Tiger
Talk returned Tuesday night for its first episode of the 2025 season, this time at a new (but also old) location: Harpo’s.
Head coach Eli Drinkwitz, defensive coordinator Corey Batoon (whose audio was unfortunately lost) and defensive tackle Chris McClellan spoke with Mike Kelly in front of a boisterous crowd before the season opener. Here’s some of what Drinkwitz and McClellan had to say:
Eli Drinkwitz
- Drinkwitz bought a round for the crowd at the very beginning of the show, leading Kelly to exclaim “Drinks on Drink!”
- On another sellout of Faurot Field: “In 2019 when I took the job, the last home game versus an SEC opponent, there was about 40,000 people in the stadium and season tickets were on one of the worst trajectories you could get. You look at six years later, we’re going on 14 straight sellouts, we’ve got one of the best home field advantages in the SEC.”
- On what’s led to that change: “It’s not just been winning. It’s been a lot of people investing, a lot of people believing and a lot of players coming. It’s been an awesome thing, and now we’ve got to continue to ride the waves.”
- On heading into his sixth year at Mizzou (speaking to Kelly): “You know, I thought for sure by year six I’d have the same haircut as you do. And I’m not quite there yet.”
- Continued: “I don’t know, man, this quarterback battle, I’ve lost at least three haircuts from it.”
- On what he likes about this year’s squad: “I thought a couple of years ago we were really strong led teams. There was a lot of camaraderie. But man, ever since we got back from Harmons [Jamaica], this team’s been different. This team’s leadership, as seen by nine captains being voted – and there was a clear separation by those nine – by the adversity that they face, but by the camaraderie that they have, by the energy that they practice with every single day. I keep looking for this dip in the energy and this focus, and I haven’t found it yet.”
- On the impact the mission trip to Harmons had: “I’ve had several coaches and players on a hot day say it’s not as hot as it was in Harmons. I think there’s just been this attitude of gratitude that’s kind of gone throughout our organization, and it’s been something that has helped us maintain a hunger and desire to improve instead of feeling entitled.”
- On the decision to give each quarterback their own half in the season opener: “Somebody’s got to run out there first. I’ve done it before where, hey, you’re going to alternative two series a piece. I don’t like that, I don’t think that gives the guy enough to develop a rhythm.”
- Continued: “Each quarterback really needs to run their own race, play their game and help us win. Ultimately, we’re trying to win football games. So I expect when Beau’s out there, [for] Sam to be his biggest cheerleader, supporter, helping him on the sideline making adjustments. And I expect the same thing when Sam’s in the game from Beau.”
- On Marquis Gracial and the defensive tackles: “Marquis Gracial is a guy who I think has really matured, has really come into his own. I expect great things from him this fall. Him along with Chris McClellan and Sterling Webb and Jalen Marshall and Bralen Henderson and Elias [Williams], we’ve got some guys in there, too, who can really stop the run, who can really push the paint in a quarterback and put the lines in his lap. So I feel really good about that.”
- On Brett Norfleet: “The challenge for him is to turn his potential into production. We challenged him and our offensive staff to utilize him more in the pass game, to utilize him as a threat, not just a blocker, and I think he’s really responded. I think his past 10 days of practice has been his best since he’s been here.”
- On what he looked for in the transfer portal: “We needed to add speed to the defense. When you look at the quarterbacks that we’re going to face throughout the rest of the season, there’s a lot of scrambling ability, a lot of guys who make a lot of yards through their feet. So we wanted to increase the speed on the perimeter, which I feel like we did.”
- On the players who choose to stay with the same program: “I think that just goes to show that in this day and age, not everybody’s going to tuck, tail and run. Some people are going to stay and fight, believe in the Brotherhood, continue to develop and understand that run your race. Just because it’s not going your way today doesn’t mean it’s not going to go your way in the future.”
- On what Logan Muckey and other PWOs from the past few seasons mean to the team: “Those guys have as much to do with the trajectory of our program than anybody, because they were here when it was the worst, and they turned it into what it is now. They’ve got an opportunity to do something really special this season, and they’ve got a lot of ownership in that, so we’re really proud of it.”
- On expectations for the first game: “We have zero expectations other than we know we need to establish our identity as a football team. We know we need to stop the run, run the ball and cover kicks. We know we need to play well under pressure, which means execution and critical situations, which is red zone and third downs. That’s what we need to be about.”
Chris McClellan
- Some of McClellan’s audio was also unfortunately lost because of the crowd (part of the perils of recording the show at a bar full of college students back for their first week).
- On what he knows now about Mizzou he didn’t know before becoming a Tiger: “Just how involved the fanbase is, man. They really, truly love us. You can feel it throughout the whole city of Columbia.”
- On why it’s important for him to emphasize he’s from North Tulsa, not just Tulsa: “I feel like I represent a marginalized group. The north side of Tulsa is a little bit rougher of an area, so not a lot of people are fortunate enough to make it out of there and don’t get the same opportunities as me.”
- Continued: “It’s just something so I can give kids back home, not even kids but everybody around, just the hope that it’s not impossible to kind of make it out of that area.”
- On going back to his community: “I just try to be a bright light for everybody. I never try to big time people or something like that, I always try to be engaged with whatever, move around, talk, and give just simple respect.”
- On this defensive tackles group: “We’re going in there every day and competing. You can never really chill out, because everybody in the room is so competitive. So I’ve got to have my A game everyday.”
