Join Mizzou beat writer Dave Matter for his live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Dave Matter in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
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It's going to depend on the defense, too. It takes more than a good offense to win in this league - or any league. Texas Tech went 4-8, 7-6 and 5-7 with Patrick Freakin' Mahomes at quarterback from 2014-16 while he was slinging 93 touchdown passes. If Brady Cook is in the top half of the SEC rankings for passing efficiency and the running game is in the top half of the SEC in yards per attempt, then the Tigers have a chance to win a bunch of games - or be really competitive in a bunch of games.But that would take a lot of improvement from this offense. Here's where the team has ranked in the SEC in those two stats each of the last two seasons:2020: Passer rating (134.4), No. 8; yards per rush (3.9), No. 92021: Passer rating (131.1), No. 11; yards per rush (5.1), No. 5
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Hi Dave,
Happy Week Zero. I've read that Connor doesn't look like the pick as QB1 out in Bloomington. Is there a better read post-mortem on 2021 why Drink was so very hesitant to play Brady or Tyler more last season. Connor for all his support from the national "experts" really only had one great game against a bad LSU defense and beyond that was average to below average for his career at Mizzou.
Thanks Dave. -
Last I saw was Tom Allen decided on a starter but hasn't announced one yet.Drinkwitz said over and over again last year that Bazelak gave the team the best chance to win. He clearly didn't see enough from the backups to change his mind. And also probably didn't want Bazelak to transfer if he got benched. Turns out, he transferred anyway - and Drinkwitz didn't get to see more out of the young backups. Worst of both worlds, you could say.What national experts were raving about Bazelak the last two years? I don't recall that ever happening. He had more than one good game at Mizzou. He played well in the 2020 win over Arkansas. He was pretty good at Kentucky last year, too.
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I've heard Jamorian Wayne was looking good at Safety. I know he was recruited as an "Athlete" but I thought the expectation was he'd play WR. Do you know if they worked him out on the offense at all or was he slotted right into his defensive position when he got to campus?
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I wrote about that a bunch at the beginning of camp. Here's what I wrote:Freshman Ja’Marion Wayne (Parkway West High) opened camp at safety after coming to Mizzou as a wide receiver. The move isn’t necessarily permanent, but he’ll spend the fall on defense, Drinkwitz said.
“We talked to him a couple of days ago about the opportunity, and I thought he had a really good summer,” Drinkwitz said. “He's a long, fluid athlete. We recruited him as an athlete. There's an opportunity for us to see what he looks like at the safety position with that length and speed. We're going to let him do that. We're going to commit to that through January but then bring it back.
“With us transitioning to more of a three-safety defense instead of a three-corner (defense), when you look at the safety position, it's probably got the lowest numbers (on the roster) and felt like with (receiver) Demariyon Houston, even though he didn’t practice today, but at the wide receiver position, we're deeper than we are at the three safety positions. So it felt like for his opportunity to get on the field this year, we can see that happening at safety. I wouldn't say it's permanent. I would say we're exploring.
“The thing about him is the team comes first. I’ve never had a player send me a text right after that said, ‘Thanks for the opportunity.’ So he's an amazing kid.”
Mizzou has four upperclassmen among the top safeties — Martez Manuel, Joseph Charleston, J.C Carlies, Jalani Williams — and need to develop some younger players at the position. Wayne and Isaac Thompson are the only true freshmen in the group.
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Thanks as always for your time. This is a general recruiting question which, since you’re neck deep in getting ready for football, you may not be able to answer. I’m sure I’m reading way too much into this but, upon a casual glance, it doesn’t seem as though MU offered scholarships to as many top 30 local kids as one might expect. Now, I’m not saying at all that every kid who gets a MAC offer should also get an MU offer, but it doesn’t seem like many kids who are getting multiple SEC or Big 10 offers are also getting MU offers. Thoughts?
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I noticed there are a handful of players listed in the PD Top 30 countdown where it doesn't say they have a Mizzou offer but that's not accurate in some cases. Marvin Burks has Mizzou in his final five. Christian Gray and Mac Markway have Mizzou offers. Neither player showed much interest in the Tigers and have committed elsewhere, but MU certainly offered.Gray received an offer in July 2021
Markway received an offer way back in May 2020
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Hey Dave, I have two questions.
1) What should we expect from Mizzou's Defense? I know they are going to a 4-2-5, but are they going to be playing Man or Zone in coverage most of the time? Does coach Baker play aggressive (similar to Barry) or is he more of a bend don't break kind of guy (like Steck)?
2) Have you ever been given a reason as to why Drink doesn't allow the media to watch his practices? It has to be difficult to do your job as a beat writer when you aren't even allowed to see what is happening, do you take that personally?
Thank you, -
1. They'll mix up coverages. Smart coordinators don't play only one coverage all the time. Baker's Louisiana Tech and Miami defenses were known for being aggressive with pressure.Calum McAndrew had more about Baker's defense here:2. I don't take it personally. I have a good rapport with Eli. He just doesn't like outsiders watching his team practice. That's more common in college football than it us unusual. It would be nice to watch the scrimmages, but he's very protective of what's happening on the field. I didn't understand why media weren't allowed to tweet or take photos at last Saturday's public practice when there was no way to stop the fans from tweeting or taking photos/videos.
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Every Mizzou fan who's paid attention long enough has the scar tissue from games like Wyoming, Middle Tennessee State, Bowling Green, Troy, etc. On that note, I understand your fears. On the other hand, brand new staff at La Tech. New coordinators. New systems. They'll have some element of surprise, but they're also working out the kinks of all the changes. This was a 3-9 program last year with a pretty rough defense. If Mizzou struggles in this game, could be a long, long season.
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Of course. Kansas State and Auburn aren't elite teams this year. K-State is a quiet contender in the Big 12, but that game is winnable for Mizzou if Cook and his playmakers live up to their potential and the defense has solved last year's problems. Auburn has major question marks but still has some strengths with a solid D-line and a great running back in Tank Bigsby. That said, no one is expecting Auburn to contend for the SEC West.Put it this way. I'd be very surprised if Mizzou is 4-0 and mildly surprised at 3-1.
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New episode yesterday. We'll be weekly during the season. Maybe a postgame pod if we're up to it. We'll see.
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One of the SEC podcasts mentioned that there was talk (?) that Drink would be in the running for the auburn job if he gets some good wins together this year and they fire harsin. Thoughts? Would be skeptical considering his malzahn and harsin connections - would think theyd want to move on from those coaches
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Good afternoon Dave. I would say to the man who asked earlier if he might have a tough time getting tickets to any Mizzou home games this year, one he might want to consider getting tickets to ahead of time should it be the game he chooses to go to is the Georgia game. Regardless of how Mizzou is doing at that time and how many of our actual fans show up, should still be a big crowd--with what could be more UGA fans than MU fans, unfortunately.
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Anthony Richardson is a freakish athlete. He showed in spurts last year he might be the most athletically gifted QB in the country. But can he translate all that passing and running talent into a winning quarterback who can manage games and avoid turnovers? Richardson gives Florida that boom-or-bust feel. If he lives up to his potential, they could scare some of the more established teams in the SEC. If he struggles, the Gators are beatable again.
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Dave, did you happen to see the Desiree Reed-Francois interview with Paul Finebaum on his show this past Monday? It pains me to say this, but --It wasn't a good interview in my opinion. Hate to say it, but was disappointed in DRF. She did nothing but
bs and danced around tough questions from Finebaum. It wasn't a good look for her. At least that's how it came across to me. I'm trying to keep in mind of course that perhaps she just felt obligated to "toe the company line" and at least pleasing Sankey and the other SEC AD's with her responses to Paul during the interview. Regardless, I still thought it didn't go well. Also, she promoted that supposedly amazing Ticket-Selling program Mizzou Athletics is doing this year on his show. I'll be honest in telling you that I don't know everything about it, but what little I do, please do inform me as to how this doesn't come down to basically a scam against the students? Finebaum looked at her like she was nuts when she told him about it. 😕 -
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Using Rivals.com's numbers, Mizzou's average player ranking (No. 30) looks better than the class ranking (No. 66). They only have 10 commitments, so that drags down an overall class ranking that measures the quantity of commitments not just the quality.That said, it's prove-it time when it comes to recruiting. For the last two years Mizzou could focus is sales pitch on the vision for the future. But now there's a body of work for recruits to evaluate - and whether that's fair or not - the results on the field haven't been great. We've seen a lot of in-state recruits look elsewhere. Mind you, they're also picking a different caliber of program than MU. Right now, in-state 2023 recruits with Mizzou offers have committed to Alabama, Notre Dame, LSU, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Competition is fierce.
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Sorry if this is a repeat but with the KC-area recruits that committed to Okla, any idea if NIL money was a significant factor? Earlier this year there seemed to be a good bit of angst that Sam Horn was going to play pro baseball but didn’t seem to be as much of a positive reaction when he stayed with Mizzou commitment. Lastly, thank the stars all the time for the foresight Deaton, Alden, Pinkel had in getting us into the SEC.
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I don't know if NIL was or wasn't a major factor with the targets who picked Oklahoma. I've heard that wasn't the case with Cayden Green - OU's NIL opportunities weren't better than Mizzou's - but it's impossible to know for sure. It's not like recruits are getting contract offers.
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How do you feel about the Mens Bball team's schedule? I understand SLU is a potential tournament team, but wouldn't it help Mizzou if they scheduled SLU to help lure recruits from STL? I realize it might look bad on Mizzou if they lose, but this year what does it matter?
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Nah, I've never heard a recruit say he picked a program because of one nonconference game on the schedule. Never. If a recruit wants to play in St. Louis that badly they should sign with SLU.Broken record here, but Cuonzo Martin offered SLU a three-year series with two games in Columbia and SLU turned it down. Missouri's not going to beg a mid-major team to play.
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Hard to predict a team that returns only two rotation players and added 10 new players who will play under a new staff and a new style. The schedule allows them to build up wins early develop chemistry and confidence on the fly so they can be competitive against the better teams in December, the SEC play. Maybe this team is decisively better. They should be deeper with more experienced players. They should have more scoring upside. Mosley is an incredibly talented offensive player. Interesting team - even though it won't be a very interesting schedule for the first month.
