We got to talk to all the coaches today during about an hour long session over at Faurot Field. We're going to have some more in-depth focused stories later in the week, but wanted to throw out some things of interest.
Blake Baker, DC
Baker said there was no plan in place to replace Steve Wilks. He actually talked to Wilks quite a few times upon getting the job and when Wilks left, it just happened naturally. He came here expecting to coach safeties for Wilks.
Much of what he talked about was the desire to carry over a lot of what Mizzou did last year: "At the end of the day, there’s 11 guys, there’s only so much you can do on defense. I don’t know exactly what we’ll be from a schematic standpoint. I do think as much as we can group things in so that not every guy on defense is learning a new word. It’s easier for me to adapt to a word than 100 or 50 guys learning the new word if that makes sense."
Baker stressed over and over that he wants this to be the 2022 Missouri defense, not the Blake Baker defense. He did say one of the most important things he's learned over the years is the importance of having one voice on game day. He'll be that voice, but stressed he doesn't want it to be a dictatorship. He said the chance to take a step back from being in charge last year helped him see a lot of big picture things.
Here's the most revealing thing Baker said when he was asked what he's learned in his time being a defensive coordinator: "When I was a young coordinator you probably want to be the hot name and have all these guru calls and have the perfect call. And to me what I’ve learned over these few years and you always heard all the coaches say it is fundamentals win you games. When you talk about tackling and you talk about getting off blocks and that’s something that’s really hit me between the eyes I would say in the last couple years. I don’t have to have the most exotic third down package or the best play call in this certain situation, as long as the kids can execute it and be fundamentally sound, we’ve got a lot better shot than trying to come up with the perfect play call and some exotic pressure. That’s something that really has stuck with me over the last couple years."
Yes, coaching and scheme are important. But it's about talent and guys doing what they're supposed to do more than anything else.
Baker stressed that it would be the end of fall camp before they really know what they're going to do schematically exactly. Spring is about learning the players and individual development. Most of the scheme and install and drilling down on the defense will come later.
LB coach DJ Smith
On Ty'Ron Hopper: "“First thing is speed. Being able to run, get sideline to sideline. He’s played a lot of SEC football, and it’s always good to have the veteran leadership in your room at the linebacker position that can get guys lined up and has played in some big football games. So he brings that from a veteran standpoint.”
DE coach Kevin Peoples
On what he's seen from looking at last year's line: "Obviously when you finish where you finished, run defense, obviously that’s something we need to improve on. And that’s all 11 guys. It’s not just the front, it’s not just the backers, it’s all 11 guys’ responsibility for the run. So that’s something that we definitely need to improve....I think we have a lot of things that we can build on. But obviously where we finished last season defensively is not the standard, and that’s something that we need to improve and get better at.”
DT coach Al Davis
Davis was by far the best interview on the staff that I heard. He talked about why he pushed to add a second defensive line coach: "I don’t know how everybody else lives their life. The way I live mine is I want to be the best I can all the time, and I felt like I was spread thin trying to coach four guys. At this level, with the quarterback being a runner, the defensive ends play is different. So coaching d-tackles, it’s a little bit more simplified. It’s more about the technique, the fundamentals, the consistent reps over and over and over. They need to do the same thing over and over and over. The defensive ends, everything changes for a defensive end depending on where the back is, is the quarterback mobile, is he just a pocket passer? Coaching defensive ends takes a lot of time and energy, and I was spread real thin. So me, I don’t need to be the king of the hill to shine. I’ll shine if consistently we’re the best d-line in the country. So it doesn’t matter if it’s me and six other coaches or me by myself, it’s about getting the kids exactly what they need. I think we needed more minute teaching with our defensive ends. I spent a lot of time with them. When I was the full-time dude, I had coach Link and our GA, Fabrice, working with the d-tackles exclusively. But no kid at this level, especially if we can help it, should feel like they’re not getting the minute teaching that they deserve. So coach asked, hey, how can I help us get better this offseason? I said get me some help."
Peoples was actually Davis' DL coach at Arkansas and he was thrilled that was the hire Eli Drinkwitz made.
"I don’t think I would be where I’m at if it wasn’t for coach Peoples," Davis said. "Before coach Peoples, Bobby Allen was my defensive line coach. I love him to death. I babysat his kids, who also became quarterbacks at the university of Arkansas, who I got to coach them in high school, I coached them in college, got a great relationship. But I became a different football player when I met Kevin Peoples in 2011.
“He met me late in my career, I was already a captain of the football team, and I was pretty stubborn, to be honest with you. So a lot of the bad habits that I created over the time, learning things where the system that he taught was a little bit more efficient than what I was learning from coach Allen. Not that the stuff that coach Allen was teaching me was right or wrong. It wasn’t that it was bad. It was that what coach Peoples taught was better catered to the type of player that I was. So I had more success doing what he was teaching me as opposed to what coach Allen was teaching me.”
CB Coach Al Pogue
Pogue worked with Drinkwitz under Gus Malzahn and is now back together with him. He's also from the same home town as Kris Abrams-Draine and recruited him out of high school. So he's got a little bit of familiarity here. He talked about his approach to the cornerback position:
“We always talk about we want to establish ourselves as a complete corner. And what that basically means is not only are we good at covering, but we want to be good at tackling. Whatever the team needs us to do and be, that’s what we want to be. So we’re trying to establish our identity as complete corners here at Missouri.”
Baker said so far they've been working with the groups individually but as time goes on, they'll do more as an entire secondary unit.
"I do think you have to work cohesively as an entire unit and right now we’ve just been strictly corners and strictly safeties as far as the meeting room," Baker said. "Maybe some individual drills we’ll work together, but there will come a time we’ll have to start getting together as a back end. Like I said it’s been more about individual player development. Once we get more into the scheme and how we all work together there will be times we have to get together as a back five."
Blake Baker, DC
Baker said there was no plan in place to replace Steve Wilks. He actually talked to Wilks quite a few times upon getting the job and when Wilks left, it just happened naturally. He came here expecting to coach safeties for Wilks.
Much of what he talked about was the desire to carry over a lot of what Mizzou did last year: "At the end of the day, there’s 11 guys, there’s only so much you can do on defense. I don’t know exactly what we’ll be from a schematic standpoint. I do think as much as we can group things in so that not every guy on defense is learning a new word. It’s easier for me to adapt to a word than 100 or 50 guys learning the new word if that makes sense."
Baker stressed over and over that he wants this to be the 2022 Missouri defense, not the Blake Baker defense. He did say one of the most important things he's learned over the years is the importance of having one voice on game day. He'll be that voice, but stressed he doesn't want it to be a dictatorship. He said the chance to take a step back from being in charge last year helped him see a lot of big picture things.
Here's the most revealing thing Baker said when he was asked what he's learned in his time being a defensive coordinator: "When I was a young coordinator you probably want to be the hot name and have all these guru calls and have the perfect call. And to me what I’ve learned over these few years and you always heard all the coaches say it is fundamentals win you games. When you talk about tackling and you talk about getting off blocks and that’s something that’s really hit me between the eyes I would say in the last couple years. I don’t have to have the most exotic third down package or the best play call in this certain situation, as long as the kids can execute it and be fundamentally sound, we’ve got a lot better shot than trying to come up with the perfect play call and some exotic pressure. That’s something that really has stuck with me over the last couple years."
Yes, coaching and scheme are important. But it's about talent and guys doing what they're supposed to do more than anything else.
Baker stressed that it would be the end of fall camp before they really know what they're going to do schematically exactly. Spring is about learning the players and individual development. Most of the scheme and install and drilling down on the defense will come later.
LB coach DJ Smith
On Ty'Ron Hopper: "“First thing is speed. Being able to run, get sideline to sideline. He’s played a lot of SEC football, and it’s always good to have the veteran leadership in your room at the linebacker position that can get guys lined up and has played in some big football games. So he brings that from a veteran standpoint.”
DE coach Kevin Peoples
On what he's seen from looking at last year's line: "Obviously when you finish where you finished, run defense, obviously that’s something we need to improve on. And that’s all 11 guys. It’s not just the front, it’s not just the backers, it’s all 11 guys’ responsibility for the run. So that’s something that we definitely need to improve....I think we have a lot of things that we can build on. But obviously where we finished last season defensively is not the standard, and that’s something that we need to improve and get better at.”
DT coach Al Davis
Davis was by far the best interview on the staff that I heard. He talked about why he pushed to add a second defensive line coach: "I don’t know how everybody else lives their life. The way I live mine is I want to be the best I can all the time, and I felt like I was spread thin trying to coach four guys. At this level, with the quarterback being a runner, the defensive ends play is different. So coaching d-tackles, it’s a little bit more simplified. It’s more about the technique, the fundamentals, the consistent reps over and over and over. They need to do the same thing over and over and over. The defensive ends, everything changes for a defensive end depending on where the back is, is the quarterback mobile, is he just a pocket passer? Coaching defensive ends takes a lot of time and energy, and I was spread real thin. So me, I don’t need to be the king of the hill to shine. I’ll shine if consistently we’re the best d-line in the country. So it doesn’t matter if it’s me and six other coaches or me by myself, it’s about getting the kids exactly what they need. I think we needed more minute teaching with our defensive ends. I spent a lot of time with them. When I was the full-time dude, I had coach Link and our GA, Fabrice, working with the d-tackles exclusively. But no kid at this level, especially if we can help it, should feel like they’re not getting the minute teaching that they deserve. So coach asked, hey, how can I help us get better this offseason? I said get me some help."
Peoples was actually Davis' DL coach at Arkansas and he was thrilled that was the hire Eli Drinkwitz made.
"I don’t think I would be where I’m at if it wasn’t for coach Peoples," Davis said. "Before coach Peoples, Bobby Allen was my defensive line coach. I love him to death. I babysat his kids, who also became quarterbacks at the university of Arkansas, who I got to coach them in high school, I coached them in college, got a great relationship. But I became a different football player when I met Kevin Peoples in 2011.
“He met me late in my career, I was already a captain of the football team, and I was pretty stubborn, to be honest with you. So a lot of the bad habits that I created over the time, learning things where the system that he taught was a little bit more efficient than what I was learning from coach Allen. Not that the stuff that coach Allen was teaching me was right or wrong. It wasn’t that it was bad. It was that what coach Peoples taught was better catered to the type of player that I was. So I had more success doing what he was teaching me as opposed to what coach Allen was teaching me.”
CB Coach Al Pogue
Pogue worked with Drinkwitz under Gus Malzahn and is now back together with him. He's also from the same home town as Kris Abrams-Draine and recruited him out of high school. So he's got a little bit of familiarity here. He talked about his approach to the cornerback position:
“We always talk about we want to establish ourselves as a complete corner. And what that basically means is not only are we good at covering, but we want to be good at tackling. Whatever the team needs us to do and be, that’s what we want to be. So we’re trying to establish our identity as complete corners here at Missouri.”
Baker said so far they've been working with the groups individually but as time goes on, they'll do more as an entire secondary unit.
"I do think you have to work cohesively as an entire unit and right now we’ve just been strictly corners and strictly safeties as far as the meeting room," Baker said. "Maybe some individual drills we’ll work together, but there will come a time we’ll have to start getting together as a back end. Like I said it’s been more about individual player development. Once we get more into the scheme and how we all work together there will be times we have to get together as a back five."
