Eli Drinkwitz and Mike Kelly returned to Tiger Talk Tuesday night in a new location, the Walsworth Family Columns Club at Memorial Stadium, as part of the Taste of the Tigers event benefitting The Food
Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri.
Here’s what Drinkwitz, alongside safety Jalen Catalon and right tackle Keagen Trost, had to say ahead of a matchup with third-ranked Texas A&M this Saturday.
Eli Drinkwitz
- On the construction progress in the north end zone project: “Yeah, I think we could probably host this event over there next year, but there is going to be a price to it. So if you haven’t talked to the athletics director about how much it costs to rent that facility over there… ain’t none of it free.”
- On the team’s focuses during the bye week: “The first thing we had to do was flush the loss, and then we focused on what we could control moving forward. Needed to get healthy; had some guys beat up, banged up. [We] needed to reassess what Matt’s strengths are as we tailor the offense towards him, and then get a head start on Texas A&M. And I really think that we did a really good job of handling all three of those things.”
- On moving on after the Vanderbilt loss: “It’s disappointing, because I think we’re a good football team and have an opportunity, but you can’t let disappointments ruin your future. And that’s really the message: learn the lesson, leave the event, keep on moving forward.”
- Continued: “We missed an opportunity, but the opportunities that lie ahead are greater than the opportunities that were missed. So let’s take advantage of these opportunities.”
- On Matt Zollers’ performance against Vandy: “He’s got the right kind of mentality: he’s kind of like a gunslinger or fighter pilot. He believes in himself, he believes in what he’s going to accomplish, he knows he’s got the arm talent to make every throw. Really proud of his understanding of the game plan; I thought he went out and executed. We called everything that was on the call sheet for the game, and he executed it handily.”
- On the progress of the program during his time at Mizzou: “We’re pushing ourselves in the right direction, you know, we’ve got to continue to capitalize. I tell ourselves all the time, you don’t know when that breakthrough is going to happen, but you’ve got to keep on knocking. And that’s what we’re doing: we’re knocking on those doors, and we’re going to continue to push, push, push until we get through.”
- On the competitiveness of the SEC this year: “In the SEC [this year], we’ve had 26 one possession games; that’s 61% of all SEC games are one possession games. The margins from top to bottom in our league continue to get smaller, and so we have to continue to search for those margins. We’ve been really good at it the past couple of years, and we’ve got to continue to be.”
- Update on Beau Pribula: “Now it’s just about how quickly he can get those three ligaments to recover. He is off of the scooter and can now use a walking boot, and he’s working on just getting back to walking and working.”
- On Zollers’ mechanics: “He’s got a quick release. He’s a really, really good golfer, so he creates tension on his T-spine (thoracic spine) by separating his hips, and that’s what you see with a lot of the really good NFL quarterbacks. He creates hip displacement, so he’s got some natural mechanics. He’s a 300-yard driver off the deck [in golf], so he understands how to create tension on the T-spine and cut it loose.”
- On Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed: “You just saw something in him that was a little bit different [last year], and he’s been continuing to build on that. Obviously the makings of a great quarterback is somebody who can lead a two-minute drive; he did that versus Notre Dame. He’s a really good player, he’s got all kinds of challenges for our defense. I mean, he’s a guy that’s in the Heisman conversation, in my opinion. In our league, you look at him and Ty Simpson, I think those two guys right now are at the top of those conversations.”
- On Keagen Trost: “Keagen has been a really special addition for us; I’ve just been so impressed with his maturity, his work ethic, his desire to improve. I think it took him a little bit to get used to us and kind of our style. But man, now I see him, he’s smiling, he’s walking in there, he’s in the o-line room cracking up. That group of guys has really built a strong bond.”
- On Jalen Catalon: “I’ve always had a lot of respect for him, and really, really always wanted to coach him. And when he went in the portal, we made a concerted effort, let’s get him on campus and see if we can’t get him. Because I’ve always liked his physicality, his leadership, and he’s somebody you can count on.”
Jalen Catalon
- On what he’s learned throughout his college football journey: “When I first started off, I was in there trying to get my feet wet, trying to make plays, trying to be that guy. But I think as I grew older, I started realizing it was more what I did off the field than what I did on the field. I think a lot of people worry so much about on the field, the off the field stuff kind of gets a little bit on the back [burner]. So I think as I got older, I started realizing my impact off the field was how I talk to people, how I lead…really can define somebody’s day or help somebody on the field.”
- On what led him to choose Mizzou in the portal: “I think what stood out for me the most was just the connection I felt with the team, and also with the environment. You could just feel it when you came in here that there’s something special being built. And I think that was something I felt the energy of, and I just wanted to be a part of.”
- On the most rewarding part of the team’s mission trip to Harmons, Jamaica: “It went back to us becoming closer. You’re around guys that you have to spend time with; you have no choice. Whether you like them or you don’t know them, you’re going to get the chance to know them. But I felt like everybody grew closer as that trip came to an end. When we first got there, we were close, but when we left, I think we became even closer.”
- On his message to the team heading into the final stretch of the season: “We have four games for the season itself, and like I said, we plan on going longer than that. But for these four games, let’s make a mark, let’s make a stand. Let’s make everybody know that we can rewrite everything just with these next four games and what we do, and it starts with the one coming up this Saturday.”
- On why he likes to carry around a boombox: “It’s peace. Whenever you’re having a bad day or whenever you feel down, I always say turn some music on. Whatever you like jamming out to, turn it on, it just makes your day better, you know? Because we all go through bad days; we all go through days where we just don’t feel like doing anything, or the world doesn’t seem like it’s on our side. When it happens, [I] turn the music on, I feel like I always make the day better.”
- Catalon said that he loves to cook and wants to open a restaurant at some point after his football playing days are over.
Keagen Trost
- On what he saw when he was looking at Mizzou in the portal: “I wanted to obviously go to a team that had good connections and family vibes, and really I wanted to win. And I knew Missouri has something special. Also, coach [Brandon] Jones is a great offensive line coach, so I wanted to be coached up well my last year, and really win games. And I knew I could do that here.”
- On how he defines the brotherhood at Mizzou: “It’s a big family of guys from different places that are all trying to accomplish the same goal. It’s so [many] different personalities and people from different places, and we all are chasing one thing.”
- On the mission trip: “Many times we’re complaining about small things that really, if we were in their situation, we couldn’t care about. Just worrying about the next meal; we may complain that we’re eating this or that, but at times they’re not having meals. It’s just really eye opening, like Jalen said; they’re so positive and just keeping their faith although they’re in hard times.”
- On the offensive line’s message to Matt Zollers: “Hey, we don’t expect you to be completely perfect. We just want you to do your best, and your best is good enough. So trust yourself; if you make a bad throw or something doesn’t go exactly your way, don’t get too hard on yourself. Play the next play and just keep going.”
