Everything Eliah Drinkwitz said Tuesday: "This group of men have worked extremely hard."
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz met with media Tuesday ahead of the Tigers’ matchup with Mississippi State. Here is everything he said.
Opening statement
Drinkwitz: “Today, it’s Veterans Day, and I just want to tell them that we appreciate their example, their sacrifice, their vulnerability, their wisdom and the courage they continue to lead with, inspire us and protect us. You know, they protect the most sacred gift that we have, which is life, liberty and freedom. And for that, a simple thank you is the words I’d like to give them today,
“Senior Week, 20 men who are here for their final home game in Faurot Field. I want to first thank the fans for making Faurot Field such a special place this season, and for selling out all their home games, and really making it a remarkable place to play. I know that the seniors have a very special feeling about Faurot Field, and because of that, this will be a very emotional game for Vince Brown, Kevin Coleman, Daylen Carnell, Jalen Catalan, Stephen Hall, Bralen Henderson, Khalil Jacobs, Tommy Lock, Xavier Loyd, Chris McClellan, Henry McDermott, Logan Muckey, Triston Newsom, Drey Norwood, Toriano Pride, Connor Tollison, Keagen Trost, Sterling Webb, Connor Weselman and Zion Young.
“This group of men have worked extremely hard. Some have been here for a long time. Some have been here for a short time, but all have contributed to the success of Mizzou football, and we’re going to work really hard to show our appreciation to them. One of the things that we’re currently working on, I think one of the coolest traditions that Mizzou has is after senior day, if you win, you get to go grab a rock and make the teammates carry you off the field. We are currently constructing a Rock M on one of the grass spots in front of Brock Olivo’s name, so that we can continue that tradition. Should we happen to earn that with the win this week.
“And it’s going to be a very difficult challenge. Mississippi State is a team that is proving year end, improving year in over year out. I think Coach (Jeff) Lebby has got that program going the right direction. They have five wins, looking for their sixth win to become bowl eligible. Got their first conference win two weeks ago versus Arkansas. Obviously played a very tough team in Georgia last week, but you can tell that program is growing and going in the right direction.
“Offensively, very dynamic and explosive run based RPO offense that utilizes tempo, creates explosive plays, utilizes space really well. Defensively, have remade their defense, but very multiple, very aggressive, very attacking, nine seniors on that side of the ball. Which creates, you know, they got a lot of experience, which creates its own challenge for us. And so it’ll be a very difficult game for us. And one that we have to prepare for, but one that we are excited about. So with that, I’ll open up the questions.”
Question: The talk after the game on Saturday night that A&M had some idea what was coming, was calling out plays. Is that something that happens, did it happen? What’s your reaction to that?
Drinkwitz: “Yeah, my reaction to that is, obviously we’ve got to do a better job with some of our signaling and communication. And obviously we got to go back and check our tendencies. We came back off of the bye. We felt like we had pretty good handle on our tendency stuff. You know, we run a lot outside zone. I think that’s probably pretty predictable. And so we just got to go back and make sure that we’re doing the best job we can, to check our stances, check our learning and verbiage, to make sure that we’re clean on that right.”
Question: What was it about last week that showed it was the time to flip the switch and give Donovan (Olugbode) the start?
Drinkwitz: “Just, just the right time.”
Question: Where is the first step of improvement you would like to see from Matt (Zollers)?
Drinkwitz: “Yeah, you know for us, it’s about getting him comfortable earlier in the game. And creating some easier opportunities for him to get into a rhythm. We never really got him into the rhythm offensively. And so we’ve got to do a better job of creating some offensive rhythm and not putting him in situations where he feels the entire pressure to make a play. So that’s something that we can do. Obviously, I think, you know, Matt didn’t play his senior year because of an injury. Game against UCA and ULL was, you know, the first time he’s really played, and then Vanderbilt.
“So, I knew there was going to be some, some things that we got to continue to work on. I think his confidence in yesterday. Days walk through was better. I think his confidence and practice will be better. And now we’ve got building blocks on what we can build upon so, but it’s not, you know, it’s unfair to expect Matt to carry the load. I’ve got to do my job of carrying the load for Matt. Our staff’s got to do their job, and then our whole team’s got to continue to do their job.”
Question: How have you evaluated the special teams unit as a whole this season?
Drinkwitz: “Yeah, all six phases, yeah, yeah. I think there’s, there’s room for improvement in some of the phases. You know, appreciative of the big return, kickoff return that (DaMarion) Fowlkes had that really got us going and got us back into the game after we scored on that drive. Make it 21-7. You know, there’s been some ups and downs. But we’re all working each week to try to find a way to improve that. And you know, we’re working this week to try to improve our special teams phases.”
Question: Mississippi State blitzes the opposing quarterback quite a bit the past four games. Against Auburn, this past weekend, what have you learned about how to counteract blitzes? Especially when they come as often as Mississippi State does?
Drinkwitz: “Are those base downs or third downs? Are those simulated pressures? Are they six-man hits, are they-five man hits?
Reporter: (I’m not sure. Those are just not quarterback drop backs, or, I should say percent of quarterback drop backs.)
Drinkwitz: “So that’s including any down there’s a drop back pass down? (correct). Yeah. So, you know, each one of them are usually unique. You know, they play a lot of odd-front to 11 personnel. They play more four-down front to 12 personnel. So, when you’re 11 personnel or 10-piece sets, you get a little bit more open. And then they, what we call simulated pressure, where they’re bringing a fourth person, but it’s really not technically a blitz for us, because you should be designed with five offensive linemen to pick up four and the back to scan for the fifth.
“And so, you know, some of those numbers can be a little bit deceiving on the amount of pressures that you’re getting. You know, for us, we have to do a better job of making the pocket cleaner for Matt. I do think that we were able to do that early in the game. Obviously, the end of half play on third-and-9, did not do a good enough job of that. And those long-yardage situations create, you know, situations where they can play press man. There’s not much move, you know, there’s not much separation, and then the pressure has, your quarterback has to hold the ball a little bit longer to create that separation.
“So, if we can stay out of those long-yard situations, that would be beneficial for us, in the beating pressure, in the run opportunities, something that we haven’t really generated a lot of, something that we can look into.”
Question: After taking time to review film, just how would you asses the overall game plan and play calling process from last Saturday?
Drinkwitz: “You know, in any game I’ve ever been a part of, whether it’s a win or a loss, whether I’ve been calling plays or not calling plays, whether I’ve been a GA, I’ve never had an offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator not come in and say, ‘I wish I would have handled this situation a little bit better. I wish I could have done this differently.’ And I don’t think there’s anything about Saturday that we all don’t go back and say, ‘I wish I would have done this differently.’
“I wish I would have said we would have been in safe punt on the third down. And so, you know, the assessments, really, for all of that stuff, for me, happens at the end of the year. We’re all working right now to try to find a way to improve, figure out what we can do better, how we play to our players strengths, and find a way to win versus Mississippi State.”
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