Eli Drinkwitz talks about transfer portal, how it ties into his coaching and recruiting philosophy

Eli Drinkwitz is heading into his 3rd season at the helm of the Missouri football program. His latest recruiting class was ranked 14th in the country, the highest ranking in program history and a class headlined by 5-star wide receiver Luther Burden, the nation’s No. 3 player regardless of position.

That said, college football is changing dramatically due to the transfer portal and several key names opting to switch schools. Of course, the biggest one was Caleb Williams, who followed Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma to USC.

“I have a philosophy of what we’re trying to do, which is we’re always going to build our program based on high school players and player development, just because that’s who I am as a former high school football coach,” Drinkwitz said on “SEC This Morning” when asked about his thoughts on the portal. “The reason I got into coaching is because I love interacting with young men, and coaching football, and developing players, and going out to practice, and seeing improvement. So that’s where we’re going to always start.”

That said, it doesn’t mean Drinkwitz is averse to using it at all. In fact, the Tigers saw a key addition to their linebacker corps in the form of former Florida player Ty’Ron Hopper.

“I think right now it’s going to be 18 to 20 every year from the high school, and then the rest is from the portal. And then, combine that with COVID, and your own players having the ability to leave, you’re going to have to always be able to fix holes in your roster,” he explained. “And that’s what we’ll use a lot of the portal for.”

In this day and age of college football, how do you balance the transfer portal with recruiting high school prospects?@MizzouFootball head coach Eli Drinkwitz joined SEC This Morning to discuss his personal philosophy.@CoachDrinkwitz | #Zou22 x #MIZ ?? pic.twitter.com/ZziOI13vKw

— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) February 2, 2022

Sydney Hunte

Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.