Drinkwitz sees “room for growth” leading up to Kansas State
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
After a big win against Louisiana Tech to start the season, Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz says after the watching the tape back, he sees a lot of room for growth in the Tigers.
"There's a lot of room for growth in all fazes of the game specifically on special teams and punt coverage. It was not nearly good enough or efficient enough," Drinkwitz said. "Defensively we have to limit explosive plays and offensively we must limit turnovers and short yard execution."
Although Mizzou has the number one run defense in the country after week one, Drinkwitz says that room has bigger worries.
"Worried more about the explosive plays that we got to get off tape. It doesn't really affect you if you can stop the run but you're giving up explosive plays for touchdowns, you're just trading one problem for another," Drinkwitz said.
The Tigers will have their first road game of the season Saturday at Kansas State. These two teams were foes during Mizzou's days in the Big 12, but they haven't played since 2011.
"It's going to be an extremely difficult test this week, obviously playing in a very difficult environment and a place that has a reputation for being loud," Drinkwitz said.
Drinkwitz says the heart of the Wildcats team is the defense which all starts with junior defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah from Lee's Summit.
"He's got great ball get off and has a really good up and under move. He does a really good job with his hands, he's physical in the run game and those guys are going to have to play a really good game and trust their technique and they're going to have to play hard for four quarters because any type of play off will result in a big time negative play going against him," Drinkwitz said.
Drinkwitz also said Tuesday that wide receiver Chance Luper is back home from the hospital and is still recovering from an illness. It's uncertain how long he'll be out, but Drinkwitz says he is very thankful Luper was diagnosed before he played.
Mizzou and Kansas State with meet at Bill Snyder Family Stadium Saturday at 11 a.m.
Full interviews with defensive coordinator Blake Baker, DB Jaylon Carlies and DL Jayden Jernigan are below.
