Here's why Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz called his O-Line the 'most improved unit'

Center snare or daycare, Mizzou football right tackle Armand Membou doesn’t care who you are.

If you’re lined up against the sophomore and the rest of Mizzou offensive line this year, you’re fair game.

“I just want to see us dominate,” Membou said Friday. “We have that mentality, like, it doesn’t (matter) if you play an elementary school, it doesn’t matter if you play the band — it doesn’t matter, everyone's gonna get it."

Marching Mizzou and Columbia’s elementary schools need not worry — Mizzou’s first opponent of the season is set, with South Dakota set to visit Memorial Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff Thursday that will air on SEC Network.

Leading into that game, there’s a renewed sense of confidence surrounding the offensive line this season in Columbia.

MU coach Eli Drinkwitz said the line is about as deep as it has been when training camp wrapped up Saturday, Aug. 19. He then doubled down during his Friday press conference.

“I think I can say this without reservation,” Drinkwitz said, “that the offensive line has been the most improved unit in our football program.”

“All these guys that are just working to not let each other down,” Drinkwitz added. “And it's just a different sense that they've had than I think maybe they've had before. And, you know, that's a tribute to Coach (Brandon) Jones, but it's a tribute to the leadership with that group too, to say, ‘hey, we hear the noise, and we'll go prove it.’”

What noise would that be?

Well, Missouri’s O-Line didn’t have the greatest turn last season.

Injuries left them without their starting right tackle before the season began, and more players caught the injury bug as the season progressed. A trip to Memorial Stadium wasn’t complete without a groan-inducing “false start” or “holding” call ringing around the ground, with 38 penalties pinned to the line over the season. The Tigers allowed 101 tackles for loss — not the category in which you want to lead the Power Five.

The Tigers then lost offensive line coach Marcus Johnson to Purdue in the spring, before quickly turning to former Houston O-Line coach Brandon Jones to fill the void.

That appears, at the very least, to have made way for a fresh start and offered a reason to be optimistic about the line’s future.

“I think what Coach (Bradon) Jones has done has been remarkable,” Drinkwitz said. “His ability to connect with our players, have those guys playing for each other in a way that I haven’t seen since my first year here has been tremendous.”

Also of help: Nabbing a pair of experienced players from the transfer portal in Cougars right guard Cam’Ron Johnson and Eastern Michigan play-anywhere graduate student Marcellus Johnson.

And another: Convincing starting left tackle Javon Foster and left guard Xavier Delgado — the line’s “OGs,” as Membou called them — to return for their sixth year of college football.

Drinkwitz has stressed the need for depth at the position. From left tackle to right tackle, practice reps have Foster, Delgado, Tollison, Cam’Ron Johnson and Membou making up the starting five. Beyond that, Marcellus Johnson has played both sides at both guard and tackle. Drinkwitz said he was looking for a seventh and eighth man to step up in order to keep legs fresh as the season plows forward.

The coach has repeatedly called for improved blocking to help reestablish Missouri's run game, which took a significant dip last season. He wants some time for quarterbacks to take a shot downfield on first down, and at the very least not to have his QB get run down “multiple times a game.”

That wasn’t the case last year.

But this year’s line is keen to put 2022 to bed.

“Especially last year, you know, people don't really think highly of us,” Membou said. “We definitely have a lot to prove, so we're gonna come for it this year.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here's why Eli Drinkwitz called offensive line the 'most improved unit'