Missouri’s linebacker room came into the season with a few more questions than answers after the Tigers lost key pieces from the best defense of the Eli Drinkwitz era, including Josiah Trotter and Triston Newton. Two games in, that uncertainty is fading fast.
Nicholas Rodriguez and Robert Woodyard Jr. have wasted no time taking charge of the middle of the defense. Through the first two games, they are Mizzou’s top tacklers, and both were central in the Tigers’ Border War win over Kansas. The duo combined for 14 tackles, but Woodyard’s sequence of plays was the kind that can flip a game in a hurry.
On one defensive snap, Woodyard forced and recovered a fumble. On the very next play, he intercepted quarterback Isaiah Marshall. Mizzou turned both takeaways into touchdowns in a 28-second stretch, turning a 14-14 game into control of the night.
“Little league,” Woodyard said when asked about the last time he recorded takeaways on consecutive snaps.
Woodyard’s role has grown well beyond piling up stops. He has also stepped into the “green dot” job, handling the defensive communication and helping organize the unit on the field.
“I really just earned the trust of my teammates and my coaches by being able to learn the defense,” Woodyard said. “Being in position to be the green dot means a lot coming in from a new school and taking on that role of bench management.”
That sort of communication is going to matter again this week, because Troy brings an offense with experience and some variety. Quarterback Goose Crowder is expected to make his 12th career start, and Drinkwitz said new offensive coordinator Adam Austin has mixed in wide-split RPOs and slow-mesh concepts.
Drinkwitz pointed back to his time at NC State, when the Wolfpack faced Wake Forest and had trouble handling a similar scheme.
The Trojans also have a steady one-two punch in the backfield. Jaheim Merriweather and Gavin Griffin have combined for 286 yards and three touchdowns on 45 carries, making them the main running threat Mizzou has to slow down.
Missouri has already shown plenty of disruption. The Tigers are tied for eighth nationally in opponent turnover margin per game, have intercepted 6.45% of opponents’ pass attempts, and have held opponents to a 20% third-down conversion rate.
Still, Drinkwitz pointed to one area that needs to tighten up: the red zone.
“We haven’t forced a third down in the red zone yet defensively (this season), which is not good,” Drinkwitz said.
Opponents have only gotten there three times, but they’ve scored on every trip.
Against Kansas, Missouri’s defense bothered the mobile Marshall and held the Jayhawks to 81 rushing yards. Against Troy, the challenge is taking that same kind of disruption and turning it into stops once the field shrinks.
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