Drinkwitz Explains Strategic Reasoning Behind Mizzou's Dropkicks

The Missouri coaching staff was prepared for South Carolina to have a wide playbook on special teams.

"Special teams, coach (Shane) Beamer does an excellent job there," head coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a press conference before facing South Carolina. "They always try to create an advantage in that phase."

The Tigers were especially prepared for a specific look on kickoff returns.

On the opening kickoff, Gamecocks returner Nyck Harbor nearly broke free for a huge return. If it weren't for linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez making a diving tackle, Habor would've had a clear lane to make it far past the 26 yards he ended up getting.

Oliver Robbins, a NAIA transfer, was is on that first kickoff. After that though, punter Connor Weselman took the remaining five kickoffs by dropkicking. Missouri was weary of both the wind, and of South Carolina's return game.

"Unless we were with the wind and felt confident about Oliver's leg, we were giving ourselves a real risky chance on a big time return," Drinkwitz said Tuesday. "With Connor's ability to drop kick, we could actually line up and dictate a kick away from their return."

Just the week before, Harbor had returned a kick against Vanderbilt for 43 yards even after starting the return backed up nine yards in the end zone. By having Weselman dropkick it, Missouri sacrificed the fact that all of South Carolina's returns would come past the end zone in order to avoid Harbor fielding any other returns.

"We knew where their return was going, and then he (Weselman) was able to kick it opposite, which allowed us to have a better coverage scheme," Drinkwitz said. "We knew we weren't going to give up a big return at that point."

Missouri was prepared to combat South Carolina's return looks with dropkicks in the week leading up to the game. Missouri's coaching staff had taken notice of Illinois utilizing the same strategy against South Carolina in last year's Citrus Bowl.

What the coaching staff didn't know when initially preparing the plan to drop kick though was that Weselman had learned how to dropkick in high school.

"We showed that (Illinois' dropkick) to the team so that we can be prepared if they (South Carolina) tried that (return)," Drinkwitz Said. "And Connor was like, 'I can do that.'"

Ultimately, Missouri did avoid any big kick returns on Weselman's dropkicks — the longest return on one was for 25 yards. But, it still did lead to more yardage than if Robbins was able to just kick a touchback. But Missouri wasn't willing to take that risk.

Out of the five dropkicks, four were fielded behind South Carolina's 15-yard line. Four of the dropkicks were returned at least to the Gamecocks' 30-yard line.

Missouri has had to get creative in the kicking game since starting kicker Blake Craig suffered a torn ACL in Week 1. Robbins had taken all the kickoffs before Week 4, averaging 61.8 yards per 20 kicks. Eight of those have ended in touchbacks.

"We're still trying to figure out our kickoff situation," Drinkwitz said.

Missouri has also had some fluctuating in its plans on field goals. True freshman Robert Meyer has taken all of the attempts since Craig's injury, making 6 of his 7 field-goal attempts, and 15 of his 17 extra points.

But, going into the South Carolina game, the Missouri coaching staff had some concerns on Meyer on kicks longer than 38 yards.

Meyer was inconsistent in practices in the week leading up to the game on kicks from that distance. But Robbins was doing much better on the longer kicks.