Read the full transcript of Mizzou beat writer Eli Hoff's sports chat

Transcript

Eli Hoff: Happy Thursday, everyone. Thanks for coming by this week's Mizzou chat. With the portal in full swing, hoops season and a bowl game next week I think we've got no shortage of things to discuss over the next couple hours. Feel free to drop your questions, takes and fears about how it's all going and we'll chat.

Before we get to your questions, I want to point you to two stories that I've written in the last 24 hours because they're especially important to keeping up with all of this.

First, a lot of you ask (rightfully) about Sam Horn, his recovery, his status as a two-sport athlete and his plans going forward. Eli Drinkwitz talked about the plan for Horn yesterday, which includes playing both football and baseball in 2025. Read more here.

Second, Drinkwitz was very honest yesterday about the state of college football. When a coach talks like he did, you should listen — and I think many of you will agree with him. I promise this one's worth the read.

senior scramble: Okay Eli thanks for the chat, I check the portal more than i check my checking account. I like what we have done so far, BUT if we don't get 3 SEC. ready linemen we are in deep trouble. Linemen that are really good are committing fast and the ones that visited Mizzou have gone else were. I hope you got some positive information on the lineman front. After Coach Drinks press conference yesterday, I am convinced he is Okay with Horn and Zoeller as the QB. Makes sense as the really good QBs are not considering Mizzou. My take is we are good at running back, wide receiver, tight end, dee end, dee linemen, need one more linebacker, safety and corner. And 3 more offensive linemen. On the basketball front the SEC. is the greatest conference in the history of men's basketball. 150 and 20 in non-conference. If Mizzou can go 8 and 10 in conference play, they are in the dance. That is going to be incredibly hard. Tennesee is predicted to win the conference with 4 losses. Thanks for the chat

Hoff: I agree with you about the offensive line as a glaring need in the transfer portal. Mizzou's been in contact with linemen and getting them on visits, there just hasn't been a commitment/signing on that front yet. The Tigers are replacing left tackle, right guard and right tackle. There's a world in which Cayden Green moves from left guard to left tackle and they replace LG instead. Still, three holes.

I could see one being filled by somebody already on the team, like Logan Reichert. At some point, the guys you recruit have to be ready. And if they aren't, then they're a bust. This might be the make-or-break offseason for a highly-rated lineman recruit like Reichert. He'd probably go in at guard. Then that helps with continuity a little bit so that it's only two true newcomers starting on the line.

I asked Drinkwitz about the quarterback situation since they've been actively working to get a guy in the portal but haven't. I didn't expect him to talk about missing on Miller Moss or which portal guys are targets — that's not how coaches operate — but I was curious to see what he'd say. He had this line in his pretty coy response: “If we need to add a quarterback, we will. And if we don’t, we don’t." 

It would be surprising if Mizzou went into 2025 with ambitions and a QB room of Pyne, Horn and Zollers. That's risky. I still think they want to add next year's starter via the portal. Drinkwitz's comment made me wonder if that could come in the spring transfer portal window... but that's risky too. For now, it's still wait-and-see on the QB front.

If it's me doing the portal shopping for Missouri, I'm trying to get a QB, 2-3 offensive linemen, a defensive tackle, a corner, another safety and a couple of specialists out of the portal. But unsurprisingly nobody's called me up asking me to do the portal work for their team.

And yes, the Southeastern Conference is wildly deep and strong in basketball this year. We always call it a gauntlet, but it really is this year. Eight wins could very well be enough for a tournament bid. But you look at how few games you can confidently enter there are and a path to even that many seems like it'll take a lot...

Larry M: Will the new 5 star QB be enrolling for spring semester? What about the portal transfers?

Hoff: Yes, Matt Zollers will be an early enrollee and on campus for spring. I'd assume all of the transfers will be too, since that's the goal of the December window — get guys at their new schools for the spring semester (and practices).

Florida Al: Hi Eli...is our QB transfer portal challenge related turning into a chicken and egg proposition? In other words, might higher rated prospective QB transfers with other good options want to see Mizzou improve their O-Line through the portal before committing. We appear to have a good receiver room, but that won't be much consolation if their vision is being harassed and buried by SEC defensive lineman. Are they waiting to see if we can shore up the O-Line. Also, I just saw that Kirby Moore has shown interest in the coaching job at Washington State. Is that a reason for concern for attracting O-line replacements.

Hoff: I can see there being a little bit of a chicken/egg concept with the quarterback and offensive line in that one of those dominos falling first could help the other. My bigger thought is the degree to which it has to be an investment in both and it's not an either/or situation. (And I think this is sufficiently obvious to Mizzou.) If you're going to invest in a starting quarterback out of the portal, which is a significant investment, you need to invest in protecting him too. Both are crucial to figuring out the engine for next year's offense. 

I don't think Kirby Moore's name being linked with any other job really does too much to affect the O-line search. Maybe it would for a quarterback, but even then I'm not sure. Everything with rosters and coaching staffs is up in the air to a certain degree at every program that I don't know if players or programs can really put too much stock in who's employed at a given moment. It's unrestricted free agency for everyone right now, so we can only assume that private conversations assure of what needs to be assured — and that even those only mean so much.

Lu: Sup Eli? Do you have any insight into how the braggin' rights tickets were allotted? I've been following the primary and secondary markets all week and its weird. Tickets in the upper bowl going for hundreds of dollars (ive never seen that). It looks like on ticket master there are still plenty of primary market tickets to be sold as well. Honestly the best deal I can find is $330 for all inclusive...which, i might have to jump at. Got some old classmates in town we can't miss this one.

I'm sure you'll have a great preview, but could you give one player who needs to step up in order for us to win braggin' rights?

Hoff: I don't know exactly how the allotment works. I'm assuming it's like a neutral site bowl in that each school gets a certain amount and then the rest is just sold by the venue. I did notice that the prices to even just get in seem like a lot. I don't have a baseline for what Braggin' Rights usually costs, so maybe this is normal. I might get in trouble for writing this, but my first thought when I saw the prices was oof, that would be tough to bring a family to. But again, maybe this is just how that game goes. I hope there's a good crowd on hand — it's always a fun environment. Hopefully those all-inclusive ones come with a good view too.

As far as one player for Mizzou: I think this could be the game in which Anthony Robinson II solidifies himself as one of the best point guards in the SEC. I'm writing today about the potential that suddenly seems to be on the table for him. A statement game against Illinois could really establish him on a big state. The real answer is that for a team who's had eight different players lead in scoring during a game, it could be just about anyone who's the key!

Mizzou/lincoln: Any update on the Quarterback from Penn State that visited?

Hoff: Penn State backup Beau Pribula was in town earlier this week for a visit. Recruiting services are reporting that he's now on other visits. Sounds like Iowa, Indiana and Central Florida are also in the mix. It's tough to tell whether not committing right after (or on) a visit is a bad sign for Mizzou, Pribula wants to take his time, or the Tigers want somebody else. There's a whole lot in motion.

TreeGuy: What's your take on universities 'shorting' NIL payments to players? Is that a factor in some jumping into the portal? And is Mizzou among the guilty parties when it comes to shorting players?

Hoff: You're going to have to give me your definition of shorting here. I've heard stories about schools making NIL promises that weren't realized (like what happened with UNLV at the start of the season) but nothing about that occurring with Mizzou. Everything I've seen points toward MU having one of the most professional NIL operations in the country. 

There are instances where a player's NIL offer from a school decreases from one year to another. I don't know for certain that that's what happened with some of these freshmen who've transferred, but that wouldn't surprise me at all. Eli Drinkwitz had an interesting quote yesterday about this: "You have to try to retain your roster based on the salary cap that you have, based on your perceived needs. We have a perceived value of what our players are. That may not be their perceived value, which makes them maybe want to go to the portal.”

But again, if I missed your definition of shorting there, let me know.

Nate: What's your scouting report on the Bragging Rights game? Mizzou is going to have to rebound significantly better in my opinion. I like our speed and length though.

Hoff: I'll be honest with y'all, I've been so caught up with the portal that I haven't looked particularly closely at Illinois yet. That's my plans for this evening, barring more portal chaos. 

My quick read is that Illinois is going to look to take 3s whenever they can. They've got some tall guys who can shoot, too. That makes me wonder if Mizzou will have to go bigger than it usually does to keep up — maybe you see more three-forward/big lineups than the three-guard combos that the Tigers usually use. A lineup like Robinson-Bates-Mitchell-Shaw-Gray could be worth a look to keep size and defending on the floor.

Illinois is a good offensive rebounding team, so I'm sure that will rear its head. Mizzou will need to improve there, but I just don't think MU will ever be a great rebounding team. And they're built to lose that battle but win the war. Doing that, though, generally relies on getting turnovers to earn extra possessions a different way. Illinois has been good at avoiding turnovers so far.

To me, that's the X-factor. Illinois will shoot what it wants to shoot and get a handful of offensive rebounds. Can Mizzou force enough turnovers for that not to matter?

Jim: Howdy Eli...Thanks for the chats. I really like what I'm seeing of this Men's BB team, BUT (and isn't there always a but?) there's one thing that bewilders me. I've watched every game this year and still don't see how Perkins got B1G conference honors or how he was a targeted transfer recruit. It appears Coach Gates might agree as itseems like he's seldom in the rotation when the game is on the line. Am I missing something?

Hoff: I agree with you generally that Tony Perkins has yet to really pop. The one thing I'll add, though, is that I think his health has been a factor. He had a little bit of a nagging leg issue early on that led to a slow start. But since he came back from that injury after missing a couple games, he's posted four games with an offensive rating over 100, which is good. Missouri also hasn't needed him to do a whole lot — if he can facilitate a little bit, hold up on defense and take some good shots, he'll be able to work his way in and be fine. If Ant Robinson wasn't having a heck of a start or Marques Warrick didn't show potential, it might be a problem. But the depth is giving Perkins time to get going.

Palmetto State Fan: After viewing the NCAA clown er ….. president’s testimony to Congress I would recommend there be an emergency meeting of the association to immediately terminate his employment for cause. And, it is time to end the farce called the NCAA and move forward to a model similar to what the professional sports leagues use.,

Hoff: Yeah. Nothing with college sports is working as intended right now, except for the 12-team playoff perhaps — actually seems like that went pretty well. The NCAA seems to lose every battle it gets in a courtroom. It's not going to be able to take power back. I don't know where this is headed, but control seems to be scattered around the ecosystem in a way that it's going to be tough for anyone to corral enough to fix it. Right now, the groups with the most power are the courts, the TV networks and the players. We could spend hours talking about the role of any of those three, but the bottom line is that it's going to continue unraveling when that's the trinity of power.

Groucho: Clearly we are going to have to relook at the academic calendar so that we can squeeze in the playoffs and the portal.

Hoff: I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, which is probably the best indicator that you're talking about modern college football. So much of what's happening could've passed for sarcasm or satire even 10 years ago. It clashes so directly with the academic calendar. I wonder how long it'll be until some academic requirements are taken down in a courtroom. What a mess and a headache.

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