Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said to Open Fall Camp

Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz provided several updates during his opening fall camp press conference. Here's the full transcript of everything Drinkwitz had to say.

Opening statement:

“What an awesome place to be out. So blessed to be at the University of Missouri for my seventh year, and very excited about this year, this team, what we put together. Appreciative to our administration, to our president, a board of curators, to our fans, to our supporters who have allowed us to get the best team that we could possibly put together, and it took a lot of hard work. And now we're excited about the next step, the next journey that we have into trying to become our team this year.”

On Sterling Webb's return:

“I want to address briefly the Sterling Webb situation. Very excited to welcome Sterling Webb back to our football team and support him in his journey in court case. Obviously, this is a unique time and area in college football, and Sterling is doing what he believes is in his best interest, and we always are going to support our student athletes. It's going to be important to get him back slowly, acclimated to our program, and it's going to be important for our team to welcome him back, seeing him as a part of our success, and not allowing his return to affect us in a negative way.”

On the impact of the court cases:

“As far as the Friday night ruling on the on the court case in Colorado and what that means for the University of Missouri and future player acquisitions, I'm going to tell you the same thing that I think and told our staff. I have no idea what's going on, and this is my seventh year at the University of Missouri, and in seven years we have had complete chaos from year to year. My first year was COVID. My second year was the COVID exception for players, where you had players who didn't count against your roster. My third year was NIL. My fourth year was unlimited transfer. My fifth year was free cap space. My sixth year was revenue sharing and cap, and now my seventh year is another court case. So again, this is something that that we have gotten used to, where there is a lack of understanding and a lack of organization or I guess rules, so we will do the very best that we can for the University of Missouri to operate within the structure that they've given us, and if that means that we can add somebody at this late date, we will explore every avenue possible to help the University of Missouri football team be successful while also helping the kid, the young men or players that are affected by this. I will say the class of 2022. This is the second time that they have been negatively affected by decisions that have been made. Again, not pointing anybody else out, but they are negatively affected by the COVID exception ruling, and now they've been negatively affected by the five for five ruling. And so, I do feel for them and do want to be a place that they can come and find another year that's what is in their best interest. And obviously, if that's what the court cases say that they can do, I do want to say I appreciate I appreciate Senator Cruz, Senator Cantwell, and specifically Senator Schmidt for the hard work that they've put into their bill in the Senate. I know it's been back and forth, and there's been a lot of politics being played in that, but as I just expressed, in seven years we have had a lot of changes, and this bill, while not perfect, does provide some clarity and some roadmap for success in the future, and I appreciate the very hard work that they have put in to try to create some sort of consensus and some sort of rules that will help move college athletics forward. Because as that list that I just said, it is a long and hard road that we have been fighting for seven years. And so, for there to be some sort of light at the end of the tunnel, I sure appreciate their hard work in trying to help make that happen.”

On the team's purpose and progress:

“It's not about the goals that you set; it's about the daily habits that you repeat that will help you achieve success. Our team really needs to focus on those daily habits. We have a lot of questions that need to be answered. We have a lot of roles that need to be taken on our football team. We have a lot of potential. We need to turn that into production, specifically on the defensive side of the ball and on the offensive side of the ball. And I'm very excited about watching these guys make that transition and journey.”

On building the roster:

“We do have 112 players on our team, so it's not quite half. But you know, it's the new understanding of what college football is. I think every year is completely new and unique, and you have to treat it as such, you have to lean into the guys that you retain and help them to maintain and demonstrate the culture and behaviors that you want on your team from a year-in and year-out basis. And then, as coaches and as an organization, we have to live by our core values and culture every day, and we have to reinforce it every day. These are the expectations that we want. And if people fall short, we have to confront and demand that they meet the expectations and standards of our football program.”

On the playoff mentality:

“I think the easy answer for that is we're never going to settle for second while first is still out there. I'm never going to apologize. Our team is going to, our goal right now is to play for a championship, and we're never going to apologize for that. And we're going to shoot for that. We're going to shoot for you know contending and competing in the SEC, and that requires us to be one and zero every week. If you do compete for the SEC opportunity and championship, then that would put you in qualifications for the playoffs. There's a lot of things outside of our control, and you know whether it was last year, the year before, there's things that occur during a season that cause you have to refocus and recalibrate what your goals are for that year. So, you know, when you walk into the season, absolutely, that that's the goal, that's the aim. As things adjust, then you adjust based off the adversities that you face, or based off of the you know breaks and successes that you have.”

On team installation:

“I feel really good. I think one of the things that we do a really good job of is the consistency of our installation and how we repeat it, whether it's winter installation, spring installation, April walkthroughs or summer OTAs. There's not anything going in right now that would be new, so our guys are very familiar, comfortable with the language and lingo that we're using, where that installation is, what are the plays. So feel very confident, comfortable where we're at. We start in the red zone for the first three days of fall camp, there's a lot of different reasons for that, but it is because of how our installation schedule works throughout the year. It also helps reduce the reduction of entries and activization for our team getting into fall camp. But it also is because that's the emphasis and success. You know, red zone success is one of the biggest indicators in this league on winning and losing.”

On Ahmad Hardy's recovery:

“Yeah, Ahmad is in his recovery. It really hasn't changed since the last two weeks. He will not be a participant in practice this week, but he will be a participant in rehab and walkthroughs as we continue just to get him acclimated back to what it would take to play football. Should not have really an adjustment on that. I think maybe in two weeks there may be another update on where everything is at, but yeah, it's really the same.”

On the leader in the clubhouse at right tackle:

“I mean, there's somebody that's going to run out there first as far as what that is, but the opportunity for everybody to establish their roles is wide open, and we need the consistency of performance before we say anybody's going to be the starter. And there is, I mean, there's always the possibility that you know the backup left tackle is performing so well that we have to give him a shot. I mean, last year is a great example of we felt comfortable enough to move Caden out to left tackle because of the performance of Curtis Peetler at the guard position, which then opened up a lot of avenues for our success. So there is a somebody who will go out there first, but the opportunity is wide open.”

On Austin Simmons' personality:

“Yeah, I don't. I think it's unfair to make generalizations and comparisons based off people's personalities because quarterbacks are all different. They come in all different shapes and sizes and personality traits. You know, we want Austin to be uniquely him and uniquely himself. He's got a skill set that is different than anybody that I've coached here, as far as arm strength and arm talent. And he's going to have to establish his identity as a leader, as a vocal leader, As a competitor, you know I think the things about other quarterbacks. You know Brady had the ability to demonstrate consistent toughness to our team throughout his years here, which you know constantly was part of his identity and leadership ability. Austin is just getting those opportunities as we start camp, so it would be unfair to say one way or another about he's similar, like or more like this. But we are very excited about his arm talent, intelligence, and now it's just going to be about consistently making plays and creating that belief in him with his teammates.”

On reteaching Chip Lindsey's offense:

“It was really more not necessarily teaching reteaching fundamentals or how we did it, it was really teaching him the expectations of this is what we do at practice every day. Hey, we do a turnover or ball security circuit every day, and these are the drills that we utilize. And this is the expectation that right after flex, you know, we go to score an effort, and the quarterbacks and wide receivers are going to go do this. So it wasn't necessarily me trying to teach him self scout or the offense. That's their job. It was really teaching the organization expectations of how things should operate and what you know what is the timing of meetings and the rhythm cadence of our day to day that has been good and it's caused me to have to go back and say okay, this is why we do this, which has been has been good.”

On the new faces on defense:

“I think to me that's what makes football so exciting, and why I love coaching is to it's about giving guys their opportunities and letting them take advantage of those opportunities. You know, I think back to a lot of different examples, right? But you think back to Isaiah McGuire making that jump from his junior year to his senior year, a guy who had played a little bit, but not a lot, just because of the guys he was playing behind, or Darius Robinson sliding out from a three technique to a defensive end and moving into a first round draft pick, or Johnny Walker, who you know took his Cotton Bowl MVP season and turned it into you know an eight sack season in the SEC. You know there is those kind of examples throughout you know our history here, and that's really what is going to play out this year for guys like Darius Smith or Langdon Kitchen or Marquise Gracielle, Jalen Marshall, Nick Rodriguez, Jeremiah Beasley, Trajan Greco, Elijah Dotson, you know guys who haven't had a ton of playing time but have played, and now it's their opportunity to make that next step. You know our conversation, our number one core value is always compete. My job is to create competition. Their job is to establish their role. None of them in that room want me to tell them, hey, you're going to be first team and you're going to be second team because that's my decision. What they want is an opportunity to create value for themselves by how they play, and that's what they're going to do this year. And I really believe that we've got a lot of talent, and now it's just about getting that group to come together and create that death row defense, ambush offense, and you know these special teams units.”

On his awareness of Sterling Webb's decision:

“Obviously, you know there's a lot of different factors that play into being able to do that. Whether or not it's a roster spot availability, financial availability, flexibility, would there be a role for that. So, you know, as that idea came up, you know, we wanted to make sure that we were providing the information that we could and support him. You know, however that would work out. Excited that that he was able to get the TRO, and we'll you know see what the next process is. But while that is in place, look forward to welcoming to our football team and letting him get reps and obviously contribute and compete.”

On Elias Williams' injury:

“You know, he is I think four months, maybe three months post-surgery, and he is tracking really well. He is doing everything he can to push that rehab. Don't know if that means that there's any opportunity for him to play this year or not. I think it's too early to say, but he's doing everything he can possibly do to be available.”

On the wide receiver room:

“I think whether it's Caleb Goodie, Cayden Lee, or Donovan Olugbode, you've got guys who've got a lot of experience and potential. You got Naeshaun Montgomery, you got Kenric Lanier II, you got Shaun Terry II, you got the DaMarion Fowlkes, and you got these two freshmen. I think the first thing they have to do is establish that connection with our quarterback and confidence that they're going to make contested catches and be where they're supposed to be in the timing that they're supposed to be there. But I think the most important thing is that they establish their willingness to play without the ball. I think we can always point to what Luther did for the Bears last year as really what we need to do, which is establish our identity as a team that will block, and then obviously take advantage of the opportunities when the ball is in their hand. I'm excited about what they can do through the air, and I've challenged not just Chip but also Alex that we have to do a better job of utilizing our tight ends specifically down the field. I think one of the disappointing things that we have not consistently done with Brett is utilized him further down the field. I mean, the guy's six-foot-six, and the further down the field he gets, the taller he gets in comparison to the other players. So we need to challenge ourselves to utilize the tight end as an advantage for us this year, and that's something I look forward to us trying.”

On his contact with Sterling Webb:

“Honestly, I didn't have much contact at all, and I had zero direct contact. I was just in the loop based off of other conversations because I didn't want to create a false sense of hope, not without knowing. You know, I had no idea what the judge was or what the outcome could be, but obviously he was a productive player for us for two years, and know that he knows what it takes to play in this league. I think it's going to be, like I said earlier, important for us to get him acclimated and not try to get him get him too much too quickly. You know, these other guys had eight weeks of legitimate summer hard training. He's not quite been there, so we're going to have to work him back into what it's going to take to play this league.”

On what has stood out about Chip Lindsey:

“I think Coach Lindsey's got a great sense of camaraderie, leadership, bringing the group together. He holds a really high standard of his expectations. I've never actually worked together with Coach Lindsey. We've had associations through mutual friends and Coach Malzahn, and we were both head coaches in the Sun Belt. But you know, having both of us worked with Coach Malzahn, we understand the expectation and standard of how we operate, whether that's in the in the meeting room or the same language that we're going to speak, or in the film room, or the standard that we have for players in practice, there's a familiarity with that, and so it was great to see him, you know, bring that to fruition. You know, no dissimilar to not comparing coaches and players or players to players. You know, I've not needed him to be anything. I don't need him to try to be different than Coach Moore or the similar to Coach Moore. I just need him to be uniquely him and do a great job of elevating our offense through you know having a tempo, you know being attacking with a vertical run game and a dominant downhill pass game, and then being able to execute, and so really for us, as long as those three things are coming together, how he does it's really good.”

On the north end zone project:

“I think you know we say all the time, little by little, little becomes a lot, and it's been little by little the commitment, execution by our president, our board, our athletic director has turned into a big north end zone project that has increased our visibility and home field advantage by a lot, in my opinion, and I think the fans, when they see this on August or September 3, are going to be really stunned at the overall presence, venue, heroic nature of driving up on that on the north end zone, I think it's incredible. I think it's to see what this construction crew has done in an 18-month period has been remarkable, and you know I'm pretty confident they're actually turning over the keys early, and that never happens in these kind of things, so very excited to unveil it, and it's going to create an even more urgency for our team to play well at home, because you know we are the we are the team that has chosen to stay here and invest in the state and represent the state while others may have chosen to leave.”

On Ahmad Hardy's emotional journey:

“Well, I mean, honestly, it's I have no problem sharing how I felt, but I think understanding more about what his family went through, what his parents and loved ones had to go through in this, you know, gut wrenching thing is probably more appropriate. You know, I mean, because when I first got the call, we were we were unsure of the seriousness from a health standpoint, and I don't want to I don't want to overexaggerate and say life or death, but I will say we just weren't sure. We didn't have all the information. We were unsure of what the significance of the injury was, and there was a process to going through the things to get to get the update. So when I when I first heard about it was on Mother's Day. I vividly remember it being Mother's Day and having to take multiple phone calls. You know, it wasn't until about 6 p.m. that night that we had been able to isolate that there wasn't internal damage that could be life-threatening. You know, so it was a long day, and then it was a long process of just, you know, getting him back up here, getting him to see our team doctors. I do want to thank Dr. Newly and Dr. Bohan because I thought they did an outstanding job of coordinating with the hospital down there in Addiesburg about making sure they understood the significance of this athlete, making sure any type of surgery would be done with the manor being able to be brought back healthy. So it was a long day, it was a long week, and it's been a long several months. But you look back on it, it's just part of the journey, and appreciative of Ahmad’s commitment to himself and our team to work every day to get back.”

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