The Three Most Important Quotes from Eli Drinkwitz's Tuesday Press Conference

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz adressed the media for his weekly press conference Tuesday. He previewed Kansas' offense, recapped Missouri's positives and negatives from its Week 1 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and touched on a few unexpected subjects.

Here's the three most important quotes, along with everything else Drinkwitz said.

On Cayden Green, Ahmad Hardy’s injury status

Left tackle Cayden Green and running back Ahmad Hardy missed Missouri's Week 1 contest against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Drinkwitz provided updates on both.

“Cayden Green practiced yesterday, about three quarters of the practice — looked good. Need to see how he responds today to that work that he got. You know, had a good report this morning on his initial. Meetings are at two, so I'll have a better idea at 2 O'clock where that's at. Nothing's changed on Ahmad as far as his availability. He's not returned to practice, still working on his rehab protocol, and (we’ll) continue to monitor that.”

“We we just want to get (Hardy) out to a practice and then go from there, but we're not there yet.”

Acknowleding history of the Missouri-Kansas rivalry but remaining focused on task at hand

In the eyes of many fans, Missouri's Week 2 matchup against Kansas may be its most important game of the season — it's for bragging rights over an arch-nemesis that the Tigers won't get to play again for another five years. There's tons of noise surrounding the importance of the matchup, but Drinkwitz and his Tigers are focused on the gridiron more than the noise outside it:

“We've highlighted the significance of the rivalry, where it started, how it came to be, the highlighted points of some of the successes of our team, some of the failures of our side of it, why it's so important. We've — like I said — we've had Dr. Spain come in and present to our team, we've had former players talk about it, but this week really, for us, is not really about that. Like that's all the jokes and all the different stuff is to try to create the rivalry, but now we're in the middle of the week. It's really going to come down to execution. I mean, it's you know, getting hyped up for the game. Our guys want to play, you know, but we got to make sure that we understand how to execute on the road. I'm way more concerned with handling noise and handling travel, playing on a Friday night, you know, I'm way more concerned about that than whether or not our guys want to play in the game. Our guys understand the significance of the game and all that, but you know, there's not going to be like this magic new Rocky speech that comes up before the game, and our guys get amped up because of the past history. Like they want to win because it means something to our football team that to be 1-0 this week. So, like I said, we've done all the explanations of it. There's a tangible trophy at the end of the game that we would love to keep, but in order to do that, we're going to have to defend the run. We're going to have to handle, contain the quarterback. We're going to have to handle pressure defensively. We're going to have to see multiple coverage looks. Quarterbacks are going to have to decipher through that, which we haven't seen so far. We're going to have to protect the quarterback way better than we did last week. We're going to have to rush the ball with much more effectiveness. So, I'm really more concerned with the execution than I am about the height of the game.

“I'm really just focused on playing this game on a Friday. It's important for us to get a lot better. We need to make a jump from week 1 to week 2. I don't have any big significant thoughts on it, larger scale than that. That's that's really more up to the athletic departments and ADs, and they'll make those decisions.”

On the state of MU’s running back room, roster restrictions

Missouri running back Malae Fonoti suffered an ACL injury that will keep him sidelined for the remainder of the season. Star tailback Hardy's timeline of return is unclear as well. This leaves Missouri shorthanded on the ground with no way to replenish the lost production.

“That's probably the biggest point of concern we have right now with the depth chart, and it's one of the prevailing issues of college football: including rosters and inability to add players after injuries take place. You build a roster in January, and unforeseen things happen, like, you know, players get hurt in game, players get hurt in accidents, and you're kind of stuck. And I think this is just goes back to a broader question of what the you know what what is the NCAA, or college football's, management for creating some sort of parity throughout the course of a of a season, and I think we're going to continue to get more and more of these questions in this NIL day and age of how you can create competitive equity amongst the college football teams, so that you can continue to keep fanbases engaged, and that a single significant injury doesn't derail a season, and all of this money that we've invested, the fans have invested in, now becomes null and void because of an injury that you have no you know no way to to replace. So again, there's a whole lot of questions in college football that at some point need to get answered by somebody in charge instead of just saying, "Well, we'll play the games. But that's a whole other question. So in the running back room, yeah, I don't feel great, you know. But you know, it is what it is. We'll do the best we can. You know, obviously we got Jamal Roberts, we got Xai’Shaun. I think (Preston Hatfield) scored in his first career game. Not bad for a guy, you know. So, you know, we'll see. Anthony Favrow got in there, did some good things. Max Warner's got to continue to step up. Coach Luper’s got his hands full of coaching guys.”

Opening statement

“Excited to get this week started. Big game, Friday night lights, awesome opportunity. Coach Leipold has a good team with a great scheme and great coaches and really good players. So should be an exciting matchup.”

On Jack Lange’s performance

“I thought Jack did some really good things. I thought there were some moments where, you know, physically, he's exactly where we want him to be. You know, using his length and his power to be a dominant player. But there's other things that you can tell it was his first start. You know, some communication issues, getting all five people on the same page as far as edge pressure and those sort of things. So, you know, hopefully that's just in the environment going through it for the first time. But he's had a really good week of practice, and he's ready and available if need be.”

On Malae Fonoti’s injury

“Unfortunate injury with Malae, non-contact ACL, and so he will be out remainder of the season. Actually, has surgery tomorrow. Very disappointed for him and his family. Obviously, had an outstanding summer and fall camp, and has earned a role and opportunity. Not only was he playing as back for us, but he was playing a lot (of) special teams contributing in that, and you know it's an unfortunate injury. This game doesn't owe us anything, and it's a really cruel game. But we do know he'll be back, and he'll be back stronger than ever. And we're going to support him through it.”

On Kansas Assistant Coach Andy Kotelnicki

I think their offensive coordinator does a tremendous job getting his quarterbacks comfortable and utilizing their strengths. You know, we, with Beau (Pribula) last year utilized a lot of film from what he had done at Penn State and kind of. tried to see it through Beau’s eyes on how he got him comfortable. And so I've always had a lot of respect for his offensive prowess, and I think he does a really good job with his guys. I think he's got a really complex-looking schematics that's very difficult on defense, but it's pretty easy for his quarterback and for his offensive players, which I think is the hallmark of a really good coordinator, is when you can make multiple pictures look really difficult to defenses, but you're using you know the same scheme for your players. So it's the same as principle. He does a really good job of that. He's got plays off of plays, so he's going to give you the same shift, same motion this week, and then next week he's going to have an explosive pass off of it, or an explosive quarterback run off of it, or a trick, or a special, where he's going to have you hunting things. You know, he's got multiple unbalanced formations where he has the in-man on line of scrimmage again eligible. So you're constantly having to ask yourself what's next, and you're hunting ghosts, which I think is what you know you're supposed to do as an offensive coordinator. He does a really good job of it. You know

On Kansas QB Isaiah Marshall

“Yeah, I think the quarterback looks really good, really natural… the quarterback has played against some of our players before. I think all of our guys from Detroit played against him, some of them in a state championship game. The guy's a winner, and he's playing at a high level with a lot of confidence. I think the way through the ball vertically down the field was really good. I mean, his accuracy is really good, and obviously, just watching all his runs from last year, he runs extremely tough. He's got great vision. He's got a really good one-step plant first, so it'll be a real challenge for us defensively with a limited amount of film, a new coordinator, a new quarterback. You know, we have to do a really good job of in-game adjustments, and our players are going to have to do a really good job of communicating on the sideline what they're seeing.

“I think the challenge with players like Isaiah Marshall and dual-threat quarterbacks is every play becomes you know every pass play becomes really a two play part when you have the pass play, which he's an effective thrower, and then he can pull it down and become a runner. So you have to play two plays within a play. There's no magic answer to it. I think if if a quarterback is limited in one area or another, then it becomes more like, hey, we're gonna. You know, there was a couple years ago we played a quarterback that we said, hey, if he throws it to beat us. We'll be okay with that, but we're not going to let him scramble to beat us. But that's not really what you can do with with this guy. So you know we're going to have to be disciplined. We're going to have to rush the quarterback and play pass coverage, and then utilize our pass rush lanes. We'll see how it plays out. “

On the upcoming road test in Lawrence

“I think everything's a challenge. You know, we tried to create a road game atmosphere and environment a couple of weeks ago, but you're dealing with so many new players and so many new routines, and you know, I think you look at college football. The road teams that have traveled haven't haven't done so well, especially in the bigger matchups. You know, obviously, SMU did a great job of finding a way to win that game, but just a lot of different things that happen that you're just not accustomed to. So you really got to lean into each other. I think you have to ask yourself as coaches and players how you're going to respond to situations. You know how are we going to respond? I thought last year's game hinged on our ability to not phase in the face of adversity. We were down 21-6, looked pretty bad. We had a fumble, turned for a touchdown. We had an extra point blocked. You know they were throwing explosive plays. We were cutting guys loose. It looked pretty bad, and then we settled in and started executing the difference in the game. We were, I think, four-for-five on fourth-down conversions and scored right before half. We did the things that we needed to do, but we were at home. I think we were a little bit more comfortable in the environment. Now we're going to be on the road, and it's going to be a little bit more challenging. So we'll see.”

On Why MU’s run game started slow against UAPB

“I would love for every time we end the ball off, just to you know look at make it look like it was on air and we go score 80 yards. But the other team's trying too, and they've got gap responsibilities and they practice. And so you know I think it's unfair for everybody to just assume that the first time you you run plays it's going to just be 80 yard touchdowns all the time. So you know, you got to settle in. You got to see how people's pads are set. There's an acclimation to how are they defending the play, especially with us in the wide zone. There's a variance. You know, this team likes to play bare cap edge and press the point, or they like to play two techniques and try to put the stress on the center on the reach block, so you know you kind of have to figure out what what are they trying to do, and then bounce back with an answer, and that's kind of what happened to us in the game. You know we weren't getting stretched on the front side, and then they were able to collapse us from the backside, which then tells you okay, this has got to be the answer to it, or you know we got to get a better frontside stretch and capture the edge. The ball's got to stay on the outside. So you know we weren't running the ball effectively, especially on the inside zones because we didn't handle the movement or the game calls, which occurred on not only the sack but also on the third one on the second drive. So you know there's some of that stuff too. That’s communication execution. The other part, you know, was, just got to figure out what they're doing and what are our responses to it. I thought for sure in the second quarter we had a couple more where we handled their I-front a little differently. You know, we made an adjustment on the sideline and how we wanted to handle that insert the surge and worked out pretty good for us.”

On how to avoid an early deficit similar to the 2025 matchup

“It all comes down to execution. You know, we started actually fast. We went out and scored on the first drive, but then we had an extra point blocked, and then they went down and scored, and then we fumbled. They returned for a touchdown. Then we went three-and-out, had a negative-yardage play on the first play, and then we get to third-and-13 punt. They have an explosive. They have a good punt return. Their punt returner, Nagy’s, a really nice player, does excellent job. He’s very dynamic in the pass game for them also. But then they had explosive pass. They weren't really able to ever get the run game going, which I think will be different this year with what they do, just because their coordinator is is very good at finding run angles, and then they you know muddle huddle us. We cut guys loose. They have three guys running wide open. So you know I think we've got to execute a lot better if it just comes down to it. It's, we got to settle into the environment, understand the plays that we're supposed to play, trust our eyes and our training.”

On where he was on 9/11, his thoughts on the country, importance of game being played on 25th anniversary of 9/11

“Freshman of Arkansas Tech University, supposed to have a physical science class. Walked in the class, professor canceled class, was first I'd heard about it. Walked back to my dorm room, turned on the news, was in a state of shock. Basically, hung out in my dorm room all day watching the news, scared. Remember, remember going to get gas because that's what everybody did. Being in line for hours trying to get gas in your car, and I think it's just the uncertainty of that day. I remember the fear, you know, for the first time as a 18-year-old, kind of fearful of what world we were living in. Yeah, that's really the recollection I have of the day. I remember then George Bush, not the next day, but several days later, throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, and that really galvanizing our country, and then the resolve that the country had to work together. I think one of the things that I hope our country at some point will get back together at is, you know, I remember in '94 through 2000 just being such a divisive time because of identity politics, but it really wasn't identity politics. It was more like Republican versus Democrat. Newt Gingrich was going to hold up anything that Bill Clinton did, and then George Bush wins a contested election, and it's the Supreme Court. It's all the stuff, and it looks like the same thing's going to happen, and then 9/11 happened, and the country was united, and they came together and they worked together to solve problems and to find solutions and to move forward. And I remember feeling united as a country, and man, that feels like a long, long time ago. It really, really does. And I just, I wish at some point that our country can work together again for the good of its citizens, for the good of the country, for the good of the world. At some point, we used to be a beacon of hope and light, you know. And now I don't know what we are, but I wish we could get back to that place. And maybe I shouldn't just wish it. Maybe we should all take a lesson from 9/11, and remember the unity that it brought, the feelings that we had. I mean, I remember that country music song. Where were you on that day? I mean, I remember listening to that song, wanting to cry. It was so awesome, you know, because I remember where I was and that feeling that we had. So I appreciate the question. I do. And maybe the SEC will come back together.”

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