Mizzou gunslinger Drew Lock: Big talk. Big arm. Big dreams

Drew Lock broke records as a junior. The NFL called, but he didn’t answer. Why? There’s still some unfinished business at Mizzou.

The exchange started innocently enough.

While taking questions from media members during SEC Media Days in Atlanta last month, Mizzou QB Drew Lock was asked by a Florida writer about the Gators’ subpar defense in 2017. While Lock admitted that the Gators did indeed have an off year on that side of the ball, he wasn’t willing to entertain the question beyond that.

The writer, though, pressed on. Lock cut off that train of thought, questioning why the reporter wasn’t talking about Mizzou having a great offense instead. Lock had faced many similar questions already that day and, frankly, he was tired of it.

“We scored a lot of points on a lot of defenses,” he said. “We had a good amount of touchdowns in the first half against Georgia, and that was a great defense. We ended up not finishing that game very well, but again, it’s just crazy to me (to think) that maybe we weren’t just a good football team.”

“They were struggling big time,” the reporter continued.

“Oh, I know,” Lock said. “But we were a good football team that year, too.”

The reporter tried to continue his line of questioning, but Lock had moved on, looking to the next media member for a change of subject.

That sort of defiant tone is one we haven’t seen much from Lock during his time at Missouri, but it’s clear he is tired of the disrespect the Tigers faced last season (and for his entire college career, for that matter).

Yes, he’s aware the Tigers’ seven victories last season all came against teams that finished with losing records, but you can only play the team that’s lined up across from you on any given week.

Yes, he knows that people say Mizzou’s offense took advantage of some teams that had down years, but what else was he supposed to do when he took the field every Saturday?

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“Whenever we play well, it’s because the other team didn’t play well,” the above quote from Lock reads. “It’s not because the Missouri Tigers are a good football team. When someone catches a pass, it’s because they were wide open. It wasn’t because we made a good play on the ball or it was a good throw. When Damarea (Crockett) busts a 30-yard run, or Larry (Rountree III) busts a 50-yard run, it’s not because they’re good running backs. It’s because the gaps fit wrong and the O-line got lucky.

“I think that’s the chip we have on our shoulder. People talk about our comebacks and the teams we played weren’t as good as other SEC teams. Well, they had better records than us. They were technically — in the media’s eyes, in others in college football’s eyes, in rankings’ eyes — better football teams than us. And we beat them.”

The 2018 version of Lock isn’t afraid to speak his mind, and that’s something fans and the media haven’t really seen before. However, this isn’t exactly new territory for Lock.

A trash talker through and through

Though we haven’t seen much of the defensive, outspoken Lock at Mizzou, he has always been a guy who has ruffled some feathers, even when he didn’t mean to. According to Lock, that goes back to his days playing high school basketball.

In December of 2014, soon-to-be Mizzou S Cam Hilton (then a standout athlete for Webster Groves High School in St. Louis) watched as Lock, his future roommate, received a technical foul during Lee Summit’s victory over Maplewood. He couldn’t help but laugh at Lock, who remembers the incident as a harmless misunderstanding between player and referee.

During Media Days, a smile came to Lock’s face as the star quarterback thought back to his high school days and, particularly, his first technical foul.

“I’d like to think it was a St. Louis-Kansas City thing,” Lock said. “I gave a ref a thumbs up after he told me not to do something, and I guess he took it upon himself to give me a ‘T.’ I remember it so vividly. That was one of the more confusing things that had happened to me in my basketball career.”

Lock wasn’t trying to say he was a choir boy, by any means. In fact, he quickly added, he did something much more deserving of a technical a couple of plays later. This time, though, he was spared an ejection.

“I think like two series later, I got another foul and went to go slam the ball and it slipped out of my hands and went like 30 feet in the air,” he said. “The whole crowd went crazy trying to get me another ‘T’ and I obviously … it slipped out of my hands. They didn’t ‘T’ me up for it.”

Fast-forward to last year’s Texas Bowl, where another simple gesture from Lock caused quite a stir. Fans will remember Texas coach Tom Herman mocking Lock’s touchdown celebration — a move that drew some national scorn.

Here is Texas coach, Tom Herman and QB Sam Ehlinger mocking Drew Lock's touchdown celebration from earlier in the game. Absolute trash. pic.twitter.com/slE3uDJYhS

— Missouri Sports Podcast (@MizzouSportsPod) December 28, 2017

Much like the thumbs-up gesture that earned him a technical foul back in high school, Lock isn’t sure why Herman was so upset.

“I had been doing that all year,” he said. “I got to do it almost 44 times that season, so someone just got a little butt-hurt about it, I guess.”

Lock’s head coach, Barry Odom, doesn’t say many inflammatory things, so he might not like hearing this from his star quarterback, but that’s who Lock is. He said being able to express himself is probably the thing he misses most about playing basketball.

“I think what I miss most about basketball is how face-to-face that game is,” he said. “If someone has a problem with you, they’re this close to you and there’s no pads on, no helmets. You’re just right there in their face. It’s a lot more personal, and I like doing that. I like to talk. Since I’ve gotten into college football, I’ve realized that focusing on your job is much more important than talking s—. That’s kind of gotten me away from that, but that’s probably what I miss most about basketball — just the s—heads that you can play.”

Though he’s certainly not afraid to speak his mind or express himself on the field, he said he is going to back off on the celebrations a little bit this fall. He said he’s going to make sure to give some love to his offensive linemen, who are often overlooked on a national level despite only allowing 13 sacks last season (tied for the fewest in the SEC).

“I probably won’t have any big celebrations,” he said. “I’ll probably just stick to hugging fat guys and thanking them for letting me throw the football.”

Lessons from the court

As Lock prepares for his senior season, one that could see him break many of Chase Daniel’s Mizzou records, it might seem strange that he is reliving his basketball career, but it’s clear he doesn’t think he’d be where he is today without it.

He actually learned a lot more than just “talking s—” from playing the game he loves.

Lock, who was a guard during his basketball days, credits the sport with making him a better athlete, as well as improving his vision on the field. Plus, he said, when the time comes for the 2019 NFL Combine, his basketball skills might come in handy during some of the tests NFL teams put potential draft prospects through.

“Being able to see the field and see the court are very similar things,” he said. “Obviously, the field is a little bigger. The athleticism as well, you can’t just be a stick in the mud back there in the pocket, especially when you’re playing in the SEC with guys who are running around you that are absolute freaks.

“I think (my athleticism is) what’s going to surprise people when I get to run 40s or jump or do stuff like that, people are going to be like, ‘Wow, this guy’s pretty athletic.’”

OK, that’s all well and good, but the big question is — can he dunk? Lock, who is 6-4, says he can, and adds that there is video proof out there somewhere in the depths of the internet.

“There was a dunk video that surfaced of me not too long ago,” he said. “It was from when I was in high school and was about 30 pounds lighter. I actually, swear to God, didn’t let it out. I actually had to ask the guy how he got it. He was probably a high school basketball coach.”

Before Lock puts that athleticism to the test at the NFL level, though, he’ll put it to good use on the field as he finishes up his Mizzou career — one that has the chance to be historic when all is said and done.

Backing up the talk

Yes, Lock is coming into the 2018 season with a lot of attitude, but he can also back it up. He led the entire country in touchdown passes last year (tossing 44 to edge Heisman Trophy-winning Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield’s 43) and has a very talented receiving corps returning alongside him.

“They bring a smile to my face whenever I think about them,” he said. “Emanuel (Hall) is obviously Emanuel — he’s going to run by everybody. (Johnathon Johnson) is a trusty, reliable guy in the slot. Albert (Okwuegbunam) and Kendall (Blanton) are huge, massive tight ends who I’m going to love throwing the ball to. Nate Brown, a guy who we didn’t see very much of last year, is coming back strong this year. Richaud Floyd, and we’ve got a couple of young guys — Khmari Thompson, Jalen Knox, Kam Scott — they’re going to come in and be some names you might end up hearing this summer.”

Even though Lock has the numbers of a star and plenty of talent returning at the receiver position, people still point to his completion percentage (49 percent in 2015, 54.6 percent in 2016 and 57.8 percent in 2017) as a reason that he’s not “elite.” Mayfield completed 70.5 percent of his passes in 2017 and West Virginia’s Will Grier connected on 64.4 percent of his throws, for comparison’s sake.

But, as Lock is quick to point out, the Mizzou offense under former OC Josh Heupel (who is now the head coach at UCF) wasn’t designed to rack up short completions. Lock led the country with 19 completions of 50 yards or more, compared to Mayfield’s 14 and Grier’s 12.

He said he’s not quite sure why his critics cling to completion percentage numbers to knock him. However, he knows he needs to get the ball to his receivers more often this year, and anticipates that he’ll be able to do so under new OC Derek Dooley.

“What everyone knocked me on last year was the accuracy standpoint,” he said. “That would probably be the No. 1 thing that I want to work on this year, and that will come with the style of offense we have. If you look at (last year), a majority of our throws were 45-plus, 50 yards downfield. It’s crazy that I didn’t see many people looking enough into that. It’s like, you’re either shooting at something that’s a mile away or you’re shooting at something that’s at your feet.”

Dooley’s offense should be a bit slower (much to the delight of Mizzou’s worn-out defense) and more complex, allowing Lock to throw some middle-distance routes that he hasn’t had the chance to show off in years past. However, he still holds out hope that he and Hall will get to show off their deep connection a few times this fall.

“Any time Emanuel gets to run straight and as fast as possible, I’m going to be pretty excited about that,” he said. “I’m going to do whatever I can to manipulate safeties, manipulate the defense to be able to throw that route. That’s a pretty exciting one.”

Ultimately, though, Lock knows his time at Mizzou will be judged by wins, and he wants to do everything he can to help the Tigers improve on last year’s 7-6 record when the 2018 campaign kicks off, even if that means his stats dip a little bit.

“If you look at our games, we either blew people out or lost by a lot,” he said. “We needed a way to fix that and this offense helps that a lot. It’s going to help keep the defense fresh because it’s not going to be a two-play drive where we score a touchdown or a three-play drive where we’re three-and-out. We’re going to be able to play winning football.

“As far as stats go, it’s going to be a little different, but that’s not my biggest concern. My biggest concern is winning football games. We won games last year, but it’s not enough for us to feel OK about ourselves. If this offense is going to help us (win more games), we’re all for it.”

The next step

Though Lock is focused on the 2018 season now, the time will eventually come for him to shift his sights to the NFL, where he has a good chance of being a first-round pick. And, if things shake out a certain way and he has a big year for the Tigers, there’s even a possibility that he could go No. 1 overall.

That has media members buzzing, trying to figure out which current NFL quarterback the strong-armed Tiger most resembles. During Media Days, CBS analysts Aaron Murray (the SEC’s all-time leader in touchdown passes) and Gary Danielson revealed who they think Lock is most like in today’s NFL.

“(Baltimore Ravens QB Joe) Flacco,” Murray said. “Good size, good arm, can make every throw.”

Considering Flacco has a Super Bowl ring (and a Super Bowl MVP award), that’s a comparison Lock welcomes. CBS analyst Gary Danielson, though, sees Lock as more of a Matthew Stafford-type, comparing him to the former Georgia and current Detroit Lions quarterback.

“In his skill set, he’s the closest to Matthew Stafford throwing the ball,” Danielson said. “I don’t know if he has some of the middle throws experience that Matthew’s had, and I hope he gets that.”

When informed of those comparisons, Lock smiled. He said if he can end up with the life Stafford has, he’ll be a happy guy.

“Obviously, I love the comparisons you just made,” he said. “I think Stafford is pretty cool to be compared to. He’s always had a cannon. You can look back at his Georgia days and he was a pretty good football player. He’s having a great career with the Lions, has himself a very pretty wife, very pretty kids — it’s a perfect scenario for me to be compared to Matthew Stafford.”

But when asked who he admires, Lock gave a pretty interesting answer. As a Kansas City native, perhaps he enjoys watching former Chiefs QB Alex Smith or current starter Pat Mahomes? Or, maybe he idolizes some of today’s legends, like Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, New England’s Tom Brady or New Orleans’ Drew Brees, to name just a few?

“This is something weird about me,” he started. “Obviously, I respect every NFL quarterback. I watch Stafford, I watch Tom, I watched Peyton (Manning), watch Aaron. But a big thing about me is I’ve never had, like, a favorite quarterback that I like to watch.

“My mindset was always going to be that eventually I’m going to play these guys, and I don’t want to go out onto a field and look across the way and freak out when I’m playing my favorite quarterback that I’ve watched growing up. But at the same time, I obviously respect them. If I end up on a team, I’m going to respect the heck out of (the starter) and listen to every word they have to say and end up becoming really good friends with them. But at this point in time, I don’t really have any favorites so I don’t get starstruck when I get there.”

He’ll get there soon enough, but first he needs to put the finishing touches on his Mizzou legacy. He said he never really thought about that much his first three years in Columbia, but as he prepares for his senior season, he wants to make sure he takes it all in.

“Growing older and seeing all the insides of college football and the SEC and how Missouri is looked at, it means a lot more to me now (being part of the in-state program),” he said. “I want to go out on a high note with this state and this university and this fanbase. That’s what’s really been driving me this whole summer.”

All eyes will be on Lock and the new-look Tiger offense when Mizzou kicks off its season Saturday against UT Martin. The schedule really heats up in Week 3, when the Tigers travel to Purdue.

As Lock goes, so go the Tigers. But, fortunately for him, he knows he’s surrounded by a strong offensive line, solid running back and an electric receiving corps. With guys like that sharing the field with him, why wouldn’t he be confident?

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.