The Three Most Important Quotes from Eli Drinkwitz' Press Conference Saturday

Missouri's head coach Eli Drinkwitz announced the Tigers' team captains, gave an update on Cayden Green and important insight on Naeshaun Montgomery in Saturday's interview.

Team Captains Announcement

The Tigers' team captains were announced on Saturday during Drinkwitz' opening statement. The coaching staff named Dominick Giudice, Cayden Green and Nicholas Rodriguez captains in January and the player-appointed captains were announced Saturday. The players gave Jamal Roberts, Santana Banner and Blake Craig the honor.

"Whether it was the captains that have steered the team, or the coach's decision in January with Dominick Giudice, Cayden Green and Nic Rodriguez, or if it's the player-voted captains with Jamal Roberts, Santana Banner and Blake Craig, this group of men, all the transfers, the returning starters have worked really whole part to form just us, unity over self. And I'm proud of this group and proud to take them to play UAPB."

Cayden Green Status Update

Drinkwitz announced that Cayden Green will miss the season opener on Thursday during the interview. Green started 11 games at left tackle last season, missing two games with a right foot injury. He was named to preseason All-SEC and All-American teams during the offseason.

"Cayden Green will miss the opener. That's what it is right now, I'm not going to give a medical report on it. We're going to do what's best for him. (We) have a lot of confidence in Jack (Lange) and Whit (Hafer) and how they'll handle it and now its their opportunity to prove their capabilities."

Statement on Starter Naeshaun Montgomery

Florida transfer Naeshaun Montgomery played four games with the Gators last season and has developed throughout the Tigers' fall camp. The former four-star is one of two starters at the X position for Missouri, per Saturday's depth chart. Montgomery has a high upside and was the No. 53 prospect and No. 12 wide receiver prospect in the class of 2025 on Rivals.

"Naeshaun's been one of our most improved players from spring to now. Just the consistency of the amount of work that he's put in, his commitment to the team," Drinkwitz said. "He slept in the locker room all camp, except for the night before off days, just being dedicated to his process to develop. He's made some unbelievable catches... he's been very consistent. I expect him to have a big role. I think he'll be one of the top four or five snap getters in the wide receiver position and he's got a good rapport with Austin (Simmons) right now, which has been fun to watch those guys develop. He's still learning, still trying to improve, but you can tell he's playing with more confidence than he had when he first showed up."

Everything Else Eli Drinkwitz Said

His opening statement

"I'm proud to take them to play UAPB and very appreciative of the fans. As we were walking in a generous booster just purchased the last remaining (80 tickets), so we are officially a sellout for... Kickoff in CoMo. So announcement here, beat the athletic department to the punch and very very appreciative of our fans. Cannot wait to unveil the $250 million north end zone and what that will mean for our program moving forward. Appreciative to the board, the president, the generous donors and all the people who have purchased seating. Appreciative of EquipmentShare, appreciative of AmBetter for buying jersey patches, just thankful for this state coming together to support the University of Missouri. Our football program means a lot to us. And with that, we understand comes a lot of responsibility for this football team, and we look forward to it... UAPB, Alonzo Hampton, head football coach, have a lot of appreciation for who he is and what he stands for. He's done an excellent job at UAPB and has had a really exciting career. Whether he's been at a lot of different places, (I) have crossed over and coached against him several times and have a tremendous amount of respect for him. They've got four returning players on defense. They have a returning all-conference player at the defensive end position who (can) do a tremendous job creating pressure for us and know that that's going to be a challenge for us. They return their kicker, they have several returning starters on the offensive side of the ball. They're still in a quarterback battle and some of these questions about their personnel will be answered for us as they play tonight vs. Morehouse College. So we're excited to get that taped tonight. We've already been preparing based off of looks that we've got scouted in the past and we'll continue to do that today and we'll do it again for a toughness Tuesday tomorrow with this team."

On how unique the Tigers are

"I think the uniqueness of this team is the confidence they have, the preparation that they put in. I think they're really bought into the coaches and they're bought into each other, which gives them a camaraderie that I haven't seen necessarily in a few years. So very excited about the togetherness this group has. I don't know that they have somebody with the same amount of juice and outside energy that maybe Zion did, but I do sense a lot of leadership and a lot of commitment out of the group."

What Drinkwitz wants to see from Missouri Week 1

"We talked to the team about this. It's about us setting the standard for how we want to perform. It's about working to improve, but we got to have a baseline of where we're at. Offensively, we always want to be controlling scrimmage, vertical throws, execute, play well under pressure in situations. Whether that's third downs, two minutes and a half, red zone, defensively, it starts with stopping the run... the quarterback and be great tacklers. So, those things are going to have to come to the forefront. Special teams, obviously, we need to execute at a higher level than we have in the past. Be clean, whether that's Blake (Craig) kicking field goals or Brunno (Reus) kicking punts. So you know it's really to set the bar and how much better we can climb each each and every week.

On how Austin Simmons fits in Missouri's system

"We have a phrase from quarterbacks that we've used for a long time, smart, not conservative. And I think for us with Austin, he's extremely talented. He's got a great arm. We need him to be smart with the football, not conservative. We don't need to be out here just willy-nilly trying to put footballs in tight windows and potentially throwing interceptions. We need to be know when it's time to cut it loose and when it's time to take the checkdown, he's done an excellent job of that throughout camp. I've been thoroughly impressed with his ability to play within the system, move the ball, push the ball vertically when it's needed and when it's appropriate, take check downs when he has to and then obviously just overall command of the team. That's going to be as he has continued to develop as a leader here, leadership always continues to show up, one, when you face adversity and show the courage that you need, or two, you make plays on the field and people rally behind you. So, excited to see both of those things occur."

On Drinkwitz' team goals

"There's a lot of things that we've never done before here at the University of Missouri. We set those goals in front of our team. Part of our core value always competes to do it better than it's ever been done before. And for us, those goals are out there. I prefer to keep a lot of that those expectations internal and I try to create outside expectations and feed the narrative of it doesn't get accomplished then that wasn't a success. But we chart those every year. I'll tell you this: as simple as when we played in (2023), the goal was for us to be 3-and-0 after the Kansas State game because we had never started the season with three wins. So, you know, we're constantly evaluating where we've been and what we're at, and how do we do things better? So it can be as simple as those kind of things, or it can be major goals too, which outside of 1960 we never won a national championship."

On Missouri's rushing attack without Hardy in Week 1

"We want to be a dominant downhill run game, whether that's with Jamal (Roberts) or Xai'Shaun Edwards or Malae (Fonoti) or Maxwell or Anthony Favrow, it really doesn't matter for us. That's the expectation that we have and we've got a lot of returning players at the offensive line in tight end position, and yet that expectation is what we want to see."

On Jack Lange's Improvement

"Jack's been a guy that was recruited with a lot of potential and we've really poured it into him to develop that. I think he's done a really good job of buying into how Coach Jones and Coach Meadows are coaching him and he's had plenty of reps. There's been multiple days where he would take the left tackle with the ones and he's done an excellent job with it. Whit Hafer is also a guy that's really been pushing and somebody that's consistent with we know can play that tackle position for us too. And so, it's really going to be about guys who can get five acting as one, who can communicate, who can play through the nerves and go out and execute at a high level."

On the Tigers' starting tackles five-year experience at Missouri

"I think it's really awesome. Those guys came in together. You know, one from the east side of the state, one from the west side of the state, representing the two largest metropolitan areas that we have and guys that are really on what this program is about, which has developed, been bought into Coach Russell's lead-edge program. Jalen (Marshall) has done a really good job with Kennedy, our nutritionist, to monitor and maintain his weight in the appropriate way. Marquis Gracial has done the same thing, trimming up, being more explosive. Those guys have had production in limited roles and now it's opportunity for their roles to expand. They've got some really good players behind them. Push them every single day. High level that you know we can rotate, get somebody else in there pretty quickly. So that's been good for everybody. You know, but really proud of those guys. And it's their turn. I've said this several times throughout the summer. You know, with these guys, the team's counting on you and the state's counting on you to produce. I think we have that with quite a few people."

On Jordon Harris' dependability

"Mr. Consistent. Jordan has been a guy who is consistent. He's dependable. He's hardworking. Plays with courage. Plays with toughness. He's a throwback football player that we are very fortunate to have him on our team. I was walking back with him on Tuesday. His first visit with me on on the field was in the old indoor and he's seen it go from new indoor to new north end zone and it's kind of just been the progress of his career. (He's) an excellent player that you have a ton of faith in, and can't wait to watch him have his best year of his career. And then with this new five-in-five rule, work like hell to get him to come back.

On Elijah Dotson's evolution

"I thought he had an excellent spring. Obviously, was dinged up a little bit with the shoulder and worked his way back. I think he's really refined himself to contribute to us both on special teams and different positions in the back end. He's a guy that does an excellent job getting the ball out, whether that's intentionally punching at the ball or having interceptions. You know we need that on that side of the ball. We're at our best, our defensive players are, especially in the secondary, when their ballhawks."

On College Football and the Save College Sports Act

"I got a lot to say on the subject, but I've been saying this for three years now that college football, college athletics is not in a great place. You know, I said this several years ago when we had announcement of conference changes in the middle of law camp. I said have we considered the student athletes? You know, this stuff is not good for any student athlete and it's a direct reflection of our inability as leaders to come up with a plan, we spent all summer politicking a Save College Sports Act and then at the last moment, we all tried to get behind it. That's not how Washington D.C. works. We've been trying to do it for six years and it took a while to get on board. And now you see the results. You know if that bill has passed, this stuff is not happening right now because there's a framework for what the future of college athletics looks like. Mike Elko said it a couple days ago. Like for four days, the season's kicked off, and we do not know what the rules are for eligibility? That's embarrassing, man. This is the second biggest in the United States, most watched sport in the United States and for us to be operating like this is a complete clown show, and it's disappointing. And coaches have been on the forefront of saying this and it's been ignored. I would say now this is what they get. That's what they've got, and so you know administrators and courtrooms have got to figure out what the rules are now and we've been saying this for years and years and years. So I'm going to focus on my team. If I'm told that I can add players, then I'll look to add players. I'm going to do whatever I'm supposed to do to help the University of Missouri win. That's my job. That's what the president, the board and the fans expect out of me. So, whatever the rules are, we'll try to play by those rules. It would just be nice if those rules weren't adjusted by tweets on social media or by courtrooms or lawyers. But that's our fault because we didn't pass the bill to get it done."

More on the Save College Sports Act

"Pass the Save College Sports Act. Sponsored by Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell and by Eric Schmidt. Is it perfect? Nope. Nobody said it was perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than what we're doing right now, and that's what we've been saying. The House of Representatives had an opportunity to pass a bill, they they couldn't get it done. The Senate took it on. They tried to work really hard to pass it. It was bipartisan, but it took forever for major conferences to get on board with it and that hurt us. Now, we're going to be suffering through this and we'll find out if the SEC's position is defensible and legal. I don't know, but any hope of us having breakaway or whatever will depend on this court case because that threat's going to be null or void if it doesn't win. So we'll see. I mean, a lot's up in the air for college sports. Coach Saban said it best, so I'm sticking with what Coach Saban said."

On Nicholas Rodriguez' leadership

Nic's one of those special young men who came here, chose to be here. He's first generation immigrant to this country. His parents, everybody else played soccer. He chose to play football. He's a gatherer. People love to be around him. He's a leader. He plays with an intensity and fire about him and he's done an excellent job just being a voice for the players, the coaching staff, and a voice of the coaches to the players in that locker room. There's just a lot of trust about who he is and you know whether or not we appointed him or the players voted him I think the result would have been the same. He would have been a captain."

On the wide receivers rooms' versatility

"There's a lot of different people (that) do a lot of different things. Really technical route runners have proven more and more about them to make the tough catches and then I think there's a diversity of speed too. I've been impressed with both Caleb Goodie and Naeshaun Montgomery's vertical ability. I think Donovan has lost seven pounds, he's more explosive than he's been since I've seen him. I think his yards after catch be a lot higher than last year. I think he was a little bit of a one-trick pony and now he's developed into a full route, free route runner and explosive with the ball in his hands, which is going to be excellent for us to see. And then obviously Cayden Lee, with Sean Terry and DaMarion Folks who can control the middle of the field. Then you create mismatches with the tight end room. So, Austin's got a lot of weapons back there and we just got to get consistent in how we're affecting defenses and have confidence in what we're calling."

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