Which gets his quarterback into some really good, comfortable situations, that then allows the run game to open up. They have a really, really dynamic offensive line. Obviously featured some of the best, the best left tackle in the country and one of the best centers in the country. Obviously, their entire offensive line is really good. Running back being back has helped them control the clock and control the ground game. (He) does a really good job in blitz pick up. And then, obviously, the wide receivers are electric with their ability to utilize space when in man-to-man and vertically down the field.

“I think their quarterback, again, is as good, if not better, than what other head coaches have been speaking about. And his ability to make off-schedule plays, maneuver in the pocket, be accurate with the football. There’s zero doubt he knows how to attack cover 2. He does a really good job of that. And then they’re really good in the middle eight. So, gonna be a tough out on the offensive side of the ball.

“Defensively, obviously, Coach (Kane) Womack knows defense, knows how to defend us. Did an excellent job last year, multiple schemes, multiple fronts, multiple coverages, disguise pressure. Has a really good feel for the game. You can tell he’s been a former head coach, just as a play caller. He understands the style of game that it’s going to be and how to take away your best players. How to take away what you want to do.

“They have elite players at all three levels, they force takeaways and protect the ball. They play complementary football this year at a really high level.

“And then obviously special teams. There’s a lot of variety of what they do in their punt scheme and in their return games. They’re very sound and create explosives. So it’s going to be a challenge, one that I think our team is excited about, looking forward to. I know our fans are excited. 11 a.m. kick, we’ll be ready to rock and roll.

“And then Cayden Green will be listed as questionable this week. He did get some rehab reps yesterday. Really, the challenge will be to see where he is today, see how that progresses. Won’t know for sure or for certain until the end of the week. So follow along closely to the SEC availability report and Pete Thamel tweets. So with that, I’ll open up for your questions.”

Question: Coach, when you’re getting ready for Alabama, how much did you look back at the matchup with Florida State and just what the Noles were able to do in that game as far as a blueprint?

Drinkwitz: “Yeah, I don’t know if it’s a blueprint. I mean, you look at every game, we look, we’ve looked at, you know, the beauty of the bye week is to look at every game that they played from last year. Really starting with us and how they tried to defend us and did an excellent job. And then you look to see if there’s common themes that people have tried to exploit. Obviously, (Florida State) Coach (Gus) Malzahn has his own type of system in place. Which creates a little bit of a challenge to try to replicate what he did.

“But I think the biggest thing is to watch the jump from Week 1 to Weeks 2, 3, 4, and they’re really not even the same team. The way they played versus Wisconsin and Georgia and Vandy, in comparison to Week 1, it looks like a totally different team. Obviously. I think getting the big man back in the middle, (defensive tackle Tim) Keenan, I think he is a complete difference maker for them. And I think that was big for them on the defensive side of the ball. But you can just, they know who they are. And then I think the offense has been a little bit more complimentary to what they’re trying to do on the defensive side of the ball.”

Question: When you mention assistants, all the crossover between your coordinators and theirs, does that have any impact on a game or preparation? Just the familiarity level there between everybody?

Drinkwitz: Yeah, it probably just creates more mind splinters than anything. Because you start thinking, if this, then that, or, you know, you start thinking too much about it. It’s going to be a player’s game. I think scheme will have something to do with it, but it’s going to be a player’s game. Obviously, have a lot of respect for what they do offensively. Just because that was the style offense that we wanted to bring to here in complimentary with what we’re doing in the run game. So, but, you start asking too many questions. You go down rabbit holes.”

Question: Just curious how different this idle week, this bye week, this far into the season looked compared to the first one from last year where you kind of came out flat at Texas A&M?

Drinkwitz: It’s yeah, I don’t know. I didn’t really spend any time looking at that aspect of it, I think each bye week is uniquely different based off the circumstances of the team, what the team needs in order to continue that season. I think last year, we’ve already addressed it, was a little bit more had to do with the first road trip than necessarily the bye week plan.

“In the second bye week, we came out with a little bit more spirit to us. Obviously, you got a guard against the rust. I think there was a couple of teams this past week who played after a bye week, didn’t quite have the same kind of, probably, sharpness that they wanted. That’s why the first thing we said about our goal was to sharpen our edge. That was to find things that we needed to improve on. So, there was, I mean, it was a different approach. But it was based off it being a different need for our team.”

Question: You’re talking a little bit about the run game and how they were able to get it going against Vanderbilt. Just, what do you think they were able to do well in that game, and especially with the chunk plays?

Drinkwitz: “You know, I think, obviously they do a lot of shifts in motion to try to create uncovered gaps, or find a weak support player. Which, you know, if you’re, if you’re weak in support against that offensive line, you know, that’s a, that’s a tough out. They’re really big and physical. I think their offensive line coach, Chris Kapilovic, does a really good job. Obviously, the running backs got vision and toughness.

“And then obviously, I think the biggest issue is you got to kind of pick your poison. Do you want to get beat in the pass game? Or do you want to be light in the box and defended from explosive passes? Vandy was playing quite a bit of cover 2. Which, cover 2 is going to leave you short in the run game unless you’re trapping it. And then, you know, they were able to kind of pick apart the cover 2 in second-and-long situations. Ty (Simpson) was making some throws that were pretty incredible.”

Question: Like you all, Alabama’s really good on third downs and then controlling the clock as well. What have you seen out of them that you think allows them to do both of those things at a high level?

Drinkwitz: Yeah, I think obviously the Georgia game was, and Vandy, was extremely well done on their third-down plan. The quarterback makes very good decisions, not easily deceived with disguise, unaffected by pressure, ability to escape. I think those three things make it really difficult to try to game plan a quarterback on third down. You kind of have to pick your poison like, if we play zone, he’s gonna pick us apart. If we blitz, he’s gonna stand in there and identify the one-on-one matchup and take it. So, I think that’s what they’ve been really good at. I’m pretty confident he had three scrambles for first downs against Georgia. And the first two he stared down the barrel of some blitzes and delivered.”

Question: Ahmad Hardy leads the country in yards after contact and missed tackles forced. From your perspective, after watching back some film, what have you see that’s made him so effective in making the first man miss?

Drinkwitz: “Yeah, I mean, honestly, we’ll find out this week. He’s done it his whole career, but the challenges continue to grow this week. He’s really good at keeping his lower body churning. He doesn’t have a very big strike zone. But we’ll find out this week.”

Question: When you look at the secondary, something we’ve talked about this season, Alabama has so many, obviously, threats at that level. What did you kind of see in the bye week? And maybe areas for improvement there and have they attacked the bye week?

Drinkwitz: “Yeah, that was really component No. 2 for us, improvement. You know, improving in our zone cover. We’ve given up a lot of explosive passes in some of our zone stuff. So, trying to make improvements to, you know, our zone distribution. And then, you know, we’ve had really too many penalties in this, in the back end, too. So, trying to get better at not utilizing our hands in appropriate ways. Pardon the way I described that.”

Question: Speaking of the secondary, last time we talked to you, you were monitoring an injury for Dreydon Norwood. Is there any update on his status or how the recovery process has gone for him the past couple of weeks?”

Drinkwitz: “Yeah, Dreyden (Norwood) is a full go. Yesterday, in fact, outside of Cayden, Jordon (Harris) is full go. The others, Logan (Reichert’s) been a long term. He’s not back yet, maybe could get him back next week, but probably not. But hopefully by Vandy. Sam (Horn) and Blake (Craig) are still out.”

Question: When you mentioned Alabama being really good with turnovers, I know that was one of the things you were talking about after the UMass game. But what did you guys go back and see and kind of, what were the conversations like, any common thread in those turnovers?

Drinkwitz: “Yeah, there’s some, there’s some common threads. You know, biggest thread on, on the pick against UMass was he pushed up in the pocket and the ball got deflected by a D-lineman. Which caused it to sail right. You know, we’ve just got to be a little bit better, youu know, we use the term, ‘Take the space you need, but only the space you need.’ I think sometimes quarterbacks can get a little bit too antsy to push up in the pocket. You know, you got to be able to just have subtle pocket movements to find the space that you need to deliver some balls. And if you look at the common theme, whether it’s the fumble versus Kansas or that interception, we’re pushing too far in the pocket. So, just got to clean that up a little bit.

“Really, really appreciate things with Beau (Pribula). He’s one of the most coachable quarterbacks I’ve ever been around. He is. He has the right mentality on trying to grow and trying to get better and utilizing all the different aspects that he can to improve. He’s really hungry to improve and understands that the best game is still out in front of him. So, I think, you know, obviously, (offensive coordinator) Coach (Kirby) Moore, (quarterbacks) Coach (Sean) Gleeson, have done a really good job of not trying to overload him. You know, you know, as a quarterback, this game is too complex and too complicated to be played without some errors. You just can’t have compounding errors.”

Question: In what ways has Brett Norfleet impressed you this season?

Drinkwitz: “Wow. You know, I think there’s a lot of different ways that Brett (Norfleet), obviously, he’s always been a really good physical blocker at the point of attack. If you look at a lot of Ahmad or Jamal’s runs, he’s been a featured person in those blocks. Obviously, he’s been very consistent catching football. He’s done a really good job chipping. But I think the single biggest, greatest growth with Brett has been his mindset in the way he talks to himself. Brett used to be a, still battles we all do with a negative voice. Sometimes he would get down on himself, instead of finding a way to just maintain neutrality and be positive and really focusing on this play. I’ve seen him growing in that area, and I think it’s allowed him to play more free.”

Question: Talking about Beau being coachable, where have you seen some of the biggest improvements for him since he first got in the building or even since that first start against UCA?

Drinkwitz: “Well, I think honestly, versus UCA, and even somewhat versus Kansas, he was a little bit more reckless with like, just taking off and wanting to run and thinking that that was his only component to being a, you know, or his secret weapon, you know, I think he’s such an accurate passer, and he’s finding ways to just continue to throw the football, outsmart the defense, not just out tough the defense or out physical the defense with his skill set.

“And that’s really the key to being a really good quarterback, is knowing what they’re doing and how to attack them. So, you know, as he continues to grow in that it’s going to get more and more challenging each week. I think obviously we’re focused on this week, but we spent some of the bye week on next opponents prep or future opponent prep. And you look at some of these defenses we’re going to face, the amount of disguise and variance, and what they do is just going to come to continue to be a challenge.”

Question: Obviously, always an advantage to have two weeks to prepare. But you mentioned seeing teams coming off a bye week needing to shake off the rust. In your experience, what’s the best way to maybe avoid that going into this game?

Drinwkitz: “Well, go good-on-good. Which we did quite a bit in the bye week, and we did yesterday, and we’ll do today and tomorrow. So the speed of the game stays the same, the speed of decisions, the intensity. Today’s toughness Tuesday. We’ll get a great work at inside drill, we’ll get a great dirty show. We’ll get a great crossover, which are all game-type reps that we need.

“And then play football. I mean, there’s a, there’s a fine line between recovery and we have a saying, ‘We want to be tough, but we don’t want to be dumb tough.’ So, you know, trying to find that, walk that line of not being dumb tough. Fresh horses run fast races, we got to make sure guys are, you know, ready for what lies ahead with this next seven-game SEC schedule. We can’t beat them up in practice.”

Question: A few weeks ago on the SEC call, you had talked about, with the tempo you guys play with, you’re able to, yes, control the time of possession. But you’re also, it’s not all slowing it down to, just for the sake of slowing it down. You’re able to play fast when you want to. Could you just talk about how much can you really plan to control the time of possession? Is it anything more than just executing on third downs to be able to stay on the field? Or how much of it can you really instill to be able to control that?

Drinkwitz: “Yeah, I don’t know if you can plan on going into a game and saying, ‘We’re going to control the time of possession.’ It’s really about execution. When I see a team that’s been on the field a long time, it’s because they’re consistently executing and or they’re not creating explosive plays.

“You know, I think for us, there’s kind of two different questions there. The first question for us, you know, we try to play with an offensive rhythm. I think 15 years ago, going fast was a real competitive advantage. I’m not sure that it’s as advantageous now. People have kind of adjusted to it. So now for us, it’s the ability to be in and out of tempos, regardless of personnel, to be able to play as fast as we want to, to try to keep the defense off balance, or keep the defense from subbing.

“When you face a team that matches personnel, you can get an advantageous personnel grouping, just try to stay in it. And then it just keeps the defense from finding that rhythm. If the play caller’s having to, as soon as the ball is tackled, get another play call in, or does he get a chance to find out what personnel, watch the formation and get a call like those are a couple of different strategy thoughts that we have with doing that.

“But it all comes back down to your ability to execute, stay on the field. Best laid plans of mice and men, I mean, if you go three-and-out, you’re not going to really control the tempo. So, you’re going to have to figure out how to convert third downs and find explosives to keep yourself on the field.”

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