Eli Drinkwitz and Mizzou aren’t waiting for the SEC’s permission to shake things up

When you clicked on links this morning, were you expecting to see an article from The Tennessean headlining things? Probably not.

But that’s where the best Mizzou content of the day came from. Blake Toppemeyer, SEC Columnist for the USA Today Network (and former Trib scribe) spoke with Eli Drinkwitz as the summer gets under way. Drink is always an interesting read, but Toppemeyer pulled some great quotes out of Mizzou’s head ball coah.

“I don’t know if underdog is the right word. I kind of like hungry dog,” Drinkwitz said during an interview with the USA TODAY Network. “I kind of think we’re a hungry university. We’ve got hungry players that are in a program that is eager to make its place in our conference.”

Toppemeyer’s article touches on a number of topics with Drinkwitz ranging from recruiting success, unexpected momentum coming out of 2020 and Mizzou’s perception around the league. Of that, Drinkwitz isn’t too worried. After all, he says the rest of the SEC would rather not worry about the Tigers.

And a coach with a self-described chip on his shoulder is hungry for his program to become a bigger disruption within a conference it joined in 2012 as a geographic outlier from the Big 12.

“I’m not going to wait for the SEC to make room for us,” Drinkwitz said. “We’re here, so let’s go be the very best that we can be and don’t care who it makes mad in the rest of the conference.”

Of special note, Toppemeyer also mentioned that Drinkwitz keeps a line of communication open with Gary Pinkel. He also continued his constant jabbing at Arkansas, suggesting them as a school that kept offering their recruits/commits over the past, oh I don’t know, however many months since they hired a former Tiger head coach?

Give it a look. It’s a fun read with good access to Drinkwitz and engaging writing (as always) from Toppemeyer.

Yesterday at Rock M

• In which Nate Edwards pontificates on the illustrious career of Connor McGovern, our Team USA Offensive Lineman

More Links:

• There’s a Top 50 hoops recruit doing a tour of the Midwest, and Mizzou is on his list of stops along the way.

• Nicodemus Christopher is off starting his own business, and Cuonzo Martin has already filled his position.

Edwards comes (back) to Mizzou from a few hours east, where he served as the Strength and Conditioning coach for Southern Illinois. He previously worked as an assistant S&C coach for the Tigers during the 2017-18 season.

• Speaking of strength and conditioning, do you think Edwards could add a few inches to Aidan Shaw’s vertical?

For the uninitiated, Shaw is one of Mizzou’s priority targets in the 2022 class.

• It was a rough year on the court for Mizzou Women’s Hoops, but they had plenty of success in the classroom! Congrats on being smart and stuff!
• Three-star East St. Louis recruit Ahmad Robinson was on campus (or at least tweeting pictures from his visit) yesterday.

For more detailed info, Nate and BK talked about his recruitment on last week’s edition of Before the Box Score.

• Finally, Akayleb Evans is excited about coming to Mizzou for more reasons than just football. Here’s Mizzou’s newest corner on one big plan he has for his time in Columbia.

• Bruce Feldman at The Athletic spoke to college football coaches about 35 players across the sport who are primed for a breakout in 2021. Mizzou’s Tyler Badie made the cut at No. 8.
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