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Missouri
Tigers football is just two days away from kicking off its 2026 season, and that means Tiger Talk is also back at Harpo’s in Columbia.
Head coach Eli Drinkwitz and team captains Dominick Giudice and Santana Banner sat down with Mike Kelly to talk the team’s season opener coming up Thursday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Here’s what they had to say about the 135th team in program history:
Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz
- On the anticipation of the season opener: “Really looking forward to Thursday night: that new north end zone, and just the excitement that’s been building for us to be sold out again. And ‘Kickoff in CoMo’, what a cool tradition that we’ve developed here at the University of Missouri.”
- On the weather expected Thursday (projected temp at kickoff is 92 degrees): “Advantage us. We’re ready for the weather: our guys have practiced in it, our guys have attacked it. We’ll be hydrated. It’s football season, it’s time to play. And I know fans, you’re going to need to make sure you hydrate, take care of yourself, and don’t peak too soon with the alcohol. It’s going to be a great night; don’t let that weather affect you.”
- On the team’s fall camp: “I was very impressed with the way our guys handled themselves throughout camp. I was impressed with how physically demanding we were able to make it on them, while also keeping our guys relatively healthy and pushing us to the point of, I think, being prepared and ready for the opportunity.”
- On pushing players physically but still ensuring they’re staying healthy: “There’s a lot of science to it, and then there’s a lot of just gut feel. You know, we want to push the car as hard as we can, but we don’t want to wreck it, right? We want to get as close to that curve as we can to maximize the velocity and speed, but we can’t run it into the wall. There’s a certain level of physicality that you have to have in this game, and you have to prepare for it.”
- On what he would have told himself entering his first year on the job, given hindsight: “Actually, I’m trying to get advice from year one Eli Drinkwitz because we had to play 10 SEC games, and we did okay; we achieved higher success than anybody gave us credit for. So now that we’re going into nine (SEC games), I’ve actually been going back and thinking through how did we handle some of that, what was some of the messaging for our team?”
- On the process of choosing this year’s team captains: “One of the self reflections from last year, I just felt like I didn’t do a good enough job of making sure the players had a voice throughout the year. So we wanted to make sure that we had three captains who could clearly convey the message of the players to the coaches and the coaches to the players, and had enough established leadership that they would really believe in them. So we picked three captains, and they did a great job up until a point. And then at some point, a coach always has to turn the team over to the team, and so for us, that’s by allowing the captains to be voted on.”
- Continued: “[I] couldn’t be more proud of the three guys that they chose with Santana [Banner], Jamal [Roberts] and Blake Craig. All of them are great representatives. Their parents have done an excellent job raising them, and they’re going to represent our team in the right way.”
- On Austin Simmons: “He’s had his best two weeks of practice. I’m really confident in who he is. I think him and his relationship with [Giudice], they think they same — you see him communicating. You just see he’s more comfortable. He’s more in tune with what it is here, and I’ve been really proud of him because that’s a hard thing to go through. I think there’s an emotional toll on everybody when you transfer, and I think he’s done a really good job of figuring out what this team is and how he can be a part of it.”
- Drinkwitz mentioned that the other day, Simmons had a play where he wasn’t resetting his feet, and he went back out to the field that night at 9:30 and threw routes with Naeshaun Montgomery and Jabari Brady to work on fixing it.
- On new wrinkles to the offense: “You’ll still see the same outside zone, inside zone gap schemes that you’ve had before, but there’s just some creativity that [offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, quarterbacks coach Garrett Riley and tight ends coach Alex Atkins] have that’ll just be new and unique, and I’m excited to see it. You may not see it on Thursday… but we might see it all sometime coming up.”
- On Jack Lange, who will start at left tackle Thursday in place of Cayden Green: “We have a ton of confidence in Jack, and there were several days in practice where we put him in with the ones. The first scrimmage, he got every rep at left tackle with the ones, and he ought to have a lot of confidence and belief in himself based on his ability to play at a high level in those opportunities.”
- On seeing homegrown players like Tristan Wilson, Jalen Marshall and Marquis Gracial take the next step: “Now it’s their opportunity to reap what they sow. And the thing about it: all three of those guys have sown really good seeds. They have sowed those seeds, they have watered those seeds, they have been faithful to putting in the work. And now I cannot wait to watch those guys play, and I have a ton of confidence in them because I know the work that they put in.”
- When asked about who captured his attention during fall camp, he mentioned linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr., cornerbacks Chris Graves Jr. and Sione Laulea, edge rusher Daeden Hopkins and wide receiver Naeshaun Montgomery.
- On players sleeping overnight in the locker room during fall camp: “About week two I walk in there, and there’s like seven dudes with air mattresses in there. I’m rolling in about 5:45 (a.m.), and those guys have been staying all night and just wanted to make a commitment to the process and to each other and to the team, and it was impressive to watch.”
- On Dominick Giudice and the Real Housewives of New Jersey: “If you really pay attention to the Real Housewives of New Jersey, I thought he was related to the Giudices — you know, I thought that was his aunt. For the longest time, I was like, ‘Hey, is your aunt, you know, on Real Housewives of New Jersey?’ So he’s never really given me a straight answer, but I’m not sure if it is or not.”
- Continued: “I don’t watch it, but my wife watches it, and I’m trying to make sure that I do things with my wife that she wants to do. During the offseason, I don’t control the remote.”
Center Dominick Giudice
- Giudice, who is a Freehold, New Jersey, native, confirmed he is not related to Teresa Giudice of the Real Housewives of New Jersey. He added: “I get that a lot.”
- On what being named a team captain means to him: “It’s really one of the greatest honors that I’ve been able to get throughout my whole life and throughout my football career. I’ve had a long college experience; it’s my sixth year. So it means everything to me to be able to lead this team out onto the field and have the trust of the guys and the coaches to be able to do that.”
- On showing leadership after transferring in: “We bring in our own uniqueness, and coach Drink wants us to show that. So being able to influence guys in the right way, positive way, but also at the same time, more by your actions instead of your words when you first get in.”
- On what he’s looking forward to from the new north end zone: “The noise when it’s fully closed in. I know last year we had a glimpse of that with it being under construction, but now having it fully closed in and having all the fans there, it’s going to be fun.”
- On who’s influenced his journey the most: “My dad and brother both played college ball, so having them growing up as role models and showing me the ropes and things. I’ve been in college football for six years, so there’s been a lot of ups and downs — a lot of downs for sure. Having them to help me through that time — my mom and my fiancee as well — it’s been a blessing to be able to have them by my side through it all.”
- On the toughest position to play along the offensive line: “The 0-line jokes to me all the time that I have the easiest job — I’ve just got to call stuff out. Tackles, they’ve got a tough job: they’ve got some freaky d-ends that they’ve got to block. But I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I think we all equally have a tough job.”
- When asked about offensive players who stood out to him during fall camp, he mentioned running back Malae Fonoti, quarterback Austin Simmons, and offensive linemen Curtis Peagler and Tristan Wilson.
- On the impact of NIL: “Football does give us so much — I mean, the amount of life lessons that you learn from football — but also being able to now capitalize on this opportunity to be able to make money while playing college football at the collegiate level is awesome. It’s really a blessing, and it’s a testament to all the work that we put in to be able to get that reward for it.”
- On his plans after college: “I think I’d like to get back into some type of coaching, maybe high school coaching, or I don’t know, something with the community. I like having a sense of community. Open up a pizza shop or something back home, something like that.”
- On what Mizzou means to him: “There was a lot of self-doubt in my own ability, and being able to kind of get that revived with the staff and with the players, having that trust put back into me, it’s really meant everything for my football career, for my whole life. I just kind of feel that revival, that love for the game again, and I’m blessed to be able to be here and choose Mizzou.”
Safety Santana Banner
- On his first impressions of Giudice last year: “He looked, like, serious, 24/7. So I had to pretty much figure out the type of guy he was, but you know, got used to it pretty quick.”
- On what being named a team captain means to him: “They really gave me a boost of self-esteem, to know all the work I put in in the offseason and getting with my guys and everything to make sure we’re all heading in the same direction, that it all paid off and that they see that in me as well.”
- On showing leadership after transferring in: “It’s really about just holding them to a standard, the same standard you hold yourself to, because you can’t tell somebody to do something that you wouldn’t do. So if somebody sees you doing something day in and day out, they won’t feel attacked if you tell them to do the same.”
- On his main goals from this offseason: “Having intent with everything I do, whether it be a lift, a meeting, walk through — you name it. I’m just trying to maximize the most out of everything I do. I’m really focused on having better eyes this year. I talked about it one of the other interviews: your eyes can be either your best friend or your worst enemy, especially as a safety.”
- When asked about defensive players who stood out to him during fall camp, he mentioned defensive tackle Marquis Gracial, safety Trajen Greco, cornerback Sione Laulea and edge rusher Darris Smith.
- Banner mentioned that he’s in the process of starting a nonprofit to give back to the community. He wasn’t able to offer up many details yet, but said he’s meeting with staff in about a week to put everything in motion.
- He also said that once he’s done with playing, he’d like to go into real estate or back into coaching.
- On what he wants to see from his teammates Thursday: “The same thing they do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Just play our style of football, honestly.”
- On what that style of football is: “Fast, physical and smart.”
