Mizzou football puts five camp practices in the books as countdown to kickoff continues
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou football team is less than a month away from the season opener, as the team has now put five fall camp practices in the books.
You can watch extended highlights of the fifth practice of MU fall camp in the video player below.
Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said, as is expected with week one, there's been a lot of sloppy football out there, but added he's been very happy with the attitude his players came in to the first five practices with.
"I think they've tried to be very coachable. I think they've been very attentive to the details that the coaches have asked them, they've responded every time we've challenged them, so I've been pleased in those regards," he said. "Obviously, the execution is lacking. There's still a lot of open competition. I've been impressed with the way players have come in and attacked the competition, but, you know, five practices in...I know everybody's looking forward to the live scrimmage on Monday, where we'll know a little bit more about where we're at."
You can watch the full press conference with Coach Eli in the video player below.
Monday's scrimmage will be players' first, real, opportunity to set themselves apart in those position battles.
The running back room has quite a bit of competition, going into the 2024 season. With the departure of star Cody Schrader, Coach Drink has been tasked with finding the new bell cow of the offense. In the offseason, he brought on Georgia State transfer Marcus Carroll and Appalachian State transfer Nate Noel, who will compete for the starting role alongside returners Jamal Roberts and Tavorus Jones, as well as freshman Kewan Lacy.
Drinkwitz emphasized the importance of those backs protecting the quarterback, on Saturday, but has been impressed with quite a few guys, overall.
"I think Marcus Carroll and Nate Noel and Jamal Roberts have really done an outstanding job protecting the quarterback. Jamal was offensive player of the day [on Friday], just because of a couple of really good runs, but really understanding protection and that's where it starts for us," Drinkwitz said. "Those three guys have really done good. Kewan Lacy has been impressive. You know, it's just going to be the volume of the playbook...Competition is wide open. The thing that we really need to see is who can protect the football and make guys miss and who's going to be able to break a tackle."
The big, not totally surprising, news to come out of Coach Eli's Saturday press conference is that Arizona State transfer QB Drew Pyne will be the backup for Brady Cook in 2024. The move comes after both Jake Garcia and Gabbari Johnson transferred out of the program in the offseason and junior quarterback Sam Horn continues to rehab following Tommy John surgery in Feb.
"[Drew]'s been really good. He's a great teammate, a great understanding of the offense, gets reps, understands when he screws it up, knows what he should've done, accurate with the football, battle field commander as far as making sure the troops are lined up, knows where they're supposed to be," Drinkwitz said. "He's really been everything we had hoped."
The Tigers will return to the practice fields on Sunday afternoon for the sixth practice of fall camp.
