Today we will attempt to know the unknowable: to see into the future and try to predict which freshmen footballers will see the field for the Mizzou Tigers this fall. In order to do that, we will look into the recent past to identify trends in how Eli Drinkwitz and his staff utilize rookies.
Before we get into it, let’s acknowledge that this staff trusts veterans in general, and playing time can be scarce for frosh, a manifestation of Drink’s generally conservative nature. This was a common critique of the staff by armchair coaches during both the 2021 and 2022 seasons.