Tiger Talk Notes and Quotes: Troy Edition

Eli Drinkwitz and Mike Kelly returned to Harpo’s Tuesday night for Tiger Talk following Missouri’s win in the Border War and ahead of the Memorial Stadium 100th Anniversary Game against Troy.

Here’s what Drinkwitz, alongside wide receiver Donovan Olugbode and edge rusher Darris Smith, had to say:

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Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz

• Drinkwitz brought back ‘Drinks on Drink,’ paying for a round for the bar. He had a caveat, though: “Don’t be trying to get any of that top shelf liquor; y’all don’t be drinking any of that. This is beer only. I’ll do wine, too, for some of the ladies.”
• When going over areas for improvement from week two, Drinkwitz took accountability for the two field goals that got blocked by the Jayhawks: “Bottom line, whatever happened happened twice. And if it happens once, shame on you; if it happens twice, they’ll say shame on me, right? So at the end of the day, it was my fault. I haven’t done a great enough job of making sure that it was taught in a clear and concise manner that our guys could execute it. But it was taught today, and it was taught again yesterday … so we got that thing re-taught and put in, and we won’t have any more problems moving forward.”
• On Austin Simmons’ leadership: “I’ve just been super impressed with the way he’s connected to our team. He daps every player up as they run onto the field, and that to me is something that’s unique; I haven’t seen that before. He’s a young man that, in between series, he goes and taps up the defense and makes sure they are in the huddle during TV timeouts and getting ready to go. You know, that’s something I haven’t seen before since I’ve been here. Most guys get over there and they worry about themselves and their offense, but he’s worried about the team, and that’s a true sign of leadership.”
• On the connection between Simmons and Olugbode: “Donovan has worked extremely hard to get on the same page with Austin. And I’ll be honest, this spring it was not pretty. There was a lot of incompletions, a lot of balls that we just weren’t on the same page, and even in fall camp. But I’ve got to give it to them: those guys have spent a lot of extra time working on it and trying to find the answers and finding the solutions, and getting more reps and getting more throws. And I think that’s the thing that has been impressive to me is the work ethic that those guys have put in in order to achieve the success that they’ve achieved.”
• On Olugbode’s strong start: “He knows I’m constantly pushing him and challenging him to be better because I can see a bright future in this young man. But he’s got the right stuff, he really does, and so I’m excited about watching him grow. And obviously if he keeps doing this, you know, at some point I’m going to be renegotiating a contract.”
• On the offense’s 14-game turnover streak: “That ain’t good. I let them know today: we had two fumbles. That’s more than we’ve had in a season before here. Look, you’re going to throw interceptions; you can’t throw multiple interceptions, but you’re going to throw interceptions. But fumbles, those are inexcusable. David Cutcliffe used to say, ‘One fumble in a lifetime is one too many.’ So for us, we’ve got to value the ball, we’ve got to take care of the football, and that’s a bad stat. We’ve got to get rid of that stat.”
• On the defense’s performance against KU: “I thought our defense really started off fast; I thought they did an excellent job. We had seven three-and-outs, consistently was harassing the quarterback. I think after our first fumble, going out there and … pushing them back, forcing a missed field goal was extremely impressive.”
• On Darris Smith: “When he had his ACL surgery, I mean, it was a tough semester because this guy loves football. He loves football, and we had some ups and downs. And I’ll be honest, there was a point where I thought, ‘Man, it might just be better for us to separate.’ And I have a contract in my desk drawer that said if you miss another team meeting, you’re out. If you don’t show up to tutoring, you’re out. If you can’t get this kind of GPA, you’re out. And he signed it. That next semester, sucker had a 4.0 GPA. He was exactly where he was supposed to be.”
• Continued: “I’m extremely proud of this young man and who he’s become, and what he’s developed into. He’s going to get a degree from this university. He’s a hell of a football player, but he’s an even better teammate. He’s not perfect, alright — but I’m damn proud to have him on my football team, and really proud that he’s still with us.”
• On not overlooking Troy (a team that Mike Kelly made sure to mention have beat the Tigers before): “They’ve got some pelts on their wall (referring to the power conference opponents they’ve beat over the last two decades); they expect to come in and play and compete with us. So for us, it’s really about playing and practicing to our standard. It’s about understanding that we’ve got to improve. So there’s a lot of work to be done. If we go out and think that we play the same game against Kansas and beat Troy, we’re crazy. We have to be better this week, and it starts with all of us, starting with me.”

Wide Receiver Donovan Olugbode

• On why he chose Mizzou: “It felt like a family atmosphere, close to home. [Wide receivers coach Jacob Peeler], I feel like he’s good at developing receivers and is a good coach. And I trusted what coach Drink had going with this program, so it ultimately led me to choose Mizzou.”
• On what makes the team’s brotherhood real: “Just the camaraderie between us in the locker room. After practice, there will be guys in the locker room sitting and talking for two hours after practice already ended, just having fun and talking. So I feel like the amount of time we spend together and the brotherhood we build, it ultimately just leads us to have the best chemistry.”
• On how he developed a connection with Simmons: “We kind of just put our heads down and went to work. It it wasn’t clicking at first without the routes or whatever we were doing, we just kept going and kept going and kept going ‘til it clicked, and then we kept going some more. And eventually we just kept getting better and better and better, and we continued to see progress.”
• On his touchdown against Kansas: “I had a post route. The dude was playing outside leverage, so I kind of gave a move at the top, perfect ball by the quarterback, and the rest is history. So it was a good play, good execution. Also, I wanted to give thanks to the o-line and the running back protection-wise.”
• On the role wide receivers play in the run game: “The receivers got to play a big factor in the run game. Sticking your face in the fan, our receiver coach says it a lot. Being willing to block for our running backs because they do it for us in pass pro. So just it giving back.”

Edge Rusher Darris Smith

• On what he learned from his experience tearing his ACL and recovering: “Just not taking the game for granted or taking the practice for granted. Because when I was doing it, it was going good and well. I was probably doing the little things, but when I got [football] taken away from me, I just noticed that the little things mean a lot.”
• On how it feels to have Memorial Stadium as his home stadium as a player: “For me, it’s different. Especially with the new [renovations], the new end zone building, it just looks nice. You know, every time you walk out there, it just feels different.”
• On how he gained 30 pounds this offseason to bulk up: “Just putting your mind to it. Eating a lot, drinking a lot of protein shakes.”
• On the difference that extra weight and strength makes: “You just feel stronger and more explosive setting the edge, you know what I’m saying? It’s just different.”

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