MU Tigers football: Players, coaches relish returning to something closer to normalcy
After a shortened spring and a summer of uncertainty, the Missouri Tigers football team is in the final phase of its offseason before training camp is slated to kick off in August.
Last week, Eliah Drinkwitz’s Mizzou program bumped up to 20 hours of team activities, as allowed by the NCAA. That’s meant hands-on coaching, and while the Tigers aren’t allowed to wear pads yet, a football can be used during walk-throughs.
Preseason camp would begin Aug. 7 if there are no changes to the current schedule.
“It’s been really good for our guys,” Drinkwitz said Tuesday on the Paul Finebaum Show. “Just getting back into the camaraderie. Obviously, we’re doing everything with our masks on. Getting used to practice. … It’s been fun to just try.”
Missouri’s path forward this summer and fall hinges on what the conference’s administrators decide. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said they’ll likely determine any alterations to the season by late July, meaning more clarity could come soon.
Possibilities include a conference-only schedule, which the Big Ten and Pac-12 have already adopted.
Drinkwitz on Tuesday reiterated his stance from a few weeks ago, saying he’s continuing to prepare his team for a Sept. 5 kickoff.
“You have to ignore the noise, from a player standpoint,” Drinkwitz said. “Every single day there’s a new rumor that’s put out there, new rabbit to chase. If I start chasing all those different rabbits, you get into a tizzy.”
Drinkwitz praised his players for grappling with adjustments wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Workouts and other day-to-day activities have been altered with safety protocols and social-distancing guidelines, but the coach said his Tigers are taking it in stride.
The players have gravitated toward a sense of normalcy, he said. He pointed out that, as young adults, they already have a lot of structure in their lives as they balance pursuing degrees and football careers simultaneously. With mandatory workouts and training camp right around the corner, Drinkwitz said he’s seen his players embrace routine.
“They’re holding each other accountable because they just want an opportunity to get back to whatever this new normal is going to be,” Drinkwitz said. “I think they’re excited. Is there trepidation? Absolutely. Nobody really knows what’s going to go on.”
The coaches, too, are glad to be back on campus and actually see their players. Mizzou conducted just three spring practices before the pandemic shutdown sports. Drinkwitz took over the program in December.
“Part of me was mad at myself because I missed it more than I remember missing it,” MU tight ends coach Casey Woods said. “It’s going to take a whole lot of people — and it is taking a whole lot of people — to get this thing off the ground.”
“We’ve got a great plan,” MU special teams coordinator Erik Link said. “It’s been great to get back around our guys. It’s the new normal. There’s certainly processes and protocols that you have to follow in place in terms of the COVID deal. It’s been tremendous to get back to some sense of normalcy.”
While the Tigers navigate the ongoing pandemic, Drinkwitz said they’re making every effort to stay healthy. With Mizzou just weeks away from its season opener, he said he’s telling his players to make the right decisions for the sake of the team.
“You can have 10 people do the right thing and one person do the wrong thing,” he said. “It can screw up the football play. We’ve really just taken the same analogy and applied it to our players about being smart.”