New additions to Mizzou football’s defensive staff meshing with the old
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
There are a few new faces on the Mizzou defensive staff heading into the 2024 season, however, through the first week of spring camp, the group is blending together nicely.
Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon talked to the media for the first time during opening week of spring camp, but, on Tuesday, edge defensive line coach Brian Early met with reporters for the first time.
Early spoke very highly of the program that head coach Eli Drinkwitz has built in his four seasons in Columbia and knew it was one he would want to join when former edge coach Kevin Peoples left for LSU. The opportunity did came around for the former Houston coach, after the Cougars' head coach was let go after the season.
"There was a period of time in there where none of us had jobs, so I had started talking to Drink actually about coming on as an analyst. It was just one of those deals of 'hey, if you don't find a job, I've got a spot for you,'" Early said. "Then, the defensive coordinator took the job at LSU and I've known Kevin Peoples for a number of years too, so when I saw him leave, I knew there was an opportunity for me to slide into a full-time position."
You can watch the full press conference with Early in the video player below.
Although new to Columbia, Early actually has some familiarity with some of Drinkwitz's staff. He worked with offensive line coach Brandon Jones at Houston and actually gave fellow defensive line coach Al Davis his first coaching opportunity years back.
Jones put it plain and simple: Early is a competitor.
"I think what he brings is energy and his attention to detail. His players always played hard, but they're just really well-coached. I mean, they pick up stances, they pick up all the small, minute keys that you don't really expect d-linemen to pick up. Like I said, they're just extremely productive. I know they're always top in the country in sacks," Jones said.
You can watch the full press conference with Jones in the video player below.
Meanwhile, Davis, the interior coach, and Early will, obviously, be working very closely together. Coach Early said that he feels like their styles blend together well.
"That's one of the reasons that I felt good about taking this job," Early said. "First of all, in the last 10 years, I've had the entire d-line, so I've had the interior and the edges at both Arkansas State and at Houston. I've been on staffs before where it was split and you had a d-tackles coach and an edges coach. The chemistry between those two coaches has to be really good in order for that dynamic to work, there are certain things that you got to be able to work together on and as a defensive line, you know, you want to have chemistry as a unit...There's a lot of things that we'll do together, so knowing Al and knowing that our coaching philosophies match and our personalities match also made this a good fit for me."
Davis said it's been amazing to reunite with Early, who gave him his first coaching job at Fayetteville High School in 2012. He said there are some slight differences between working with Peoples and working with Early, in terms of terminology and teaching styles, but for the most part the relationships have been pretty similar.
MU lost a lot of depth at the defensive tackle position, due to graduation, but Davis said bringing back veteran Kristian Williams was critical this off season.
"You don't want to lose the whole group, right? The kid had a decision to make, to be honest with you. I do believe that Kristian got here and he found something at Mizzou that he didn't have at his previous school. He did make plays. I think the kid is smart enough to know that he left some plays out there," Davis said. "He wants to grow."
You can watch the full press conference with Davis in the video player below.
The entire defense will look to grow under the new leadership of Batoon. Position coaches continually mentioned how organized the former South Alabama d-coordinator is. He brings a similar style to former DC Blake Baker, in terms of scheme, but is also putting his mark on it.
"Just the structure, the organization, the plan that he has and the way that he lays that out for us and gets us aligned everyday. I think we're all in and bought into that vision, so just been really impressed with the structure and organization," Early said.
