Go fast or stay healthy? Mizzou football balances fine line amid injuries, COVID
The only football the Missouri Tigers have played in November has been on the practice field.
It’s the lingering aftereffects of a scheduled off week and a postponed game because of COVID-19. Once the Tigers play at South Carolina at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, they’ll have gone three weeks without any live game action.
That leaves MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz juggling a 2020-specific version of the “chicken-or-egg” scenario when it comes to those precious practices. It’s what Drinkwitz called a “fine line” for practice reps: Fast and productive to keep his players sharp, but maintaining health and safety at the same time.
There’s ample time at practice, MU quarterback Connor Bazelak said, to perfect flaws seen on tape. But all those idle days away from game speed leaves concerns of losing valuable rhythm and routine.
Amp up practice, though, and that leaves the Tigers susceptible to injuries — which they cannot afford. Drinkwitz said Wednesday his team is down to 54 scholarship players practicing for Saturday’s game following wide receiver Dominic Gicinto’s transfer decision and another player placed in quarantine because of contact tracing. Another player is suspended for the first half of Saturday’s game, leaving the Tigers at the SEC roster threshold of 53 ahead of kickoff. MU has another COVID-19 test Thursday.
“Each individual coach is responsible for getting guys ready for their individual performances,” Drinkwitz said. “You have to practice with speed. But you have to practice against each other in a smart, safe way. We’ll do the best we can, but there’s always a risk in how you practice.”
Practice also leaves out a crucial part of the sport: the physicality. Bazelak said that’s going to be an adjustment come game time in South Carolina. Quarterbacks don the no-contact jersey during practice, leaving them safe from friendly fire but forgetting the feeling of a solid hit.
Other positions like offensive line thrive and use those live, full-speed reps as moments of improvement. Right tackle Javon Foster, filling in for the injured Larry Borom, said there are ways they’ve worked around that, such as focusing on technique and fundamentals.
“The offensive line hasn’t blocked and hasn’t had full contact since the Florida game,” Bazelak said. “It’s just kind of focusing on that in practice, trying to get that situated. I think that’s the biggest thing: Being physical with the wide receivers blocking, running backs taking hits, me taking hits. Just haven’t had it in a while.”
The Tigers scrimmaged last Saturday at 11 a.m., the same time they were supposed to kick off against Georgia. Drinkwitz said they tried to simulate the game-day feel, playing for four quarters against each other.
Recent weeks have seen some players cross over to the other side of the ball. Drinkwitz said offensive lineman Drake Heismeyer is at defensive line now, filling in for missing teammates. Some wide receivers have also taken reps at defensive back — just in case depth becomes a problem.
Defensive lineman Jatorian Hansford is set to start Saturday, Drinkwitz said. That’s a pleasant surprise itself for the Tigers and Hansford, who was told he would undergo season-ending shoulder surgery during preseason camp. But Hansford is back and played in Mizzou’s last game against Florida.
“They’re shuffling guys around, getting them reps at different positions in need, in places that they’re lacking,” wide receiver Cade Musser said of the cross-training. “Other than that, the team’s just rolling with it and doing whatever they can to help even out the numbers.”
If there is a positive, though, it’s that Bazelak is getting a hearty serving of reps.
Drinkwitz has noted his redshirt freshman quarterback is still learning the intricacies of the position because Bazelak played in a run-heavy wishbone offense in high school. Bazelak said all the extra practice time — without the pressure of tens of thousands of watching fans — has allowed him to continue his tutelage under Drinkwitz.
“Get fundamentals down with Coach Drink,” Bazelak said of what he’s learned. “Continuing to grow with the playbook and grow with the offense. Continuing to build leadership with the offensive line, getting their trust and continuing to build relationships with everybody else and stay tight.”
Perhaps one of the main difficulties, Drinkwitz said, is maintaining a high level of quality even as the Tigers dig deeper down their depth chart. They’re banged up in the trenches, missing starters Borom, left guard Xavier Delgado, tight end Daniel Parker Jr. and defensive tackle Kobie Whiteside.
Backups are slotted into spots, but Drinkwitz said the replacements must stay in tune with the other 10 players on the field. While South Carolina is free-falling and just fired coach Will Muschamp, Drinkwitz said each SEC opponent still features high-end talent, which is why his Tigers can’t be caught lackadaisical.
It’s just another spot on Drinkwitz’s list of concerns, which is populated by football and COVID-related worries. There are the rust concerns, drops, concentration lapses, giving up sacks, negative-yardage plays. That’s coupled with staying above water — or the SEC’s 53-man roster minimum — in order for Saturday’s game to go smoothly.
“Instead of worrying about those kinds of concerns, we focused on our fundamentals,” Drinkwitz said. “We need to improve. … It’s an opportunity to gain valuable practice time. You get to choose what your attitude is toward any type of practice. You get to choose how hard you want to go and how good you want to be and what kind of advantages you take with it.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 11:42 AM.