Mizzou’s Drinkwitz slowly installing his offense — and looking beyond oddities of 2020
Time is running out for the Missouri Tigers. The season kickoff is creeping closer and the Tigers have just 25 practices during preseason camp to install a brand-new offense engineered by first-year coach Eliah Drinkwitz.
It’s an unenviable position — especially now that the Tigers open the 2020 season against preseason No. 3 Alabama. Mizzou had three spring practices before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports, limiting the Tigers’ exposure to new schemes and a new coaching staff.
Mizzou broke down the install process during a ton of Zooms, but there’s only so much that sticks that way compared to live reps on the practice field. And while the Tigers did some walkthroughs in the past few weeks, they’re still significantly behind where Drinkwitz would like to be during a normal season.
The Tigers opened training camp Monday with questions surrounding nearly every facet of the team, thanks in no small part to the ongoing global pandemic. Drinkwitz said he’s going to take it slow.
“You always start with the foundation,” he said. “You can’t rush it, you can’t worry about all the time that you lost. You’ve got to make do with the time that you do have. And you’ve got to make sure you do it right and go slow.”
Drinkwitz has stirred some early buzz on the recruiting trail and with what his innovative offense could portend, but the win-loss column will tell the ultimate story of 2020. That’s life in the SEC, which Drinkwitz said he understands.
But the 37-year-old who signed a six-year contract with MU over the winter isn’t just looking at this season. There’s no cutting corners with his offense or longer-term issues could linger, he said. It isn’t just the program’s culture Drinkwitz is building in his first year on the job.
“If you skip steps, you’re going to get burned at some point,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s just not worth it. Can’t microwave it. I wish we could. I wish we had instant oatmeal and just add a little hot water and have the offense ready to rock and roll. But that ain’t how it’s going to go.”
The Tigers worked specifically on red-zone plays Monday to save their defensive backs and wide receivers from too much running, Drinkwitz said. Then they will be on to open-field work, third-down plays and whatever specific scenarios the coaching staff wants to build on.
The offense is still in its adolescent phase: MU running back Tyler Badie said the team hadn’t worked yet on specific plays. But there are shades of Drinkwitz’s personality creeping into even these early practices. Fellow running back Larry Rountree III said he liked how “aggressive” Drinkwitz has been with his play-calls during drills.
“I love (Drinkwitz’s) goals for what our offense is going to be,” Rountree said. “That just gives me more confidence that when we get out on the field, everyone’s going to play their part. No matter what the call is, it’s up to us to do the assignment to our fullest.”
Mizzou wide receiver Jalen Knox said the coaching staff has focused on the fundamentals of Mizzou’s attack — the why and how of the offense. There’s work with the offensive linemen — specifically with inside and outside zone blocking, a speciality of Drinkwitz’s offense at Appalachian State.
Players have also shuffled around a bit. For instance, Knox, who has primarily played outside as a wide receiver last season, said he has lined up both inside and wide thus far.
“We want to work the technique but we’ve got to make sure we understand why we’re running with this play,” Knox said. “Why we want to work this play, why we want these (schemes) working to get other things going, as well.”
The Tigers are slowly ramping up to full-speed practices. They were in helmets Monday and will be again Tuesday. Mizzou’s first full practice with pads isn’t until Wednesday, when Drinkwitz said he expects to see some toughness from his players — and where they might stand with a daunting schedule ahead.
“The assumption with life is if you have a shorter amount of time, you’ve got tp speed up the process,” Drinkwitz said. “Well, there’s no such thing as speeding up the process. It takes what it takes to be successful. You’ve got to lay the foundation. You can’t skip a step.”