Mizzou football previews upcoming Music City Bowl matchup, amidst transfer portal frenzy

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

For college football teams across the nation, it is the craziest time of year.

Head coaches are not only dealing with preparation for upcoming bowl games, but tackling signing day, transfer portal madness, opt-outs, NFL Draft declarations and so much more.

Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz has been busy ever since the regular season ended on Nov. 30. In that time, he's signed a Top-20 2025 signing class, brought on five transfers from the portal and has lost some talent to the transfer portal, as well.

"You encounter and deal with new situations, you know, obviously we had somebody enter the transfer portal and seven hours later they had committed and signed paperwork somewhere else. That's a new situation, you know. You learn to adjust and deal with those things," Drinkwitz said. "I think the one thing that I've come to grips with is...I'm very confident in our foundation of our program: who we are, what we're about, the process that we've shown, the development that we've shown players, the people who have consistently stayed here and even the transfers that come in, what the final product will be. I'm confident in that process. I'm confident that if people choose to leave, there will be others choose to come and embrace what we're doing here."

You can watch the full press conference with Coach Drinkwitz in the video player below.

On Wednesday, Coach Eli met with the media for the first time since Signing Day on Dec. 4. He said his team is excited for the opportunity to play one last time, together, against Iowa in the Music City Bowl. He added there will be three players opting out of that bowl game: wide receiver Luther Burden, offensive lineman Armand Membou and linebacker Chuck Hicks.

In addition, tight end Brett Norfleet will not get to play against the Hawkeyes, either. The St. Louis native had a surgery that the team needed to get out of the way, so they got it done right after the final win of the season against Arkansas. Drinkwitz said he has all the confidence in the world that tight ends Tyler Stephens and Jordon Harris can get the job done.

Other than that, the vast majority of players said they never imagined not playing in the bowl game.

"I don't think opting out ever really crossed my mind," wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. said. "You know, my love for the game and I just get another opportunity to play football. I don't take that for granted at all. I don't think that really crossed my mind at all."

You can watch the full press conference with Wease Jr. in the video player below.

The beautiful thing about bowl game is that teams are gifted a whole lot of time to prepare.

Mizzou will have a tough matchup against head coach Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes on Monday, Dec. 30 in Nashville. In fact, defensive lineman Kristian Williams said that this may be the toughest offensive line they've seen all season, which is what a Ferentz is known for.

"[They are] fundamentally sound," Williams said. "In my opinion, I'd say that the most disciplined o-line that we'll go up against this year. They play in unison, but tight hands, low pads level, I mean that's the best thing you can get out of those guys. I feel like they are just more disciplined than anything, rather than having a different type of scheme."

You can watch the full press conference with Williams in the video player below.

In the midst of all the preparation, Drinkwitz has also put his recruiting hat on, as well. In the past few days, he gained five signatures from players out of the transfer portal, as his biggest splash came with the commitment of former Mississippi State wide receiver and St. Louis native Kevin Coleman.

"He's a dynamic playmaker. I mean, first year in the SEC, you know, had 900 yards, he was the leading receiver in the SEC at one point, third-team All-SEC, he was the SWAC Freshman of the Year at Jackson State," Drinkwitz said. "We're losing a pretty good slot wide receiver that wears No. 3 and we just said, 'who's the best No. 3 slot wide receiver we can go get?' It had to be Kevin Coleman."

Coleman joins former Northern Illinois safety Santana Banner, former Nebraska linebacker Mikai Gbayor, former West Virginia linebacker Josiah Trotter and former Northwest Missouri State defensive end Langden Kitchen in players to commit to coming to Columbia.

However, Drinkwitz and company have also lost some of their own talent. The notable names were a trio of freshmen: defensive ends Williams Nwaneri and Jaylen Brown, as well as running back Kewan Lacy.

Coach Eli said he wishes he could've convinced them to give Mizzou more than just a 6-month chance.

"I wish I could convince them that Darius Robinson had to wait, really, three years. There's no such thing as an overnight success anymore, doesn't matter how highly you're recruited or how low you're recruited or none of that matters, man. Just get in there and continue to do that work. That's what I regret. I think everybody, when they come into college football, faces a level of adversity that they have to overcome, but I just wish they would understand that there's no such thing as an overnight success," he said. "Six months, I just think that's a really short time period to give a program, but everybody's got their own journey."

Drinkwitz said the nature of college football now is that it's a six-month free agent business. You have to build the best roster you can possibly build, each offseason.

That's the goal for the 2025 campaign, as Coach Eli will likely still have more additions coming down the pipe, including the possibility of a new quarterback in Columbia. Drinkwitz did not say if they were portal shopping for a new man under center, but reports have said that multiple quarterbacks have been visiting Columbia.

Mizzou does, of course, still have quarterback of their own on the roster. Backup Drew Pyne will return for another season and Sam Horn will make his return from Tommy John surgery during spring camp. Needless to say, there will be some competition in Columbia.

Until then - Mizzou will focus on its Music City Bowl matchup against Iowa. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 30 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.