Mizzou used off-week to get QBs Horn, Macon some reps. Homecoming vs. Vandy is Saturday

For Missouri Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz, that open date in MU’s 2022 football schedule came at a necessary time.

Following a 2-4 start and amid a three-game losing streak, the Tigers needed to hit the reset button in terms of the team’s health and overall mentality.

No changes appear imminent on the team’s depth chart following the extra week off, but Drinkwitz did opt to give some of his younger Tigers some extra reps in practices leading up to Saturday’s Homecoming Game against Vanderbilt.

“We had a really good bye week,” Drinkwitz said. “I felt like we did exactly what we wanted to do, which is refresh and recharge some of our vets who’ve played a lot of plays and let our younger guys and underclassmen continue to develop …

“There’s some key areas that we really need to improve on if we want to go from where we are to where we want to be. We’ve really been harping on these. I didn’t see any flinch or blink in our guys. It was, ‘Yes sir, let’s go fix it.’”

Among the players receiving added reps were a pair of young quarterbacks: much-heralded true freshman Sam Horn and redshirt freshman Tyler Macon.

Neither has played so far this season, but that could change this weekend. Starter Brady Cook hasn’t exactly lit it up, completing 111 of 171 passes for 1,217 yards with five touchdowns against six interceptions.

“I thought both our (younger) quarterbacks, both Sam and Tyler, practiced well on Wednesday and Thursday (last week),” Drinkwitz said. “In the scrimmages, both led touchdown drives. Sam led multiple touchdown drives, so it was good to see. Wasn’t perfect, but better ownership of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

While underclassmen like Horn and Macon saw increased action in practices since the Tigers’ last game, a 24-17 defeat at Florida, MU’s veterans went back to the fundamentals, Drinkwitz said.

The off-week was also a chance for some players to get healthy, or at least healthier. Drinkwitz said linebacker Chad Bailey, wide receiver Barrett Banister and cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine were all probable to play Saturday against Vanderbilt (kickoff 3 p.m., SEC Network).

True freshman wide receiver Luther Burden, however, is still working through an injury.

“From a health standpoint and a mentality standpoint, we just needed a break to refocus and re-engage,” Drinkwitz said. “Now we’ve got a great opportunity to compete.

“Homecoming is always a great crowd. It’s always a great energy around Columbia and around our university. It will be good for our guys to go out there and earn it. That’s what we’re gonna have to do.”

While Drinkwitz indicated he wasn’t planning to drastically change up his personnel or add new plays to the offense six weeks into the season, he said the Tigers have been working to fix some issues in scheme that have contributed to penalties and negative-yardage plays.

“You get a chance to kinda take a deep breath and really watch where you’re at,” Drinkwitz said. “See where the continual problems could be.

“What are the schemes that we do efficiently well and what are the schemes that — whether they look good on paper or not — just aren’t hitting for us the way we want to? There’s absolutely a trimming and forming of, ‘OK, this is what we can do, not what we want to do.’ That was an emphasis for us this week and an emphasis in our game plan.”

Saturday’s matchup with Vanderbilt pits teams that are winless in SEC games this far this season. But Drinkwitz praised Commodores coach Clark Lea and noted that Vanderbilt quarterback AJ Swann has yet to throw an interception this season.

Of Swann, Drinkwitz said: “Very smart decision-maker, an accurate passer, knows who his go-to guys are. They use him a lot in RPO systems. Does not put the ball in jeopardy. They try to get him into good situations by running the football and creating third-and-manageables.”

Will some of those younger Tigers who saw extra practice reps over the past week-plus — perhaps Horn and/or Macon — get some playing time Saturday? We’ll find out soon enough.