Dominic Lovett is having fun. He's also become a key piece of Mizzou football's future
Dominic Lovett can talk.
Unlike some of his teammates, he loves doing so. College football players aren’t usually super open with the media, with some seeming to use as many words as possible to say nothing.
Lovett is different. He’ll talk well and he’ll talk long.
Just like on the field, where the wide receiver has been a revelation for Missouri football when the microphones turned on, Lovett came out of his shell. That player has become a cornerstone for Missouri football's 2023 season, and perhaps beyond.
After the South Carolina game, his press conference was cut short and he was rushed out of the room. The Tigers’ bus was waiting on him.
"I like speaking up here,” Lovett said from the podium once, after working one of Eli Drinkwitz’s favorite clichés into an answer.
“I know you do,” the Missouri athletics representative in charge of the press conference retorted.
From his first time on the podium, the sophomore has demonstrated his gift of gab. He said if he wasn’t playing football, he’d be an actor or a comedian, and it’s easy to believe him.
Before the Tigers' win over South Carolina, he used some PG language and created a catchphrase to describe Missouri’s attitude.
"You gotta go out there, drop your nuts and play,” Lovett said.
The line was scrubbed from the MU Athletics YouTube video of the press conference. When he said it again (twice) before the Tennessee game, the video went unposted.
'Bigger than me'
Lovett wasn’t even supposed to be Missouri’s biggest star from his high school this season. If you subscribed to the preseason hype machine, that was Luther Burden, the five-star freshman who also attended East St. Louis.
He grew into a superstar there, earning offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Illinois among other others. The school sticks with him, as he wears two wristbands to honor former Flyer football players who died during his time there.
One of them commemorates the life of Jaylon McKenzie, who died in 2019 at the age of 14 after being shot at a party. McKenzie had already been featured in Sports Illustrated as a possible future star, and his death devastated Lovett.
The wideout has a tattoo memorializing his “little brother” and plans to get a portrait done in the future.
"He was a good kid,” Lovett said. “He had put a lot of smiles on people. He was just a great kid to be around. What happened to him was very unfortunate and it kind of struck the city of East St. Louis very hard.”
Even when he’s on the field now, he never takes off the blue and orange wristbands. He’s even had to turn down fans who have asked for them.
"I’d be like ‘Nah, these are sentimental,’” Lovett said. “This football thing is way bigger than me.”
Anyone who watched him last season wouldn’t have slated Lovett as a breakout start in 2022. As a freshman, Lovett didn't consistently play the same receiver position, and only caught 26 passes for 173 yards.
He said he was hard on himself as a freshman, frustrated by his lack of production.
The Tigers were trying to do too much with him. Eli Drinkwitz acknowledged this year that Lovett needed a spot to settle into, and he thought it could be the slot position.
Still, Lovett had to rediscover his fire. He also needed to improve his off-field habits.
"I started liking workouts,” Lovett said. “Not too many people like working out, I’m gonna be honest. Not too many people like working out, but when I started to see a difference in my body, started to hit PRs, I knew I could, it just took multiple times to get it, that’s when I found the love.”
With a new attitude, a set position and an improved body, Lovett began to prepare for his sophomore year.
'Work that connection'
Lovett caught Missouri’s most explosive play against Tennessee. It was MU’s final score of the 66-24 loss, and quarterback Brady Cook delivered a perfect pass.
The Missouri wide receiver ran a beautiful fade route from the slot and deep-fried the Tennessee defensive back in charge of guarding him.
"Everything worked,” Cook said of the 38-yard touchdown play. “It was man coverage. Got the look we wanted. I know it, Domo knew it. He beat his guy and I gave him a ball he could score with, so that was a fun play.”
Lovett has been making such plays all season. Going into the New Mexico State game on Saturday, he has averaged 14.4 yards per catch, including a season-long 79-yard score against Abilene Christian.
He gave the Tigers a deep threat they lacked elsewhere in 2022. In an offense that has had trouble moving the ball, Lovett has been a glowing bright spot.
The sophomore has 706 yards so far this season, fourth in the SEC.
“He’s got great speed,” Eli Drinkwitz said after Lovett put up 132 yards against Abilene Christian. “We’ve been able to settle him in at the slot position and he continues to get better and better, so it’s just on us to continue to work that connection.”
It hasn’t been a perfect season for Lovett. He had four catches for only 12 yards against Vanderbilt and didn’t have a single grab against Kentucky.
But Lovett understands that not every game is going to be his to dominate. And that’s OK, he’s learned to deal with it better than when he was a freshman.
“Coming from the program I came from, East side, getting the ball probably every other play, there’s just some things you gotta adjust to,” Lovett said. “You just gotta stay headstrong about how the game goes, you gotta have a ‘this play’ mentality.”
If he keeps emerging like he has both on and off the field this season, the SEC could be in for a rough time. After all, he's only a sophomore.
There will be plenty more big moments for Lovett to enjoy.
"Having fun is really like the biggest thing I do," he said after beat South Carolina. "You don't get these moments in life back, so you've just gotta have fun with them."
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou football: Dominic Lovett emerges on and off the field
