Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said on National Signing Day

The Missouri Tigers signed 17 members of the 2025 class on Wednesday, signing a top-20 ranked class for the fourth time in the last five years.

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke to the media after signing all the prospects, to discuss the new signings, and the ever-changing of process of recruiting in the age of NIL.

Here's a full transcript from Drinkwitz's press conference.

Opening Statement:

First off, just like to just welcome the 2025 signing class to the University of Missouri. Really proud of the work that our staff and everybody throughout our university did to bring these 17 young men home and very excited about the future. Want to first start to thank our director of player personnel, Ryan Trichel and his crew do a lot of evaluations and scouting. Director of recruiting strategies, Marty Bland and his staff, who do a lot of communication and constantly staying in touch. And then Olivia Olson and her staff on the director of on-campus recruiting. Obviously led by Jacob Peter, our recruiting coordinator, as well as our coaching staff, I thought they did a tremendous job of targeting, knowing what we needed, targeting those people, developing relationships, and ultimately building relationships that get young men to sign also want to start by or also thank our coaches wives, they spend a lot of time, sacrifice time with their husbands for us to be on tweets, like tweets, retweet stuff on social media, host recruits at their house, on official visits. We do breakfast at our coaches, our position coaches, homes and so the wives have to open up their homes, make a meal and work really hard. So I appreciate them taking the time, as well as our coaches for doing that. Also want to thank our generous donors and developing a fundraiser for our NIL opportunities and the ability to be competitive in a competitive world of NIL and revenue sharing. Also want to thank Brad Larraodo and Every True Tiger for his tireless work of going back and forth and doing things that needed to be done in order for us to sign another top-25 class, which is the fourth time we've done it in five years. I know we signed the top player in the state for back-to-back years, which is always important to us. We signed players from 10 different states. We've got 10 early enrollees. We signed four players ranked in the top 100 so, incredibly proud of the players that we were able to get, and look forward to continuing to work to build our roster through retention of the current players the signing class that we have now in the transfer portal.

On four-star quarterback Matt Zollers:

"We evaluate quarterbacks on toughness, preparation, decision making, accuracy, and leadership, those are the traits that we feel like make up elite quarterbacks. So then you just go through the list. You look at Matt's ability, toughness, both physical and mental, obviously dealing with an injury right now, and has had dealt with injuries before to be able to come back. Preparation, the amount of time he puts into knowing offense, learning offense and studying offense. Decision making with the ball in his hands, constantly makes good decisions. He's got the ability to extend plays with his feet and with his arm, and that was a really good asset that we felt like he had. Is an accurate thrower in football, and he's a leader. When we went out there last year, Pittsburgh area, [offensive coordinator] Kirby [Moore] and I, got to see his leadership traits, not only in football, but also on the basketball court."

On how the recruiting process was impacted by a moved up signing day:

"Obviously, this year's change was quite a bit different. We spend two weeks going in homes and kind of finishing out the class and making sure everything's right. Now, you didn't have a home game the last game, you didn't get a chance to see your recruits and obviously with NIL and revenue sharing, a lot of last minute changes of heart and different things like that, so definitely different. And I'm not saying it's good or bad. It's just hard to tell."

On how it was impacted by revenue sharing:

"I think things change every day in college football. You have a best-laid plans of Mice and Men. The most important thing is adaptability, the ability to adapt to whatever the new structure and changes are. I mean, we think revenue share is a real deal, but we don't really know. I mean, nothing's finalized until April 1. I was having a conversation with another head coach about how are they dealing with NIL versus revenue share and creating numbers. He reminded me that revenue share was a concept that won't be finalized until the future and how much it changed in the last four months, so are we really sure that that's going to be place? So, I don't know."

On the importance of building relationships with recruits during negotiations:

"You got to build trust and respect. And that's what our we try to do with these relationships, is build a foundation of trust and respect. You look back on what we've done and our ability to keep our word here and visit with our players and families and make sure that what we say and what we do align and have that moving forward, because there's still a lot to have to navigate moving forward."

On flipping the recruitments of running backs Marquise Davis and Brendon Haygood, losing Jamarion Morrow:

"Well, Marquise, we've actually been involved with for a while, and we actually had him on campus early in his recruiting process, and [offensive assistant] Brendan Boylan has done an excellent job in the state of Ohio recruiting and really laid the foundation for us there over 18 months ago. So we had a strong relationship with Marquis, and then, we always knew, we were taking a second running back in this class. So we had a relationship with Brendon and actually sent [running backs] coach [Curtis] Luper to watch him play. And we're going to bring him on. They just happened to have both come on the same weekend, and both had a great time and let us know that they were coming, which was an awesome thing. We were willing to take all three if we needed to. But, sometimes things just work out."

On the play of the two running backs:

"The thing I think I like the most is their complimentary nature. Both of them are dynamic runners. Brendon has a tremendous amount of statistics, has put up a lot of numbers, has got dynamic speed. Marquis has got really good speed. Downhill runner, will be able to run behind his pads. There'll be a good Batman and Robin, or a thunder and lightning from a tag team standpoint and both of them have elite skill sets."

On the last-minute addition of defensive end Javion Hilson:

"Well, it's, it's like speed dating. We had a relationship there too, just because of some previous players and had been there to watch him and evaluate him. But it really became real because of some connections that coach Early had to some of the mentors and, when he got on campus. I think [edge rushers] Coach [Brian] Early did an excellent job of showing him the depth chart, the opportunity to play. The combination of him, William[s Nwaneri] Jaylen [Brown], Zion [ Young, Jahkai [Lang], I think got everyone really excited about what we can do and that's a position that has proven the SEC that you can come in and play early, and especially with what some other people have done as freshmen in this conference, I think he saw an opportunity to leave his mark on one of the best conferences in college football."

On the shared traits of the class:

"I think they all had a great energy about them and a vibe when they came on campus. They evaluated the opportunity. They understood what Missouri has become and what we're doing. Their constant ability to come back and want to watch games and be around us, I think was something that everybody was excited about. I think the other thing was, this was a strong class. Matt and Jason Dowell and Henry Fenuku, and Jason King, Keiton [Jones], Jack Lange, they all stayed together, group texts, were constantly recruiting to make this the class that we wanted it to be. We set out with the goal to sign anywhere between 15 and 20 players. And we really didn't want to sign too big of a class. We kind of found the right formula for us, so for us to settle in this number of 17 right now is really good, and we're very excited about where we're at."

On Eureka offensive lineman Jack Lange:

"Obviously, top player in the state, a dominant offensive lineman. I was able to go watch Eureka play this year, and just watch him as he comes off the ball. Very good, pad level, knee bend, hands in inside. Is going to have to learn the other side of past protection, but with Coach Jones's ability to teach, felt confident that that will be good. And I think Jack's very excited about going against the best. He's going to get to go against Will[iams] , and Javion and he's going to get to compete every day and figure out where he's struggling, and how to get better."

On the importance of landing the top player in the state of Missouri:

"I think it starts with what we've been able to do with Luther, and him being the biggest billboard for us in how we recruit. And in our ability to deliver on what we said we're going to do. And now with Will and Jack, the ability to continue to build on that. Obviously, this is a trench league, and so to be able to keep the best players in the state on the offensive and defensive lines is huge for us."

On the program's growing national reach:

"I think for us, the biggest thing was, you got to recruit the best players in this state who can play at this level. And I think over the course of my time, I've realized you always want to err on the side of taking the best players in the state, but they got to be able to play, otherwise it can create some some unnecessary feelings that we don't want to create here. And so I think we've done a really good job of being able to identify the players who can play and contribute at this level, and then work out into that, you know, wider net. I think our national exposure over the past two years has helped us. I think there was a stat put out yesterday., there's only six that won twenty games in the the last two seasons, and that's an awesome thing for the University of Missouri. We're now able to walk into just about anywhere in the country and have national recognition for what we're doing."

On the evolution of that national recogniton:

"Obviously Matt, Donovan [Olugbode], Jack and Javion are four players inside the top 100, and three of those are out of state. So again, our brand is is becoming more and more national, just like our enrollment is. This a wonderful academic institution, an AAU institution. It's a wonderful school that also has a wonderful reach from an athletic standpoint."

On the three wide receiver additions:

"Scary Terry, Shaun Terry is dynamic with the ball in his hands, an elite punt returner. We're very fortunate to get him. I think he comes in and helps us with a need that we automatically have.

Donovan is a strong, physical wide receiver who's in and out of breaks, got long speed, but also short area quickness. Contested catches are what he does really well.

[DaMarion Fowlkes] is a good route runner. Ball in his hand, creates explosives.

Obviously we'll have to figure out where each of them plays and what Coach Peeler does with them when they get here. But the great thing is, a lot of early enrollees.We got 10 early enrollees that will be here mid-year, and Shaun and Donovan being here early will really help them get acclimated."

On the additions made through the freshman class impact their plans in the transfer portal:

"They're not two separate things. I think, we've proven that we'll play freshmen and now with the portal and NIL and salary caps, and then, what you willing to spend, you have to be willing to play with because everything gets squeezed.

So, there's a few positions that will have the opportunity to grow and develop, but if you're an early enrollee, we're expecting that you're coming in to compete for a position and provide an opportunity to contribute. And if you're not, it still doesn't mean you can't. It's just these guys got a little bit of a head start on you, but everybody we're expecting to help contribute to win. Trajen Greco's on the field at the end of the game and several other freshman are helping us this year."

On the commitment of Zollers attraction the trio of receivers:

"I think that goes hand in hand. Right, great players want to play with great players. And I think when we were able to get Matt, it attracted some of the best of the best to come play with us."