Mizzou football’s Drinkwitz-led offense will go ‘pro tempo.’ Here’s what that means
The Missouri Tigers are working through the kinks of installing a new offense. They’re just six practices into preseason camp, their first real shot at repetitions since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz said the offense isn’t “very far along” as coaches and players alike deal with the install process after a summer of nothing but Zoom calls. When the Tigers brandish their new offense in Drinkwitz’s MU debut, they’ll reflect the core principles and concepts of their first-year head coach.
One such concept: Drinkwitz’s “pro-tempo” offense. Ever since he took the podium in his opening news conference last December, the new MU coach has said the Tigers’ attack will focus on changing up its pace.
“It’s pro-style concepts, tempo-based,” Drinkwitz said. “We’re going to play with rhythm, attack and execute. It means we’ll be able to play as fast as we want to and as slow as we want to affect the defense.”
Pro-tempo shouldn’t be confused with fast tempo. Offenses in the Big 12 often play a no-huddle, sprinting offense, keeping the opposition off-guard and unable to substitute tired defenders.
The Tigers will likely dial the tempo up and down — similar to Drinkwitz’s offense in his lone season at Appalachian State. When The Star spoke to four Sun Belt defensive coordinators recently, they noted the Mountaineers often turned up the tempo after a big gain. But they also turned down the tempo and attacked methodically during different parts of the game.
MU tight ends coach Casey Woods described the offense as “pro ideals with a college spirit.” The structure is similar to what offenses run in the NFL, Woods said, but the spirit and core behind it is a little different.
“You can present different looks and different motions and you can do that while still keeping the fundamental techniques of a blue-collar football team,” Woods said. “We can simplify what maybe we’re doing internally while showing from a broader picture that it would appear we were doing much more.”
Such blue-collar offensive elements include a downhill run game — which Drinkwitz has alsp said Mizzou will run. The Tigers are well-equipped to deliver a punishing run game with Larry Rountree III and Tyler Badie, though their offensive line remains a bit of a question mark.
“That’ll be any lineman’s dreams,” MU offensive lineman Case Cook said of downhill run plays. “A lot of run-blocking, going downhill, hitting people in the mouth. But honestly, plays are plays. Players make plays work and we have to go out there and execute regardless of what the play is or who calls it or whatever or what formation we’re in.”
Woods said the offense is based on “11 personnel,” which features one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers. It’s similar to what Appalachian State ran last season, mixing in some “RPO,” or run-pass option, with the receiver and tight end as focal points.
The Tigers will switch packages in some situations, Woods said, with “12 personnel” (two tight ends, one back) or “21 personnel” (two running backs, one tight end). They’ll seek to exploit the advantage of having a pair of proven SEC backs in Rountree and Badie.
“You heard (Drinkwitz) talk about the pro-tempo offense and what we’re trying to do: rhythm, attack, execute,” Woods said. “What that does, it gives us an advantage, we think in our rhythm portion of that and attack. What we can do is present to them different looks. “
Drinkwitz likes to say that football is about reps. He feels Mizzou is still a bit behind in its offensive-install phase. Making up for lost time is important now, and Drinkwitz said the Tigers are trying to “manufacture as many reps as quickly as we can.”
Mizzou wide receiver Barrett Banister said MU will seek to keep defenders off-balance and make them show their coverages early. By varying their tempo on offense, Banister said the Tigers will seek to “put defenses in binds.”
“We do a lot of good things formationally,” Banister said. “I think that we bring a lot of stuff to the table with that, and it’s going to make teams prepare. Coach Drinkwitz obviously does a good job preparing for teams and getting us in positions to go win.”