Eli Drinkwitz and Mike Kelly returned to Harpo’s Tuesday night for another edition of Tiger Talk. The Tigers’ head coach had a lot to say on the loss last week to Texas A&M, and where the program is at
right now despite struggles against elite competition the last two seasons.
Here’s what Drinkwitz, senior STAR defender Daylan Carnell and senior center Connor Tollison had to say:
Eli Drinkwitz
- On his message to the team after the Texas A&M loss: “I told the team afterwards: we’re all extremely disappointed, because we had really high hopes for this season. We really wanted to go somewhere that this place hasn’t been. And in order to do that, you’ve got to put your whole self into it, and you’ve got to really push and believe, and then you’ve got to pick yourself up when it doesn’t happen.”
- On Mizzou’s struggles the last two years against top-25 teams: “The one thing I’ll just remind everybody: to go from good to great, that’s the hardest challenge. To make that next six-inch jump, man, that’s the toughest challenge there is. So for us, we’ve got to find those margins. As a coaching staff, as players, we’ve got to go continue to, ‘Hey, how do we make that next jump?’”
- Continued: “We’ve come up short a few times. That doesn’t discourage me a bit. Our team is going to keep responding and keep fighting. We’re going to keep putting ourselves in those opportunities until we break that. And you know what, at Missouri, we haven’t broke through a lot; that’s just out past history. Doesn’t scare us a bit. We’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep getting off the mat, we’re going to keep going and approaching and attacking it.”
- On why he views a playoffs or bust mentality as faulty: “I talked about this at SEC Media Days: we’ve got to get out of this, ‘Oh man, it’s playoffs or bust.‘ We’re shooting for the moon; we’re going to put our whole self into that. But only 12 teams make the playoffs, and we put ourselves in position in November to be there. Didn’t get it done, I got that. But if the season only counts for 12 football teams, and we’ve got 127 Division I playing football teams (136 in actuality, but point taken), that math’s not going to math very well. Football is more than just the playoff potential. We were there; we didn’t get it done. But there’s a whole heck of a lot to be proud of, there’s a whole heck of a lot to play for.”
- Mizzou is constructing a temporary, mini version of the rock m by Brock Olivo’s name on the small berm between the field and the stands for Saturday so that seniors can continue the tradition of taking a rock on Senior Day if they get the win.
- Mike Kelly went through the list of players being recognized on Senior Day and had Drinkwitz say something about every senior. My favorite part of his words on the seniors was when he talked about Kevin Coleman, Jr.: “He’s like the [movie] 50 First Dates, I tried to get him to join us like five different times; he finally said yes. Been really proud of him acclimating to our program.”
- The second best part of that segment was Drinkwitz’s comments on Logan Muckey: “We had an NCAA drug test last week, and he was glad he wasn’t on it, because he’s rocked up… nah, I’m just kidding. But he’s a great, great player, and a great person.”
- One last blurb from that segment, on Chris McClellan: “Same thing as Kevin Coleman, rejected me multiple times until after we beat him [when he was with Florida] on the fourth and 18. After the game, I’m sitting there doing a deal, and he came by and said, ‘Hey, I’d love to play for you.‘ And I’m like, ‘I guess that means he’s going in the portal. We’d love to have him.‘”
- On Mississippi State: “They going to be a real challenge. They’ve got a lot of pride, they’re playing to get into bowl contention. So they’re definitely coming with a chip on their shoulder, and we’re coming with a chip on our shoulder, too.”
- On the emotions of Senior Day: “We come out of the tunnel, and I’ve got to see all these guys and hug them and love them up. And then you’ve got to go in there and do your job. And I think that’s the challenge, is you’ve got to put the emotions away and focus on the present, be focused on this moment. And especially after last week, I’ve got to do a better job of being in the moment, understanding every situation, and having my mind on exactly the calls that we have to have in place to give our team the best chance to win.”
Daylan Carnell
- On the team’s mentality after the Texas A&M loss: “After a tough loss, it’s always going to be hard, but we’ve shifted our focus to this week and just going out with a bang, especially for all the seniors we have. So the focus this week is just getting the win on Senior Night.”
- On a piece of advice he got from an older player: “Something that Joseph Charleston, the safety from last year, told me: he said, ‘The days are long, but the years are short.’ That really hit home; that’s real.”
- On using social media as a player: “I ain’t gonna lie, for me, I’ve been on Twitter a lot. I do see a lot of the, obviously when stuff’s going good, it’s all good, but when stuff’s going bad, you see the negative, too. But after a loss or something, I try to stay off of social media and stuff like that. Because it’s going to be nothing but negative stuff about us and the team. We don’t really need that.”
- On choosing to stay at Mizzou for his full career: “I’ve always had a good relationship with Drink, so it was easy for me to stay here. Even through all the defensive coordinator changes, Drink is the one who brought me here, so Drink was really the main reason that I’ve stayed, and just trusting in his process and all that. I never really thought about leaving them, so it’s been real easy for me.”
Connor Tollison
- On his journey as a Tiger: “I remember back to my freshman year and thinking, ‘Man, four years of this, I don’t know if I’ve got it cut out, like, I don’t know if I’ve got this in me.‘ And for this to be my fifth, it’s gone by so fast, but it’s been a great time.“
- On what he’ll take away from his time at Mizzou: “The games are awesome, the wins are great, the losses are hard. But it’s the times inside the locker room, the times inside your apartments, with your teammates that you really remember the most.”
- On offensive line coach Brandon Jones: “We just did a lot of work during the summers; honestly, it was probably more than we should have been doing. What we did, it was probably an hour or two every day. But it brought us closer together, and how much time he spent with us really showed how much he cared for us.”
- On Matt Zollers: “You’re playing against Texas A&M; you’re not getting your first start against [Central Arkansas]. So it’s going to be a lot tougher; everybody’s very good. He saw things that he probably didn’t expect to see, they probably had a few wrinkles and he didn’t know how to handle it. And I think going into these later weeks, he’ll feel more comfortable in that situation. I don’t know it this is what it’s going to be, but he’s been there before. It was his first time, so I think when he gets in that same spot, he’ll feel more comfortable.”
- On using social media as a player: “I’m on Twitter, for sure. I read it all, I ain’t gonna lie, I’ll read it all after a loss. But honestly, I don’t really care what anybody has to say. I’m in the locker room, I do know what actually goes on, what actually happens, so somebody’s outside opinion doesn’t really matter to me.”
- On the impact of NIL: “I’ve got a nice truck, but that’s about it.” … “Definitely having a little big of extra money. But I mean, I still eat McDonalds; like, I don’t really spend money… I just save my money.”
- On something fans don’t know about Mizzou: “Everything that’s done with Coach Russell in the weight room; honestly, he’s the biggest difference and probably the most impactful person besides coach Drink in the Mizzou football program. So if people don’t know the name Ryan Russell, they should, because he’s really changed Mizzou Football.”
