University of Missouri Football coach Eliah Drinkwitz highlighted the latest additions to his lineup and coaching staff during his appearance at SEC Media Days on Tuesday in Dallas.
Coming off an 11-2 campaign that included a Cotton Bowl win, the Tigers have had several holes to fill, including the graduation of running back Cody Schrader and departure of defensive coordinator Blake Baker for LSU. Drinkwitz stressed that the new season means forging a new identity.
“That was last year,” Drinkwitz said, “and last year has nothing to do with this year. And so we as a team, as a brotherhood, as a coaching staff, as a group of players have to go and form our own identity. We have to go develop our own team chemistry. We have to go figure out what it means to be a tough, physical football team. We gotta understand what kind of poise it’s going to take to play and execute under pressure.”
Mizzou dove into the portal to bring Marcus Carroll and Nate Noel with hopes of replacing Schrader’s SEC-leading rushing yards. As for the defense, Drinkwitz has high hopes for his additions to the coaching staff.
Said Drinkwitz: “We were able to go out and add Corey Batoon, who’s been an SEC coordinator, or has coached in this league, has been a coordinator in a lot of different leagues and does an excellent job of teaching the safety position, coaching his coaches to exactly what he wants.”
Mizzou also added Brian Early and Jacob Yoro to the coaching staff as Batoon’s assistants, bringing experience from Houston and Hawaii.
“It was really an opportunity for us to go out and improve our staff and really build a cohesive unit with guys,” Drinkwitz added. “I’m very excited about those guys, and I’m very excited about what the new look Death Row Defense is going to be with those guys at the forefront.”
Drinkwitz also noted moves made to shore up Mizzou’s offensive line.
“In this league, in order to be successful, you have to win in the trenches,” Drinkwitz said, “and it starts with having to replace a left tackle and a left guard that had three years of starting experience.”
Drinkzwitz continued: “We have as much competitive depth as we’ve ever had at the offensive line position with the addition of Cayden Green, Marcus Bryant, Jayven Richardson, Logan Reichert, Mitch Walters. All of those guys have the ability to fill the needs that we have, but we’re going to need to play well at the line of scrimmage, and we have our hands full in trying to create the dominance that we want to have in order to effectively protect the football and run the ball that we need to in order to compete at a high level.”
Mizzou’s season begins August 29th at Faurot Field against Murray State, with kickoff at 7 p.m. KMMO AM 1300 will again be your home for Mizzou Football this season.