Mizzou Football's Itinerary of Meetings, Signings in Early December

One of Eli Drinkwitz's core values for his Missouri Tigers team is a "This Play" mentality: focusing only on the rep, play, day of practice or game ahead. But, in the current world of college athletics, that mindset is unrealistic in late November and early December for the coaching staff and roster alike.

During the team's second bye week during Week 10 of the regular season, the coaching staff spent the better part of the week off discussing next season with the current team, trying to get a feel on what players would and would not be back for the next year.

"We feel like we're in a good place there," Drinkwitz said of roster retention in a press conference the Tuesday ahead of the team's final regular season game. "But you never know."

The real work started following Missouri's 28-21 win in the snow over Arkansas to close out the regular season. The next day, Drinkwitz's staff held a meeting to fully look ahead to what its roster will look like going forward.

"We will finalize what we've been discussing for the last four weeks, which is roster evaluation and management and retention," Drinkwitz said of the meeting's plans.

The five days after the season closes is filled with sit-down interviews with every currently rostered player.

"[We'll] have discussions on player retention," Drinkwitz said, "which means NIL, revenue sharing conversations to see where everybody's at."

Before meeting with players, Drinkwitz works with the athletic department to have a full understanding of the program's financial flexibility.

"You need your coaches to be able to be empowered to make to have those conversations and to make those decisions," Missouri's Director of Athletics Laird Veatch said in a recent press conference. "You're trying to equip them in every way you can."

Before the regular season came to a close, Missouri already learned it will be without one ifs players moving forward, safety Philip Roche. As first reported by the Columbia Daily Tribune, the sophomore is no longer with the program but no announcement has been made yet on Roche's decision to leave.

Roche appeared in 10 games for Missouri in 2024, most recently on special teams in Week 12 against South Carolina.

Missouri will learn of any other players leaving the program and/or entering the transfer portal by Dec. 9, the official opening of the transfer portal, or as Drinkwitz called it, "free agency for everybody on your football team."

Five days before that though, Missouri and every other college football programs will add members of their 2025 incoming freshman class during the early signing period on Dec. 4. In the days leading up to the early signing day, dozens of prospects will back out of previous commitments to reopen their recruitment.

Missouri has already been on both ends of these flips in the week leading up to the early signing period.

Four-star running back Marquise Davis flipped his commitment from Kentucky to Missouri on Dec. 1. Four-star wide receiver DaMarion Fowlkes, who committed to Pittsburgh in June, switched his commitment to Missouri on Dec. 2.

However, Missouri's Class of 2025 did lose five-star offensive tackle Lamont Rogers on Dec. 2, who announced his commitment to Texas A&M the next morning.

READ: 2025 5-Star Lamont Rogers Announces De-commitment

All of the roster additions and subtractions happen in just a few short weeks. On top of players coming and going, Missouri and 81 other teams will have a bowl game near the end of December to prepare for, with the final College Playoff Bracket and bowl designations being announced on Sunday, Dec. 8.

"The most important thing for us is to sign our freshman class, retain the great players that we have on our roster, and then build moving forward," Drinkwitz said. "It's going to happen fast and there's a lot of moving parts on top of whatever else could be going on."

Whatever teams can adapt best to the moment are the ones that will come out on top. There's a forest to see through, that requires correspondence with the coaching staff and the athletics leadership for the program to reach its potential.

"A lot of it is just making sure that we're in a position where we have the resources to be able to invest the way we need to," Veatch said. "That's going to empower Coach Drink and our other coaches to be able to secure talent and win. I mean, that's just, that's just the world we're in now."

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