Barreling toward summer of unknowns, debut season for Mizzou’s Drinkwitz on hold
The Missouri Tigers were supposed to close their spring practices last Saturday with their annual spring football game. MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz was scheduled to make his debut at Faurot Field in the glorified annual scrimmage.
Mizzou should be barreling toward summertime now, with plans to reconvene in a couple of months for training camp. Drinkwitz and his staff should have 15 practices under their belts, sessions that typically help coaches evaluate their programs and inform recruiting decisions about how to fill potential deficiencies on rosters.
Next stop, the MU season opener Sept. 5 against Central Arkansas in Columbia, right?
Not so fast. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown all of this in doubt.
The SEC has suspended all organized team activities, workouts and practices through May 31. Mizzou had held only a handful of spring practices before the shutdown was ordered. Coaches are now allowed no more than four hours per week of remote training sessions with their players. They’re technically not even allowed to ask them if they’ve completed the various workouts they’ve suggested.
So Drinkwitz, hired this offseason to succeed the fired Barry Odom, and his assistants face a decided disadvantage. Especially as newcomers, and particularly when it comes to installation of new offensive and defensive schemes — as previously reported, Drinkwitz was about to install his new “pro-tempo offense.”
Here are three points to consider in the current new normal for Mizzou football.
Positional battles
All eyes were on the Tigers’ quarterback situation this offseason, and that hasn’t changed.
With Kelly Bryant gone, Shawn Robinson, the new projected starter, was set to duke it out with fellow rising redshirt junior Taylor Powell, though Drinkwitz has stressed that starting positions wouldn’t be determined in the spring. Rising redshirt freshman Connor Bazelak was still rehabbing a torn ACL he suffered last season, so he was out for spring ball anyway.
But there are plenty of question marks at other positions, too. Only a few spots along the offensive and defensive lines appear to be set in stone. For guys looking to earn a starting job, losing reps hurts. The defense does bring back seven starters this fall, as well as its coordinator, so if you’re searching for silver linings, this would be a good place to start.
Will Mizzou get a Mulligan?
When the SEC first suspended all spring football, there was some hope that the Tigers might eventually be able to make up what amounted to 12 lost practice sessions. That was back in early March.
Now, in mid-April, it’s difficult to envision such a resumption of workouts anytime soon. Mizzou has already elected to move all summer courses online until July 31. If students aren’t allowed on campus to learn, conducting on-campus football practices may be out of the question, too.
If the shutdown extends toward August, it’ll be time for training camp, anyway. With no guarantee a full football season will take place, or open on time, making up lost spring practices seems ever more unlikely.
Recruiting issues
If there’s one positive to all this downtime, Mizzou’s coaches are likely deep into their recruiting tasks, able to stay in contact virtually with potential players. But teams are prohibited from conducting on- and off-campus visits through May 31.
This has wide-ranging consequences in terms of player evaluation. Summer camps, traditionally a prime time to extend offers to recruits, are canceled. Prospective players cannot showcase their skills in real-time in front of coaches.
This is a yet another hurdle Drinkwitz faces in his first full recruiting cycle as Mizzou’s new football coach. Suffice to say his social-media acumen will come in handy right now as a means of keeping MU’s recruiting efforts moving in the right direction.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 2:24 PM.