Eli Drinkwitz addressed a pair of popular topics during his media session on Tuesday in Destin, Florida at the SEC meetings, and revealed where he stood.

Drinkwitz says college players, through name, image and likeness, are making more money than his brother-in-law, who is a pediatrician: “He saves lives.”

Drinkwitz also revealed that he favors a 9-game schedule, and he wants more permanent opponents and to preserve rivalries, which he calls the “basis of the SEC.” That position means Missouri is the only program in the Tigers in the bottom half of SEC revenue to publicly support 9 games.

Drinkwitz added that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said that the SEC would be the only Power 5 conference with an 8-game schedule, and that’s not a good look for the league.

At the start of his media session, Drinkwitz noted how he missed Mike Leach, and how he would sit next to Leach at meetings. But then his final message sounded a lot like something Leach would say.

“I’m a history teacher by trade,” Drinkwitz said. “And every time I come to one of these meetings I’m blown away that the 13 colonies actually formed a union. But we can’t agree on an 8 or 9-game schedule.”

H/T Seth Emerson and David Ubben.