COLUMBIA, Mo. — How does Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz set the tone for spring practices ahead of a year in which the Tigers are replacing key playmakers with a swath of newcomers?
With a bit of silver-lined snark.
Addressing his team before their first practice of spring ball, Drinkwitz’s message was this: “I told them, ‘Today should be the worst you are as a Missouri football player, because it’s your first day, you’re unsure of everything.’ ”
Good, bad, ugly or developmental, football is back in Columbia for a small window of practices that bring together several dozen returners, 17 incoming transfers and 11 true freshmen for the beginning of the build-up to the 2025 season.