Mizzou football refocused and reengaged coming out of bye week
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou football team will host Vanderbilt on Saturday for homecoming, following a much-needed bye week.
You can watch extended highlights from Tuesday's practice in the video player below.
Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said the bye week came at a good time for the group from a healthy and mentality standpoint, but it also allowed them to refocus and reengage.
"Now we got a great opportunity to compete and homecoming is always a great crowd. It's always a great energy around Columbia and around our University," he said. "It'll be good for our guys to go out there and earn it and that's what we're going to have to do. Vanderbilt, Coach Lee does a tremendous job."
Drinkwitz noted that the Commodores will present a challenge for the Tigers on Saturday. He said schematically Vanderbilt has a lot of variety under first-year head coach Devin Lee, which is one of their biggest assets.
"They mix in multiple fronts - four-down front, three-down front, bear front, lots of different fire zone coverages, and man," he said. "Whatever keys you try to have on this is going to tell you if its quarters, this is gonna tell you if it's cover two or one high, he mixes those constantly."
MU used the bye week to refresh, after a 2-4 start to the season. Health wise, the Tigers are still working on getting some guys back on the field.
Drinkwitz said linebacker Chad Bailey, wide receiver Barrett Banister, and defensive back Kris Abrams-Draine should all be probable for Vanderbilt. He adds that wide receiver Luther Burden is still nursing an injury and they will see where he stands in Tuesday's practice. Offensive lineman Hyrin White has been out all season and Coach Drink said he is still not where they would like him to be.
You can watch the full press conference with Bailey, as well as with defensive backs Ennis Rakestraw and Marcus Clarke and defensive lineman Trajan Jeffcoat in the video players below.
Mizzou does have depth at those positions. The bye week was big for the younger guys on MU's roster. Drinkwitz listed a slew of freshmen and sophomores that impressed through the off week, including Missouri natives Mekhi Miller, Marquis Gracial, and Isaac Thompson.
Coach Eli took a look at the younger quarterbacks on the roster, as well.
"Both Sam [Horn] and Tyler [Macon] practiced well on Wednesday and Thursday," he said. "In the scrimmages, both led touchdown drives. Sam led multiple touchdown drives and so it was good to see. It wasn't perfect, but better ownership over what we're trying to do."
Defensively, coordinator Blake Baker said he was happy with how his veterans approached the bye week and got healthy. He added it was good to get the young guys another week's worth of development.
"You can see how the individual and how scout team has been paying off for them. Some guys really stood out this past week, but we're ready to go play somebody again. We're excited about this week and excited about homecoming."
You can watch the full press conference with Baker in the video player below.
The Tigers will kick off against Vanderbilt at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Faurot Field, as both teams look for their first SEC win of the season.
