Mizzou’s Eli Drinkwitz supports nine-game SEC schedule, citing need for rivalry games

Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz said Sunday he’s in favor of the proposed nine-game Southeastern Conference scheduling model.

The third-year head coach spoke to reporters at a youth football camp at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City two weeks after he met with other SEC leadership at the conference’s spring meetings in Destin, Florida.

“I’m personally for a nine-game schedule,” Drinkwitz said.

At the SEC spring meetings in Destin, the conference put two scheduling formats on the table, one with eight conference games and one with nine, but Drinkwitz did not publicly back either at that time.

The conference will continue its divisional structure for the 2022 season before revisiting the schedule with the looming additions of Oklahoma and Texas.

In the eight-game model, each team would have one annual rivalry with seven rotating conference opponents. In the nine-game model, each team would have three annual matchups with six rotating conference opponents.

Even with one fewer opportunity to rack up a nonconference win in a nine-game conference schedule, Drinkwitz said the potential for rivalry games was a key factor.

“I think it’s important for the SEC to continue to prove its dominance,” Drinkwitz said. “I also believe in playing some regional rivalries. To me the only plan that’s been presented that continues the SEC rivalry games is the nine-game schedule, and I think that’s what’s best for the SEC’s future.”

Being an ambassador for football

Around 300 kids in third to eighth grade attended the free camp Sunday and ran through drills for each of the position groups, led by assistant coaches.

Quarterbacks coach Bush Hadman taught proper throwing technique in his station, running backs coach Curtis Luper ran agility and footwork drills in his station and so on.

“It’s just a privilege to use our platform in a positive way as an ambassador for the game of football,” Drinkwitz said.

Missouri held a similar youth camp in St. Louis last Sunday and will hold youth camps in Columbia next weekend.

With several of the participants coming from local youth football leagues, Drinkwitz didn’t rule out the possibility of one of the kids at the camp eventually becoming a Tiger.

“I haven’t been coaching long enough to do that,” Drinkwitz said. “But I sure look forward to the day, and I hope there’s some of those guys here today that took a picture with me that on Signing Day, there’ll be another picture.”

Recruiting the Kansas City area

The Tigers’ recruiting influence in the area certainly showed Sunday.

Twenty Missouri players, the majority of which hail from the Kansas City metro area, were in attendance.

Signing autographs before the camp, the players assisted with the camp as they joked around with and encouraged the local kids who were just in their shoes a few years ago.

“There’s a lot of guys over there from the Kansas City metro area that started in these fields just like this,” Drinkwitz said.

Four of those players were recruits who just wrapped up their final days as high schoolers before arriving on campus last week, including St. Thomas Aquinas defensive lineman Jalen Marshall, Lee’s Summit North offensive guard Armand Membou, Blue Valley North wide receiver Mekhi Miller and Lee Summit tight end Max Whisner.