Who’s Mizzou football’s quarterback? This is what keeps Eliah Drinkwitz up at night
Eliah Drinkwitz’s offense revolves around the quarterback.
Just one problem: The first-year head coach of the Missouri Tigers says he doesn’t yet know who that starting quarterback should be. He faces a slew of challenges during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, not the least of which is who will line up under center come MU’s schedule season kickoff on Sept. 5.
When Drinkwitz was introduced as Mizzou’s successor to Barry Odom in December, he focused on five characteristics his quarterbacks must have: toughness, preparedness, decision-making ability, accuracy and leadership skills. Thus far, he hasn’t had enough time to assess those attributes in his candidates for the job.
With just three spring football practices under his belt, all back in March, Drinkwitz said it’s unclear who has the chops to be Mizzou’s next starting quarterback. It’s what keeps him up at night, he said, amid the chaos of coaching a football team during a pandemic.
“That to me is our biggest question mark on our football team right now,” Drinkwitz said. “Not a lot of answers for you. ... Won’t have any until we get our hands on (the players) and do things. Hopefully that starts Aug. 6 — do some live stuff where I can see them actually compete for the job.”
Drinkwitz has five quarterbacks on his roster. Redshirt juniors Shawn Robinson and Taylor Powell are projected to battle it out for the starting job. Connor Bazelak, a redshirt freshman, is expected to be ready for fall camp after tearing his ACL in the Tigers’ 2019 finale against Arkansas.
The other two QBs are lower on the depth chart. Drinkwitz said early enrollee and true freshman Brady Cook looked “like a kid who should’ve been going to graduation.” And junior-college transfer Jack Samsel continues to learn the offense.
Drinkwitz said Powell and Robinson looked fine during spring ball in limited film. The coach said he’s heard Bazelak has healed up enough to take full-speed reps, but he hasn’t seen him in action yet.
“Do we have enough time to put together a product that’s going to be successful in a limited number of 25 practices in fall camp?” Drinkwitz said. “I don’t know.”
Determining Mizzou’s next starting quarterback will help sort out questions of scheme. Robinson, a dual-threat signal-caller, and Powell, who’s more of a pocket passer, possess different skill-sets.
Drinkwitz is toying with the notion of shifting to more of a run-heavy offense than he’d usually employ. He even mentioned scenarios in which wide receivers Micah Wilson and Jalen Knox might line up as wildcat quarterbacks to “create an extra number.”
Part of Drinkwitz’s concern, he said, is that an efficient passing game revolves around timing and execution. So far, the Tigers just haven’t had much practice time together.
“That is not necessarily fair to the quarterback room,” Drinkwitz said. “But life’s not fair. Our goal is to win the SEC East. Whatever it’s going to take to win those football games is what we have to do as an organization.”
Another hurdle awaits in simply installing the offense. Players are limited to eight hours of remote training per week with Mizzou’s coaches, and those sessions are significantly different than hands-on practices. When spring football was shut down in March, Mizzou was about halfway through its install process.
Running back Larry Rountree III said the MU offense is working through some kinks right now and will benefit from getting back to live action.
“We don’t even have half the offense yet,” Rountree said. “A lot of us now, we’re taking accountability on what we need and doing more of what we need to know about the offense — knowing more about the schemes and stuff like that.”
Quarterback-receiver chemistry might take some time to develop, but Mizzou should have plenty of weapons available no matter who’s under center. A mix of Knox, Damon Hazelton, Barrett Banister and others provides a solid foundation at the Tigers’ receiver positions. Hazelton, especially, is expected to be a top target after producing All-ACC efforts at Virginia Tech and arriving in Columbia as an offseason transfer.
Rountree and Tyler Badie are proven weapons at running back. Rountree is a year removed from rushing for 1,216 yards in 2018 and was a team captain last season, while Badie is a guy who can run and catch the ball out of the backfield. He led Mizzou in all-purpose yards in 2019.
Once football returns ahead of what may yet be an on-time start to the season, Drinkwitz and his staff will have their work cut out for them ... starting with who their QB will be.
“That’s a question the offensive staff has to answer,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ve got to figure that out. I don’t think there’s an easy answer on that.”