It’s Officially “Preseason Preview” time

College sports have an annual calendar that borders upon cruelty. Especially for football. From early January through July there’s nothing except for a short few weeks of spring practice. Otherwise it’s just waiting around. Sure there’s some recruiting bits here and there for the diehards, but most of us are just here for the games.

And once practice starts it really feels like it’s finally close.

Eli Drinkwitz’s first media session of the practice season will be held today, and shortly after posting this comes the start of Quarterbacks and Running Backs week.

Starting coverage with what is inarguably the most controversial position on the team is a bold move, but it makes sense to just rip the band aid off.

Brady Cook!

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

By simply uttering his name I’m sure there are some in the fanbase who feel a slight facial tic. Many words have been spilled both in support and in opposition to Cook as the starting Quarterback. And we’re going to do our best to spill more.

But as more of a QB scouting novice than the rest of our writing staff, I’ll simply say that I want Drinkwitz to play the best guy he has. And I think he mostly has to this point. The only problem is that the options haven’t been good enough. Last season Brady Cook wasn’t good enough. The season before Connor Bazelak wasn’t good enough.

What has been good enough though, the Defense.

The returning production on the defensive side of the ball is reason to be excited for the season on its own. The defensive secondary should be deep and talented. The linebackers shouldn’t miss a beat. The defensive line certainly has numbers and potential. Mizzou is 32nd in Bill Connelly’s Preseason SP+ rankings largely on the back of the 17th ranked defensive unit.

The anchor on the ranking is the offense which has largely struggled due to inefficient quarterback play and a patchy offensive line.

The hope is a revamped line will be enough to give the QB time and the Running Backs lanes to run through.

There’s a lot to talk about. And we will.

We have some coverage coming that I’m pretty excited about. We’re expanding coverage to our YouTube channel, so make sure you’re subscribed there. If you’re not you can also follow the Podcasts in the audio version. And it’s not just going to be Nate and BK! We’ve got Parker Gillam back for another season, and this year he’s joined by Jaden Lewis on the beat. Those two, plus Adeen Rao, will have all the Football beat coverage on point and jumping on the Pod for post game and post press conference reactions with Quentin Corpruel. That’s not to mention more fun stuff from Dan Keegan.

Basically, I’m as excited for this season as any since I’ve had the responsibility of running the site. I think we’ve taken what works and built upon it, and at the same time adding some new and exciting voices to the team.

It’s preseason preview time.

Let’s get to it.