Mizzou football set to honor its seniors, turning the page from Texas A&M

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

With the loss against Texas A&M now in the rearview mirror, the Mizzou football team is not only focused on finishing off the season strong, but honoring its seniors, on Saturday night.

A total of 20 guys will be honored in their final game out at Faurot Field, ahead of the action against Mississippi State. You can find a full list of those seniors and graduates below.

• Safety Daylan Carnell
• Safety Jalen Catalon
• Cornerback Stephen Hall
• Cornerback Drey Norwood
• Cornerback Toriano Pride Jr.
• Linebacker Triston Newson
• Linebacker Khalil Jacobs
• Quarterback Tommy Lock
• Punter Connor Weselman
• Center Connor Tollison
• Offensive lineman Keagan Trost
• Offensive lineman Henry McDermott
• Defensive end Zion Young
• Defensive tackle Chris McClellan
• Defensive tackle Bralen Henderson
• Defensive tackle Sterling Webb
• Tight end Vince Brown II
• Wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr.
• Wide receiver Xavier Loyd
• Wide receiver Logan Muckey

"This group of men have worked extremely hard," head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "Some of them have been here for a long time, some of them have been here for a short time, but all have contributed to the success of Mizzou football. We're gonna work really hard to show our appreciation to them."

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

Tollison, who's been at Mizzou all five years of his college career, said there is going to be a ton of emotions for him, on Saturday. His goal in coming to the University of Missouri was to leave it better than he found it...a mission he's still working to finish.

"I would say the program's in a better position than when I got here five years ago," he said. "I feel like over the years guys have come in and been more bought into what we're about. There's has been any push-back, you could say, as maybe earlier years. I think it has showed success on the field and I really do think it started like in the weight room and just guys working hard."

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

The 2025 edition of senior night will be happening in the midst of the ongoing north end zone renovations at Memorial Stadium. As a result, there hasn't been a 'Rock M' as Faurot Field. But, that 'M' represents a critical part of senior day, as the graduates get to be carried off with a rock of their choosing, following a win.

Drinkwitz said that in response to the construction, Mizzou has decided to build a temporary 'Rock M' in one of the grass patches near the Ring of Honor. That is where seniors will go to pick their rock, if MU can get the job done against Mississippi State.

Of course, the Tigers are heading into the final home game of the year fresh off of a gut-wrenching loss against No. 3 Texas A&M. That third loss of the season effectively eliminated MU from College Football Playoff contention.

After the game, Coach Drink and players emphasized that it was time to go back to the drawing board and assess their goals, after a big one got taken off the table. During Tuesday's weekly press conference with the team, it was clear what this team is fighting for: making program history by recording Mizzou's first-ever third-straight 10-win season.

"We still just realize that we can finish this out strong and still do something that's never been done here," defensive tackle Chris McClellan said. "Kind of leading by example and showing the young guys what to do to make sure something like this doesn't happen again and finish strong. Don't come in here with our heads down or something like that, just still be positive. Like I said, we still have a chance to do something that's never been done here, which I think is still pretty legendary. That's kind of like my mentality going into the next couple weeks."

You can watch the full press conference with McClellan, as well as linebacker Khalil Jacobs in the video players below.

In order to achieve that dream, Mizzou will need to win out in the final three games of the regular-season and in the bowl game.

The Tigers will likely look to accomplish that goal with true freshman quarterback Matt Zollers leading the offense, as the timetable for starter Beau Pribula's return after his ankle dislocation is unclear.

Zollers got his first collegiate start against one of the best defenses in the nation, in Saturday's showdown with the Aggies. It wasn't an banner outing, either, as the Pennsylvania native only completed about 31 percent of his passes for 77 yards and lost one costly fumble.

"For us, it's about getting him comfortable earlier in the game and creating some easier opportunities for him to get into a rhythm. We never really got him into the rhythm, offensively. We've got to do a better job of creating some offensive rhythm and not putting him in, you know, situations where he feels the entire pressure to make the play," Drinkwitz said. "Matt didn't play a senior year [of high school] because of an injury. The game against Central Arkansas and Louisiana was the first times he's really played, and in Vanderbilt, so I knew there was going to be some things that we got to continue to work on. I think his confidence in yesterday's walkthrough was better. I think his confidence in practice will be better and now we've got building blocks on what we can build upon."

Fellow freshman Donovan Olugbode said Zollers brings quite a bit of poise to the pocket, as the wide receiver, quarterback duo has built chemistry over the course of their first season together.

"He's calm, poised, just like he's done it before. His arm talent [stands out] and just how he knows football," Olugbode said.

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

Following Saturday's game against Texas A&M, there was a lot of noise about how the Aggies knew exactly what MU's offense was going to run. In fact, left tackle Cayden Green said that A&M players were calling out plays at the line, maybe getting hints of of their stance or formations.

During Tuesday's press conference, Coach Eli was asked about his reaction to all that chatter.

"My reaction to that is, obviously, we've got to do a better job with some of our signaling and communication. Obviously, we've got to go back and check our tendencies. We came back off of a bye week and felt like we had a pretty good handle on our tendency stuff. You know, we run a lot outside zone, I think that's probably pretty predictable. So, we just got to go back and make sure, that we're doing the best job we can to, you know, check our stances, check our wording and verbiage to make sure that we're clean on that," he said.

The Tigers will look to bounce back from that losses against the Aggies with Saturday's game against a Mississippi State team that is in their second season under head coach Jeff Lebby.

The Bulldogs will roll into Columbia on a hunt for bowl eligibility, as the group sits at five wins on the season. Coach Drinkwitz said they'll have to contend with an offense that is very dynamic and explosive.

"It's a run-based RPO offense that utilizes tempo, creates explosive plays and utilizes space really, really well," he said. "Their defense is very multiple, very aggressive, very attacking. There's nine seniors on that side of the ball which creates, you know...they've got a lot of experience, which creates its own challenge for us. It'll be a difficult game and one that we have to prepare for."

Mizzou and Mississippi State will kick off the Faurot Field finale at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday.