Full press conference with Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz ahead of Week 1 against Murray ...

yeah excited to kick off the uh season um it's obviously a exciting time for college football and I know our team uh is ready to put this offseason behind us and get started on on uh this season and this challenge um you know it's going to be a difficult challenge probably the most difficult opening game that we've faced all since I've been here um they have a whole new staff around 60 new players that they've acquired whether high school or through the transfer portal um so it's a real challenge to have any idea of what they're going to do schematically whether we're talking about offense defense or special teams um Coach Wright is is an excellent football coach he does an outstanding job you know he's got experience at both SEC Pro uh level and has been uh tremendous at all the different places and stops that he's had before he's got a lot of different uh types of of coaches on his staff and so we're trying to pull film from um a lot of different places to get an idea of what they're going to do so we spent a couple extra days preparing um and giving our guys as much uh information as we possibly can but it's going to you know trying to figure out what the scheme is combined with not knowing the Personnel you know it's going to be a real difficult challenge for our team and our staff and so we're going to have to really focus on us and our execution and make sure that we're uh ready to play make sure that we have the most excitement U make sure that we're focused on tackling and and taking care of the football make sure sure that we win situational football and and execution is going to come down to a premium so um that's really the challenge that we have for us and uh look forward to seeing everybody Thursday night so with that I'll open up for questions you kind of manage the there's a lot of excite excitement enthusiasm balancing it with Focus what's kind of the the optimal balance you want your guys to achieve I think everybody wants to be excited to play um you want those guys to have great energy on game day and be you know opportun you only get 12 guaranteed opportunities and uh for the seniors you only get seven at home so you want them to be really excited um but you want to focus on a this play mentality and and make sure that you're executing every play to the very best of your abilities and you know don't wish it's the fourth quarter don't wish it's the third quarter just focus on right now coaches always said that you know first game you're never sure what to expect yeah a little crazier than some of the following weeks is there any specific part of the game that consistently you see week one is not just with your team just in general kind of a concern going in yeah I mean I think I think if you watched college football yesterday you saw some tackling issues um obviously uh last night in the game that special teams issues certainly um showed up and caused situations you know three of the four games that I saw came down to last you know two-minute drives um so you know it's trying to be prepared for all those those options um and I think as coaches we have to do a great job making sure we leave no stone unturned um knowing that you know at any moment you're going to have to be thinking about a play call or or be able to manage this situation knowing who's in the game and um if this guy's injured who's next up so you know I think obviously penalties and in special team situations and turnovers and tackling are are usually the things that show up the most and that's typical from any extended delay and playing the game yeah I mean that's a challenge there's really no way to watch Murray State film um because you know they they've got brand new offense defense and special teams coordinators they got 60 new players um so you know you can watch their schemes from last year to try to see what their players are but they're not going to be running the exact same stuff so trying to to figure out what your matchups are is almost impossible um um so again it comes down to us executing our plan our schemes at a really high level and and um you know playing with great effort is the way you plan to evaluate what happens on Thursday different this year from last year given the last year you were giving two different quarterbacks each a half a football to work with um yeah I mean it's a whole different situation um as far as the evaluation and you know goes you know we we just want to see how we compare you know how we compete compete and compare to another team you know ultimately this is the measuring stick you you know we we've said it before you practice to get better you don't play the games to get better you know you you you play the games to decide if you're going to win or lose so um we'll see where we're at after we play this game you know obviously we want to see um a a a downhill run attack we want to see an explosive offense we want to see an offense that um creates pressure through Tempo we we want to see an offense that executes in situational football defensively we want to see a group that stops the Run um is multiple on third downs and and wins situational football is really good at tackling and taking the ball away um you know special teams we want to do a great job covering kicks um so and then we want to be really good um in the kicking phase so you know all those things are what ideally we picture it and and we'll see where we're at come Thursday night that offense having success last year bringing a lot of guys back there I you just outlined a few but any other areas that you challenge them to grow evolve going well I you know again I thought we did an excellent job of not turning the ball over last year so that's an emphasis on us to continue to uh value the football um you know we need to be better in the red Red Zone and we can improve on third Downs you know those are two areas situationally that we want to improve on and it starts Thursday night coach when you look at a running back room I mean is there a split you like to have between backs do you like having you know one running back kind of emerge out of that room and how do you anticipate kind of the split working between between that group this year yeah you know I think we have a plan on how we want to approach it uh Nate Noel will go out there first um and then you know him and Marcus will will rotate through I think uh I think those guys have good complimentary football skills and they and they know um how to play off of each other I think we understand we're probably not going to have somebody that's going to be able to carry it as many times in a game as Cody so we'll have to do a good job of you know making sure we allow the starter to get into Rhythm um but also make sure they're fresh other than DK Smith who obviously we know about that do you have everybody at this point healthy and available um we've got two guys that are still battling their way back um and I think both of them today would be questionable that's jary and Wayne and um um golly um Jordan Harris there it is and Jordan he um he's been in a green jersey uh for the better part of five days but just haven't Fe felt like he's 100% yet so I'd be very careful before before I put him In Harm's Way so um you know we'll know more probably by the radio show so maybe if you can get U Mike to ask me that question I'll answer it for you on Thursday night how about you know Brett norley battle through some stuff how full go yeah he's been really good had Miss A Beat exiting out of fall Camp here how do you feel like your team like in terms of how football ready they are now compared to maybe in years past first game uh it's hard to tell it's hard to tell until you play um I think the first part of the season is about eliminating bad football it's about seeing the issues on tape and and figuring out how to win football games and then slowly get those issues off tape and then figuring out the identity of your team and playing to those strengths and until you play in games you're not always going to know um I think we're battle ready we've tackled live more than we ever have in any Camp we' got more practice reps this Camp than we've had the previous three seasons um we've put in more situational football time than we have in any previous three seasons but you know now it's about you know 11 guys putting it together against an opponent who's got a say in the outcome too and so that's going to be a challenge and I don't really have any preconceived notions on what it's going to look like until we till we do it yeah I think um you know Chris Christian and and even Maris right there I think there's a or um but th those three guys have been really good consistent um really proud of the way Chris and Maris have competed and battled and um I think both of them did a tremendous job this summer of managing their weight and getting it down to what we want it to be and then you know we challenge those guys to really run to the football be be disruptors um push the paint and pass you know in in pass defense and um those guys have consistently done it Eli I know you're focus on just this week and not necessarily any opponents in the future but is there any effort to in these first few weeks to guard your playbook a little bit not only to protect anything from future opponents but also just kind of be slow with easing your guys into their no no we're trying to win week one most important game that we have on our schedule is this one period so there's no Garden there's no hiding we just want to win and and uh you know in order to win um you got to call what you know your guys can execute and what you guys have had consistent reps at so that doesn't mean that your playbook is going to be wide open it means that you're going to call what you have repped in the 25 previous practices that you feel comfortable in in key situations your guys can can execute so I don't think our Playbook will be limited there won't be anything we won't call it's just um we won't call it because we won't have confidence that we get executed at a high level is there a game you back to when you're or just in your coaching career in general where you say yeah it's a whole new coaching staff like kind of how you're doing right now even a little bit well it's not just the coaching staff it's the combination of coaching staff and new players you know this is a new era in college football you know you could have a replacement of coaches before but you could have been able to go back and look at previous tape and say okay well they're returning this guy this guy and this guy I mean they're starting quarterback played uh the Dakota School of the mind he was a finalist for the Harland Hill award I mean we're watching huddle tape in order to figure out what he's done on the internet like that's it's it's a unique challenge um so you know they've got several players who've transferred in and at at key positions um that that we're trying to figure out you know we can go back and watch their tape last year at previous schools but we don't know what that means they're going to be doing in this scheme so it's kind of a it's kind of a challenge I mean their offensive coordinator hasn't the last time he called plays was Jacksonville State two years ago he's a high school coach the past two years where he was the tight ends coach wasn't the play caller so we're going back and watching Jacksonville State tape we're looking at you know what coach has done at South Carolina when he was the tight ends coach and and trying to get a trying to guess what they're going to do how much I guess work hours I know you said did a couple days extra work but how much longer does that make your days um I mean it certainly adds up but it takes what it takes to win so I don't think anybody's been counting the hours coach last year you guys embraced the MTO something to prove does that still stand for this year going strong is there a new modotto around around the locker room no it's STP yeah we still got a lot to prove ELO in the the return game you got Maris in Luther listed first do you expect to give multiple guys kind of a kickoff and f v do you expect to look at multiple guys or are those kind of s yeah no I I think U obviously Luther's listed as the number one punt returner Theo Weis could absolutely go back there Maris and Daniel blood have also been very good at it so I think you know just depending on where the game is um who's fresh I think any one of those four could be back there punt return kickoff return you know Josh Manning's been getting quite a few looks um uh mie Cooper's been getting some looks so again just depending on where the game is and and how it's going I think you could see multiple people anything else for Coach wow there you go it's quick 13 minutes we will have a players in shortly