Drinkwitz reviews spring camp, previews Friday’s Pro Day

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Mizzou Football is wrapping up spring practices for the upcoming season. Eli Drinkwitz reflected on his team's spring camp on Wednesday afternoon and was proud of the individual player development he noticed from many players and is thrilled by the potential of this year's group.

"I'm really excited about our team and what we're going to be. I'm obsessed with reaching our full potential," Drinkwitz said. "I'm not going to place limits or set the bar too high or too low on what it can be. I just know that we have a bright future and a big-time potential ahead of us."

You can watch the full press conference with Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz in the video player below.

Coming out of spring practices, Drinkwitz hasn't noticed any "glaring weaknesses" on the roster but did say him and his staff will be active in the upcoming transfer portal window. The Tigers still currently have some scholarships available to give to players, so potentially adding some more talent from the transfer portal could add some competition and continue to improve some units on the team.

"The number one core value of University of Missouri football is always compete. The day we quit competing is the day we've accepted mediocrity. We will never do that as long as I'm the head football coach. Every single player knows every day you've got to be better today than you were yesterday," Drinkwitz said. "None of us are afraid of competition, and we'll be looking to add competition or add pieces that are available."

On Friday, Mizzou will be hosting its Pro Day at the Stephens Indoor Facility. 16 players will be participating as they look to take their talent to the professional level and hear their names called at the NFL Draft in April. Drinkwitz is very excited for those players and knows how impactful developing NFL Draft picks are for his program, including from a recruiting standpoint.

"It's going to be the 20th straight year that Missouri has had a player drafted, but now to have those conversations with potential first round draft picks, potentially breaking the record of the total number of draft picks that Mizzou has had in any one year, that's a different level," Drinkwitz said. "It's also the name recognition with the players that are coming back. That combination gets people really excited."

Mizzou Football's 2024 season kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 31 at Faurot Field against Murray State.