Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Eli Hoff in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Transcript
Eli ±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýGood morning, folks! I hope everyone enjoyed the first weekend of the college football season. I'll be around here for the next couple of hours to answer any questions you've got after seeing the 2024 Missouri Football Tigers make their debut.
°Õ³Ü²Ô»å°ù²¹:ÌýWith so many kids transferring these days, do coaches even give all players a playbook anymore?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýYes. I've seen playbooks sitting around the team facility. I don't know if they're all that secretive — like, anyone who wants to watch a Mizzou game to spot schemes is going to see that the Tigers run a lot of zone and like layered or flood pass concepts. Play calls now come in through the helmets, so there's less emphasis on signs from the sideline. Trick plays might be a little bit more closely guarded, but the majority of what's in the playbook winds up out there on tape anyway. It's the vocabulary of audibles and instructions from the sideline that's more guarded.
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¶Ù¶Ù¶Ù:ÌýNorfleet update? Just playing it safe by keeping him out or is it more serious?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýNothing official yet. He was not at the portion of Tuesday's practice that was open to the media. Eli Drinkwitz was pretty adamant in the aftermath of last week's game that it wasn't anything serious. Looking back at the hit he took, it strikes me as the type of play that may have just been a stinger. Drinkwitz told us on Tuesday that the team would be releasing injury reports Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and gameday this week like they will be required to by the SEC for conference games, but the lack of update yesterday suggests that won't actually be what happens. I'm certainly inclined to think this team will opt for the cautious track, especially this early in the season. If the Tigers can't beat Buffalo without their starting tight end, there are bigger issues. In my eyes, Norfleet's status is generically questionable, but only because he didn't practice and I don't have more recent information.
bigron:ÌýAnything new on the mens Bball team?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýNot particularly, but they'll start ramping up to the new season soon. It's almost exactly 2 months away. But there are some, shall we say, about Mizzou men's hoops' first opponent of the year: Memphis.
Kurtc:ÌýWhy doesn't Mizzou sell naming rights to the stadium. Memorial Stadium is pretty generic. According to the dictionary, memorial means "something, especially a structure, established to remind people of a person or event". There is no person or event attached to Memorial so I'm not sure what it is memorializing. It seems like selling the naming rights would be a great way to raise money for the athletic program.
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI want to be clear that this is not reporting but speculation on how things are trending at large in college sports: That could be a necessity at some point in the not-too-distant future. Again, I haven't heard that Mizzou is putting the naming rights on the market or anything, but athletic departments around the country are going to continue to need more and more revenue coming in. That's why you see sponsors on the field now — which I think were quite subtle and not distracting in the slightest during the first game. Jersey patches are probably a matter of time.
I don't know off the top of my head how much a deal to make it "Faurot Field at (Insert Company) Stadium" would net for the athletics department, but it would probably be a decent chunk of change. With revenue sharing coming and the cost to remain competitive steadily rising, the time to cash in could be soon. Now, will fans grumble about it? That's a separate question but I'm sure something that will come into play.
(Post-chat note: I've confirmed that Memorial Stadium, as another reader mentions below, is like MU's Memorial Union in that it memorializes the 112 Mizzou students who were killed in World War I.)
MG:ÌýHow concerned should Mizzou be for next week against BC after they beat FSU last week?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThat's a good question. I'd said during the preseason that with Bill O'Brien and a good, mobile QB, the Eagles would not be a cupcake game. I predicted on the podcast here that Boston College would have a lead sometime in the second half of its game in Columbia, and that wasn't me spitting out a take for the heck of it — I fully believe that.
Still, it's tough to know exactly how much of a threat they are. Beating Florida State in Tallahassee is obviously a big win. But was that more about the Eagles being really good or FSU being really bad? My assumption is it's a bit of both. Maybe BC is an 8-win team and FSU is barely going to be bowl-eligible. BC plays Duquesne this weekend, so there won't be much more room to learn about the Eagles.
But look: Even if they are the type of team that can go 8-4 this year, one of those four should absolutely be to Missouri. The Tigers should still be able to beat them, and the final score probably shouldn't be all that close. It might be a little tougher or a little more nervy, but the expected result has not and will not change.
Palmetto State Fan:ÌýI am "all in" in regards to the Athletic Department marketing naming rights to Memorial Stadium with one caveat. All revenue from a naming rights deal is designated for improvements to the stadium and the game experience. Ditto in regards to Mizzou Arena. Patches on the game jerseys and on the coaches and staff game wear. Absolutely. (Tough with Coach Gates and his three assistant coaches as they always are, to borrow ZZ Top, sharp dressed men). Times have changed. Let's stay ahead of the revenue sourcing curve.
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThat's an interesting thought. I could see the value in that, particularly with the north concourse project being a $250 million undertaking. I'm sure if or when stadium naming rights become a talking point with Mizzou, what designations that revenue will come with will be a worthwhile consideration.
Palmetto State Fan:ÌýEli, how is Coach Nutt's health? Also, has Laird Veatch's name been mentioned in any way regarding the University of Memphis apparent MBB mess?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýCoach Nutt was doing well the last I heard. He's still around the program as much as he can be, which is great for everyone involved. Hopefully he'll be around the arena as the preseason ramps up and games start being played, since I know he was not a fan of having to watch them from afar on TV.
I have not seen Veatch named in any of the stories about the Memphis hoops kerfuffle. I haven't read everything out on it yet, but it doesn't seem there's an immediate connection.
DCG:ÌýEli: What can you tell me about the other TEs behind Norfleet? Obviously, I'm hoping his shoulder injury was a stinger and not structural, especially as I see the TE position being crucial this year. I know the WRs are the stars, but I think Mizzou will see a lot of what they saw last year after their fast start, which is more umbrella coverage to take away the deep ball. In that scenario, the TE spot would have a lot of space in the middle of the field. Norfleet, with his size and hands, would be pretty hard to stop. I don't think Mizzou did a good job countering that counter last year, and the running game bailed them out. I'm hoping they're more prepared to play intermediate ball this year if necessary.
Hoff:ÌýYour assessment of the tight end spot in a lot of Mizzou's passing schemes is right on — Kirby Moore told me as much when I asked him about what Brady needs to be doing this year for the offense to work. A big part of that is knowing when to check down to a tight end or running back and knowing where they'll be, Moore said. So it's definitely a factor.
Tyler Stephens is the 2nd-stringer there. He's experienced at this point, but has actually caught more passes at Buffalo (15 in 2021) than he has at Mizzou (12 from 2022 through last week). Jordon Harris is also in his second season. He has size just like Norfleet does but hasn't gotten quite as many reps. Harris is a real asset as a blocker, though.
Jude James and Whit Hafer both took more reps than many thought they would in camp, but that was also due to Norfleet and Harris being limited or absent for a good chunk of camp due to injuries. The freshmen maximized the opportunity, though, and showed promise as contributors in the passing game. Probably not for this year though.Ìý
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