Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said to Preview the Gator Bowl

Just under three weeks out from facing off in the Gator Bowl on Dec. 27, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz and Virginia head coach Tony Elliot met with the media to preview the game.

Here’s a look at everything Drinkwitz had to say regarding the value of the game, potential player opt outs and more.

Opening statement:

“Appreciate the invitation and the opportunity to be a participant in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. I think the things that make a bowl game so unique are, one, the location, what an awesome venue and location to be able to play in an NFL stadium for our players, whose dreams are to play in the NFL. And two, to be in Florida, obviously great weather, staying at world-class facilities.

The second thing is the opponent and opportunity for TV exposure. Obviously, we're playing a tremendous Virginia team who was a playoff-caliber team who won the ACC regular season champs. They got tremendous coaches, coach Elliot, ACC Coach of the Year. They're really good in all three phases. And so for us to have an opportunity to play on ABC, 7:30 (p.m.) on a Saturday night versus a playoff-worthy team, I think it's going to be tremendous competition. I know our team is really excited to be invited. I know there's going to be incredible experiences and hospitality at the Taxslayer Gator Bowl. And so for us, just very excited and privileged and want to encourage fans, our fans, to be participants, to come down. What a way to spend the back half of your Christmas holidays, and nowhere better than Jacksonville, Florida.”

On the team’s desire to play in the bowl game:

“We talk about it all the time — Warriors always run to the fight. These guys are made to compete. They love football. If you don't love football, you wouldn't do it the way we're committed to doing it. So I know our guys are going to want to play for the Brotherhood. Coach Elliot spoke about having the opportunity to do something that's never been done before in their program, we have an opportunity to do something that's never been done before in the history of our program, three-straight seasons of nine-plus wins, to finish the season ranked three-consecutive seasons hasn't occurred here at the University of Missouri before. winning three-straight bowl games hasn't occurred at Missouri in a long time. And so, you always got to find micro goals. And everybody's goals, we all have high goals and achievable goals, and when those things don't occur, you have to find the ability to reset and refocus, and that's what we've done. We had a spirited practice yesterday, going to have one again today. We're not quite in preparation mode for Virginia, but just getting the rust off and getting back into playing football. And I thought the energy and excitement that these guys had to play football one more time as a group was good.”

On other programs choosing to opt out of bowl games:

“I can't speak to other people's programs, and every situation is uniquely different, and schools got to make decisions that are in the best interest of their programs. I think for us, the main thing is the opportunity to continue to compete and grow. And as a program that is trying to emerge to the highest levels, like you never shy away from an opportunity to compete. And again, we're going against a team that I think has one of the biggest turnarounds in college football. Coach Elliott's staff is tremendous. So it's going to be a tremendous competition that you get to measure yourself with. I think from a 10,000-foot point of view, we got to change the calendar. I think the calendar is driving this whole decision making. We're not able to finish the competitive playing season before players, coaches, administrations, have to make hard decisions. And, I think you're seeing mid-season coaches being let go because they're afraid of the high school signing day and being behind in recruiting. And now you're seeing players making decisions because they want to be ahead of the transfer portal dates. And you're seeing coaches make decisions because of all those things. So to me, the easiest fix is the calendar. And, when that that's addressed, I think some of these decisions can be adjusted. I don't think there's competitors that don't want to play. I don't think there's competitors that don't want to participate. I think there's decisions that have to be made because of all the different circumstances that are involved because of the calendar.”

On if the team will use the game to give playing time to unproven freshmen:

“I mean, we want to develop them in practice. Practice execution equals game-day reality. The only way you get better is to practice. But this isn't a practice game. This is a game we're both trying to win and we're trying to win. And so if you don't earn the opportunity to help us win in practice, then this ain't tryouts. This isn't a preseason game. This is a game against the ACC regular season champion. So, if somebody can help us win, they'll get to play. But this ain't a participation trophy. So if the young guy earns it in practice, he'll get to play. If he doesn't, he won't.”

On what the bowl means for building the marketability of the program:

“I'll say this, I think for us, we couldn't have had a better opportunity to end the season, versus the ACC regular season champ, and then the exposure that it'll be on national television, I can't imagine there's a better game going on at that time, including in the NFL, because I think all those playoff spots are already locked up by then anyway. So you'll have a lot of people trying to get better draft picks. To go back to Mike's question (about) playing younger guys, we're going to be playing our guys to try to win. And got a lot of respect for coach Elliott's team. He’s got a 1000-yard rusher. They got Chandler Morris, who does an excellent job as a quarterback, who's got great experience. You got a top 10 scoring defense, top 10 rushing defense. So I think the matchup is really good. We like to run the football. We've got a pretty solid defense too, so it's going to be strength on strength.”

On his first impression of Virginia as a team:

Dec 6, 2025; Charlotte, NC, USA; Virginia Cavaliers quarterback Chandler Morris (4) receives a snap in the third quarter against the Duke Blue Devils during the 2025 ACC Championship game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

“A tremendous football team in all three phases that do an excellent job being fundamental and technically sound in their schemes. I think they're one of the best kickoff cover teams in the country. We define tough teams as a team that's able to stop the run, run the ball and cover kicks. So when you look at UVA, they're able to do those three in a really efficient manner. They have a 1000-yard rusher, they're top 10 in rush defense, and they're one of the best coverage units there. Obviously, I have a tremendous amount of respect for coach Elliott and who he is as a person, which I know translates into the culture that his program is going to have. So it's a difficult challenge and a worthy opponent, and again, when you get into bowl season, that’s what you're looking for. Now, I would prefer if coach Elliott would have said that he's just going to play his freshman in the second half. But since he didn't do that, I guess we'll just have to compete it out.”

On the schematic similarities of Missouri with Virginia offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, who Drinkwitz worked with at NC State:

“For us again, I have an offensive coordinator (Kirby Moore), and when he came in, he kind of retooled and revamped the pass game, but kept the foundational run game aspects of it. And the foundational run game for us goes back to really, not even me. It's really Dwayne Ledford. When Dwayne came from Appalachian State in 2016 (to NC State) and Des was our running backs coach, Dwayne and Des presented to me this plan of why the wide zone would give us an opportunity in the ACC with playing teams like Clemson and Miami and some of these other opponents that we weren't matching up with, would give us an opportunity to be able to run the ball effectively. Those guys spent time together at the (Atlanta) Falcons and I still stay in touch with Dwayne and get ideas from him on how they're running the wide zone. And so that's been just the foundational component for us again.

In the SEC, where we see big athletic defensive lines, how do we create space? And we've been able to do that in the last five years, effectively running the ball. So when I turn on the tape and watch, there's so many different components. Coach Kitchings always had great ideas and input into what we were trying to do. And sometimes I would take it, sometimes I wouldn't, but when you watch the tape, you're like, ‘Oh, that's one of those ideas that he brought to me, or a foundational core pass component.’ He does a lot of really new stuff that I think he's adapted from the NFL and some of the things. But you do see some similarities that we all had ideas. I think, and Tony would tell you, too, as a coordinator, it's the collaborative effort. And you see that collaborative effort being brought in. And I think some of the stuff that you see that UVA does is some of the things that their quarterbacks coach brought from his time at App State too with coach Satterfield. So it's been cool to watch. I think they do an excellent job of staying on time in phase. They have a ton of third-and-mediums. They stayed ahead of the chains as good as anybody I've seen this season. So the challenge for us is not to get frustrated as they grind out three and four and five yards at a time. I think the quarterback’s an excellent decision maker who rarely makes bad situations or bad plays. So, very proud of what coach Kitchings has developed over there.”

On player opt-outs:

“I've had a couple of players transfer. I think we're still in the middle of the negotiation phase, which I'm sure coach Elliot's fixing to enter into over the next few weeks. I feel for the most part that we're going to be as close to full strength as we can. I haven't had any NFL declarations yet. Those grades for the underclassmen will come back this week. So I think there's still things that could change, but as of now, I feel very confident in our senior class wanting to play and play at a high level. So as soon as I get that information, I'll make it public. I'm not going to try to hide anything. So as soon as I get all that stuff, I'll let everybody know so the fans know what the product should be on the field. And probably more importantly, for Vegas to know.”

If Ahmad Hardy exceeded his expectations:

Ahmad Hardy rushes — Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy (29) runs for yardage in the fourth quarter of a game against Mississippi State on Saturday | Cal Tobias/MissouriOnSI

“Ahmad Hardy's a wonderful story. I had zero expectation that he would come in and that he would come in and be the first team All-SEC running back and be a finalist for the Doak Walker award. I knew he was a talented player, but I didn't know how good he was, and so it's been a remarkable season. He's a young man who's earned it. He's a great teammate. He's got great work ethic, got an unbelievable personality. People love being around him. So it's been really fun to watch him and watch his journey. And I think the other thing that's been really remarkable about him is he came in and competed with Jamal Roberts, and Jamal's had an excellent season too, and Ahmad has always deferred the spotlight and shared the credit with him. I think that's been really cool for me to watch, because when you come in as the transfer, you just never know how that mesh is going to occur, especially in those rooms where they're competing with each other. And it's been awesome to see those two guys work together.”

On Virginia running back J’Mari Taylor:

“J’Mari Taylor has rushed for 1,000 yards. He's got 14 touchdowns. I mean, he's had a remarkable season. All-ACC running back, that's a really tough league. Got really good defenses all the way across the board. So for him to reach that achievement in that level is not just a tribute to him and his talent, but obviously an offensive line that's dealt with injuries that the scheme that those coaches have put together, the ability for Chandler (Morris) to create openings by utilizing the throw game. So it's a hats off and tribute to the entire staff.”

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