For Drinkwitz, a bigger window for Mizzou football camp isn’t necessarily better
The pandemic has forced the Missouri Tigers football team to adjust, whether that be COVID-19 testing, social distancing, wearing masks or any other necessary precaution.
That trickled to changes on the field when Mizzou’s season opener was pushed back three weeks to Sept. 26. Practices are more spread out, leading to more rest and free time for the players.
There is a side effect to those added off days, though — one MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz said he doesn’t enjoy.
“Football is one of those games where it requires some consistency,” Drinkwitz said after Tuesday’s practice. “I don’t necessarily like the fact that we practiced Saturday and we don’t get to go again till Tuesday. We gotta take a Thursday off (every week).”
The Tigers are allotted 25 practices this season, the same as any normal year without a pandemic. Instead of those 25 practices jammed into about 30 days, camp is spread out over about 40 days this year.
The annoyance stems from having to wait days to correct mistakes, Drinkwitz said. Mizzou, for example, held its second scrimmage of camp last Saturday, when the coaches broke down film and found areas of improvement. But the Tigers didn’t practice again until Tuesday.
The Tigers are still sifting through who their starters will be for the first game against Alabama. While the overall number of reps is still the same, the tempo and flow of practice is sporadic, Drinkwitz said.
“There’s some frustration in the fact that you can’t go out there and string good days together. And you watch practice like three or four days ago and you’re going back to correct it,” Drinkwitz said. “Are you moving on? Are you working on the same thing? It’s interesting for sure.”
If there is a positive from the extra time, the players are rested. A grueling training camp with daily practices in the summer heat followed by a full season can be physically taxing. When Mizzou canceled practice a few weeks ago to call attention to social injustice, rescheduling it was an afterthought because of the added flexibility.
While two-a-days — two practices in one day — are a thing of the past in college football, MU running back Tyler Badie said he goes into practice every day with the same energy because that’s something he can control.
“It’s a little different, but Coach Drinkwitz’s mentality is just worry about today, worry about what we can control,” Badie said of camp. “That’s basically what we’re trying to do, worry about what we do on the field and how we can better ourselves as a team.”
Special teams
Ever since Drinkwitz took over last December, he’s stressed his best players will play on special teams. That’s starting to take shape now and should be smoothed over the next two weeks of practice, he said.
The starting punter job is up for grabs between Grant McKinnis and Aaron Rodriguez. McKinnis is a graduate transfer from Kentucky after handling kickoff duties for the Wildcats. Rodriguez is a redshirt freshman.
At kicker, it’s the same scenario where guys like Harrison Mevis are competing. Drinkwitz said he’s hoping to give his special teams players an equal shot between injuries and COVID keeping players out of practice.
The Tigers have also been experimenting at both kickoff and punt return. Drinkwitz said they’re trying out Badie, Larry Rountree III, Jalen Knox, Elijah Young, Kris Abrams-Draine and a slew of other players in the return game.
“First, you gotta have courage to track the ball and make sure you catch it,” Drinkwitz said of what he looks for in a return man. “Two is ball security. Three is vision. We’ve been working a lot of different guys back there.”