Missouri Tigers College Football Media Day Quote, 07/18/2022

On how he keeps a good mindset and focus on the team goals after poor performances:

I feel like the best way I can go about keeping that mindset is to remember that nothing else matters besides the present. Last year doesn’t matter. Nobody cares anymore. Next year doesn’t matter. This year, I’m just trying to keep the faith alive and preach that faith to our team. I don’t really need to preach it because we all believe it. We know that our time is coming. We just have to keep chopping wood and carrying water until it’s here.

On how he thinks NIL has changed the game of college football:

It has definitely changed the game. I won’t say for better or for worse, but it’s a money game now. That’s the best way to put it. Whoever has the most money is going to get the best players sadly. You all may not know, but I’m from Columbia (Missouri). I went to high school and middle school there. So, it used to be about what team meant something to you. Columbia and the Tigers obviously meant something to me being from there. I feel like now it’s more about what team is going to give you the best NIL contract. Hopefully that doesn’t make the game lose its integrity and make college football lose what’s special about it, but only time will tell.

On how he adjusts to various coach changes while still preparing for the season:

I have had three defensive coordinators in four years, which can be very frustrating because right when you feel like you’ve got it, they’re gone. I feel like Coach Drink [Eliah Drinkwitz] did a great job this year by letting us be a part of the hiring process and letting them know what we were looking for. If you look at our last five games compared to our first five games of last season, we look like a completely different defense. One thing that we harped on was trying to keep something similar, and I think that Coach [Blake] Baker has done a good job about that. He’s added his own things but still has stuff that is kind of similar so it’s easier for us to pick up and so we can play fast. For me personally, I look at it as an opportunity. There’s only so many defenses in the world, so hopefully one day when I’m playing at the next level, having three different defensive coordinators will play to my favor because one of them will run something similar to what I’ve had and I can refer back to that year to help me learn the playbook faster.