Everything Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz Said on the CFP Selection Show
The 10-2 Missouri Tigers finished the year at No. 9 in the CFP rankings, AP and Coaches Polls, despite not even being considered among the top half of teams in the SEC just a few months ago.
Missouri will be facing No. 7 Ohio State in the prestigious Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Missouri football head coach Eli Drinkwitz opened up about his team's historic season during the College Football Playoff Selection Show on Sunday afternoon.
Here's a full transcript of what Drinkwitz said:
On the 10-win season and playing against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl:
It's an awesome opportunity for our guys. It's been some tough sledding for my first three seasons, and for our senior class to get this opportunity and win 10 games, it reminds them that it's worth it. The hard work, dedication, long hours, hard practices are worth it. I'm really proud of our players and our staff. This day and age in college football there are a lot of options or things to do differently, but these guys stuck together, fought together and now they're going to be rewarded with a great game versus a great opponent.
On running back Cody Schrader's story being emblematic of the rest of the team's season:
It's the story of how hard work, determination and mindset combined with talent is almost unstoppable and hard to break. Cody's a guy who bet on himself--a Division II transfer that walked on at the University of Missouri and earned everything he's got in his life. Me in him were watching the championship games last night, and he was keeping an eye on the Texas-Oklahoma game, just to make sure he finished as the nation's leading rusher. It's just a remarkable story. He played the LSU game with a torn quad and just refused to come out. He lived in the training room and now he's in a position to get drafted. It's a story that everybody in the country will be proud to hear and I bet it'll be a movie someday.
On quarterback Brady Cook's performance throughout the season:
The quarterback spot is about growth and opportunity. Everybody expects him to come out and be the star immediately. You got to work through it, continue to gain experience and develop along the way. It's a tribute to Brady to stick to it, it's a tribute to our coaching staff to continue to believe in him. I think (offensive coordinator) Kirby Moore has done an excellent job of finding things that fit him and utilizing his talents. Brandon Jones, our offensive line coach, deserves a ton of credit for protecting him, keeping him safe and establishing the run game. But at the end of the day, Brady's determination, toughness, refusal to give in to self-pity and continue to move forward, he's receiving all of the benefits right now.
On next season's approach after an extremely successful 2023:
Our team gained a lot of confidence playing against Georgia on the road. It gave us that jolt of energy to finish November the right way. My goal for this opportunity is to push us towards next season. At this time next season, if we're in the top 12, we're going to be talking about the playoffs. In my mindset of pushing this program forward, we're talking about how we accelerate through the curve and continue to expect to be in this position.
On being able to get players to buy into Missouri football:
It's all about building trust and respect. If you get people to buy into your culture, the quicker they'll trust you and trust each other. The only way to build trust is to be honest with each other in the good and the bad. Also, you need to build respect based off of mutual interactions. That's who we've been. It's not always been pretty or easy, but we've worked really hard to build that trust within the brotherhood and coaching staff. In this day and age with recruiting and NIL, there are all kinds of ways for people to manipulate the truth. We try to be as truthful as we can be in all of our interactions and to build that trust.
Drinkwitz ended the interview with a joke about former Michigan football analyst Connor Stalions, who was fired for the sign-stealing scandal.
"I got Connor Stalions beeping my phone right now," Drinkwitz said. "I'm trying to get some signals here."
