What Eli Drinkwitz had to say: September 5th edition

Now that the dust has settled and the film has been analyzed after a 35-10 week one victory over South Dakota, Eli Drinkwitz gave his thoughts on the Tigers performance as well as addressing the current quarterback situation.

Eli Drinkwitz

The answer we’ve all been waiting for: “We will be moving forward with Brady Cook as our quarterback and quarterback No. 1 while giving Sam (Horn) opportunities to grow throughout the game. It won’t look the same as it did this past week as far as maybe equal first half and second half.”

On Brady Cook’s performance: “After watching the tape I thought Brady (Cook) played efficient. I thought he had good command and was especially good in the two-minute drill, which was a point of emphasis for us. Obviously, he had a couple of missed reads, felt like there were one or two opportunities to move the ball downfield in our play action game that we didn’t take, but overall, a solid performance,”

On Sam Horn’s performance: “I thought Sam (Horn) on his first extended period of college football was solid. I thought the first throw he made on third down was an elite throw across the middle, and I thought he continues to improve with his reps. I was especially proud of the way he bounced back after the interception.”

How the QB room embraced the news: “I don’t think much changed from the way it’s been progressing so far. I think there’s a pretty good feel for Brady being the leader in that room and all those guys understand how one quarterback plays is a reflection of everybody in that room and they’ve got really good camaraderie and leadership, and I don’t think much will change.”

What Sam Horn’s role will look like: “We plan on playing him in a series at some point in the game. I can’t define every situation for everybody, nor do I need to. It’s just we’re commited to letting him grow.”

On the performance of the young tight ends: “I thought Jordon (Harris) and Brett (Norfleet) played well considering that it was their first career start. Obviously, Jordon’s only been playing football for two seasons, this being his second. Brett’s physicality showed up in a good way, I think both of them have a consistency in performance and that’s the tail of the tape in college football, it’s not about just one highlight play it’s about consistently repeating that performance for how many plays you have in a game.”

The offensive line stock after week one: “I thought there was a consistency in performance between the guys who have played a lot for us, Javon Foster, Xavier Delgado, and Connor Tollison. Xavier Delgado graded out the highest for us and was the offensive lineman of the game. I think both Armand (Membou) and Cam’Ron (Johnson) had consistency in pad level and footwork. I think the mentality was there, I think they tried to play really aggressive and really dominant, but even when you trying to play aggressive and dominant you’ve got to trust your training, you’ve got to trust your fundamentals.

Addressing the kicking issue: “I think it was a couple of things that we’re going to try to make some adjustments on. We’re going to change our short snapper to Trey Flint to get more continuity on the ball placement. The second kick, the laces were we’re back. We still need to make it but that’s a product of both the snapper and the holder gotta get that right for Harrison so we all take responsibility.”

An important week for blitz pickup: “(Cody and Nate) are both going to have their hands full this weekend in blitz pickup. I think it’s going to be the most important blitz pickup week that we’ve had as a running back group, probably in the four years that I’ve been here.”

Did Missouri hide anything offensively in week one?: “No not at all. We only let the things that occurred during the game dictate the game. So, we didn’t save anything, we didn’t hide anything.”