Tag: Eli Drinkwitz

SEC Coaching Rankings: Saban stays at the top, Brian Kelly enters top 3

The SEC is loaded with talented football coaches ranging from decades of experience to first-year hires. Here’s how they rank, according to CBS Sports.

The SEC is loaded with talented individuals. Whether it be players, coaches, training staff or others, the conference is known for being the gold standard in college football. Today, we place the 14 head coaches under a microscope.

CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee recently broke down every SEC head coach and ranked them from first to worst.

Below, Roll Tide Wire takes a look at the rankings and the reasoning behind them. There are some that are spot on, while others are just a bit off. At the end of the day, however, it’s all subjective.

Here are how Sallee ranked the 14 head coaches of the SEC.

Missouri HC Eli Drinkwitz talks new Georgia WR Dominic Lovett

“Obviously was really good for us”…

Georgia got one of the best players out of the transfer portal in former Missouri wide receiver Dominic Lovett, who led the Tigers in receiving last season.

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke highly of Lovett, even after his decision to leave for Athens.

“[Dominic is] a really good player. Great young man. High-character man,” Drinkwitz said on Tuesday at SEC spring meetings. “[He] works really hard. Obviously was really good for us.”

The former four-star recruit out of Belleville, Ill., was a force for the Tigers offense last fall. Lovett hauled in 56 passes for 846 yards and three touchdowns.

Lovett finished seventh in receptions per game (4.7) and third in receiving yards per game (70.5) among SEC receivers in 2022.

Lovett will contend for the starting slot role this fall and should serve as a key piece in the Bulldogs’ receiving room that lost Adonai Mitchell (Texas), Dominic Blaylock (Georgia Tech) and Kearis Jackson (NFL).

Three reasons why Arkansas will beat Missouri on Friday

Arkansas and Missouri meet again with both teams trying to avoid finishing the season on a disappointing note.

Arkansas football returned to the win column after a two-week hiatus following a 42-27 upset win over No. 14 Ole Miss. This week is a much easier challenge, on paper, when the Hogs travel to Columbia to face the 5-6 Missouri Tigers.

Last week went a long way in changing the perception of what was looking like a disappointing season, but there’s still work to be done.

Arkansas is 0-5 all-time in Columbia and trails Missouri in the all-time series 4-9. The Battle Line “Rivalry” hasn’t been too kind to Arkansas since it became an annual matchup in 2014, as the Hogs are just 2-6 against the Tigers in that span.

The matchup has had a few good games, but for the most part it’s been an annual meeting of two programs on different trajectories. This season, the narrative surrounding this game is similar in that both teams are trying to avoid disappointment.

For Missouri, a loss would mean they would not be bowl eligible for the first time since 2019 and the first time under Eli Drinkwitz’s leadership.

For Arkansas, a loss would undo a lot of goodwill and optimism that was gained from last week’s win over Ole Miss while simultaneously limiting their list of possible bowl destinations.

Arkansas is the favorite for Friday’s game, but history is not on their side. Here’s three things, that if done well, will lead to the Hogs’ first victory at Missouri in program history.

What SEC head coaches have been saying about Auburn’s turbulent week

Here’s what SEC coaches are saying about Auburn’s hirings and firings this week:

It has certainly been a week for the Auburn Tigers and its staff.

Monday saw the school hire a new AD in Mississippi State’s [autotag]John Cohen[/autotag] and then fire its head coach, [autotag]Bryan Harsin[/autotag], mere moments after. The ensuing days have seen positional coaches fired and the team’s interim staff get shaped up for its game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday.

Quite a few coaches around the league had quite a bit to say, be it because they knew Harsin or Cohen or because their name has been floating around in Auburn’s head coaching search. Here are a few reactions to what the Tigers have been doing the past week:

Five reasons why Auburn beats Missouri on Saturday

It’s been a long week, and Auburn needs something positive in their lives. Here are five things that, if done well, will lead Auburn to a victory over Missouri.

It was only one week ago that Auburn fell to Penn State at home. But with all of the wild news that has happened since, it feels as if the game was played several months ago.

Auburn players, coaches, and fans desperately need something to go their way in a hurry. A win against Missouri at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday may not bring total happiness, but it will be a step in the right direction.

While it may seem like the sky is falling around the Plains, there are still positive aspects to Auburn’s game that should help them earn their first SEC win of the season.

What are those items? Let’s take a look below. Here are five things that need to go well in order for Auburn to take down Missouri on Saturday.

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz throws shade at ex-Florida coach Dan Mullen with all-time wild quote

What a quote!

It’s rivalry week in college football, but some coaches are still looking back at last week’s action.

The Missouri Tigers defeated Florida in overtime in Week 12, improving to 6-5 overall (3-4 SEC) and seemingly putting the final nail in the coffin of Dan Mullen’s tenure as head coach of the Gators football team. Mullen was dismissed from his duties the day following the one-point loss, ending his time in Gainesville after 3+ years.

That didn’t mean the hits stopped coming from Mizzou and their head coach Eli Drinkwitz. On a Jacksonville radio station that covers the Gators, Drinkwitz did not hold back with his opinions on Mullen and winning this year’s contest.

There was clearly some lingering bad blood. Last year’s matchup between the two squads involved near fisticuffs after several Florida players took exception to a late hit on quarterback Kyle Trask. Three players — two from UF and one from Mizzou — were ejected after the skirmish.

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Eli Drinkwitz trolls Dan Mullen after Missouri edges Florida

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz turned the tables on Florida’s Dan Mullen

As they say, turnabout is fair play.

Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz enjoyed a form of payback by taking a big dig at Florida coach Dan Mullen after his Tigers defeated the Gators, 24-23 in overtime, in an SEC game on Saturday.

Drinkwitz pulled his hoodie atop his head, pulled out a toy lightsaber that had apparently been strategically placed behind the lectern ahead of time, and told the media, “May the force be with you.”

The message was a clear shot to Mullen, the embattled Gators coach who a year ago Halloween, dressed up as the Star Wars villain Darth Vader after Florida beat Missouri 41-17, in Gainesville.

Eli Drinkwitz used a light saber to finish off Dan Mullen in Darth Vader saga

Drinkwitz couldn’t help but take a Star Wars-themed shot at Mullen after upsetting the Gators.

Things are not going well down in Gainesville. A program that once stood atop the SEC ecosystem under Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, Florida has now had four losing seasons in conference play since the latter’s departure in 2010.

The Gators wrapped up the latest such underwhelming finish on Saturday night with a 24-23 loss in overtime against Missouri that dropped them to 5-6 on the season in need of a win over Florida State in the finale to reach bowl eligibility.

Coach Dan Mullen may be on his way out after this season’s collapse, but not before Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz decided to come for blood. In his postgame press conference, the second-year coach raised his hoodie over his head, pulled out a toy lightsaber that had apparently been strategically placed behind the lectern ahead of time and told the media, “May the force be with you.”

For those unaware, this is a reference to last year’s Missouri-Florida game that was played on Halloween night. After a chippy game that featured a brawl at halftime, Mullen got in front of the camera to address the virtual press corps following his team’s 41-17 win.

Wearing a full Darth Vader costume.

It’s worth noting that, since the exact moment the above picture was taken, Florida is just 10-9 under Mullen. And receiving third-degree burns from the SEC coach who looks the most like a guy they just pulled off the street and threw a headset on may prove to be the breaking point for the fourth-year coach.

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Eli Drinkwitz says Bryan Harsin has “a tremendous plan”

The Missouri coach talked about his relationship with Harsin during SEC media days.

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz took the podium on Thursday to kick off day four of SEC media days and was asked a couple of questions about his relationship with new Auburn coach Bryan Harsin.

Here is what Drinkwitz had to say.

I owe a tremendous amount of respect and debt to Coach Harsin and the opportunities he gave me, and really a lot of the things we do as a program are a direct result of the things that I learned from him and the way he implemented them at Arkansas State and Boise State.

He’s got a tremendous plan. The thing about Coach Harsin is he always has a plan for everything he does. You’re going to see that unfold at Auburn. I’m not up here to put undue expectations on anybody else. I think the Auburn fan base does that well enough by themselves. So I’ve got a job to do right here, and that’s to coach and represent the University of Missouri. All the best to Bryan and his family.

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Ultimate SEC Boxing Showdown! Pitting the 14 football coaches in winner-take-all fan vote

Putting all 14 SEC head football coaches against each other in a seeded boxing tournament. Who do you think will win each matchup? GO VOTE!

We are a month past the last college football game and a little more than a month until Spring Football begins so this is one of the deadest times for college football.

Yet it doesn’t have to be that way, right? That’s why I am introducing you to the ULTIMATE SEC SHOWDOWN! Yes, we are pitting the 14 head coaches against each other to see who is the biggest and baddest man we have in our great conference right now.

Seeding? Oh we have already done you the favor of putting the 14 coaches, in our opinion, in order with LSU’s Ed Orgeron being the top seed, new Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel being our lowest seed and Lane Kiffin as our dark horse.

It is the first round of the showdown and we have listed the age, height along with the pros and cons of each coach. It is now your turn to have fun as you get to vote for the ultimate champion of the SEC!

Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!