Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz didn’t seem very confident when asked about starting quarterback Connor Bazelak.

Or, at the very least, he seems to want to dampen some of the media praise Bazelak has gotten this offseason.

When asked about his starting QB on Tuesday during his press conference, Drinkwitz said Bazelak has a lot to prove heading into 2021:

“I mean, I’m confident he’ll catch the snap. But we’ll find out, ” Drinkwitz said, according to Rivals.com. “He didn’t have to play in front of a lot of fans last year, so he’s got a whole new set of issues. Last year, not a lot of pressure coming in. Now he’s had a whole offseason of everyone telling him how good he is and patting him on the back, so we’ll find out how much Kool-Aid he drank and how much focus he has.

“I think he’s got the right stuff. I believe we’ve prepared him the right way. But praise and blame are all the same, you can’t get caught up in it either way, so that’s what we’ll be testing ourselves with on Saturday.”

Bazelak didn’t play in front of many fans last season because of COVID-19, which caused most schools to limit the number of fans allowed to attend games.

Those and other fans had better get used to seeing Bazelak. He has played during games in the last 2 seasons but because of the NCAA’s extra rule of eligibility instituted last year, Blazelak could play until 2024. Bazelak started the last 8 games of the season for Missouri last year and was named the co-freshman of the year in the SEC.