Mizzou football aims to improve its tackling in SEC opener vs. Auburn

Auburn football has an excellent running back in Tank Bigsby. In fact, head coach Bryan Harsin’s Tigers have more than one, with Jordan Ingram also posing an imposing danger to defenses.

The team has mobility at the quarterback position, even with starter TJ Finley reportedly out of Saturday’s matchup with Missouri. All those threats compounded could cause problems for MU, should it not fix one of the major defensive issues from its last game, albeit a win over Abilene Christian.

Missed tackles.

According to Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz, it’s not necessarily just that the Tigers missed at times, it’s how they did it.

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“If you’re going to be a good defensive football team, the first man to the ball carrier needs to tackle and dictate leverage,” Drinkwitz said on Tuesday. “It’s one thing to miss a tackle, it’s another to overrun a tackle and now the rest of your other 10 players don’t know how to fit off you.”

In a flip-flop from the 2021 season, MU’s biggest issue so far has been its offense. Still, defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s squad has areas to work on in his first season.

Baker emphasized on Tuesday that he was getting back to basics in practice this week to help shore up the Tigers’ tackling before the start of SEC play.

“A lot of the breakdowns have not been mental, they’ve been fundamental, technical,” Baker said. “And that comes back to me as a coach and that’s something this week, it’s come down to our preparation, how we prepare, and it starts in practice.”

Baker went on to specify how the Tigers planned to remedy the shoddy tackling technique during practice.

“You’ve just got to coach it,” Baker said. “Again, I think we’re probably all guilty as coaches of sometimes saying, ‘Are they were they need to be?' Instead of, ‘Are they taking the proper footwork? Are they bent? Are they taking proper tackle angles?’ It just comes down to a focus from us as a coaching staff.”

Safety and team captain Martez Manuel agreed with Baker about the need to emphasize tackling during practice. Manuel said the team needed to commit to more tackling and better technique during practice if it hoped to stop missing plays during games.

Manuel said he even wanted to see players be more intentional in drills that don’t include live tackling.

“Having good leverage, having your hips down and tagging off at the right position like you would make a tackle,” Manuel said. “Just stuff like that pays dividends.”

Missouri went against an upper-tier running back earlier in the season. In the Week 2 loss against Kansas State, the Tigers gave up 145 yards and two touchdowns to Deuce Vaughn.

After that game, a 40-12 disaster for Missouri, the Tiger defense will look to put the lessons into action against Bigsby and Auburn.

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“Tank Bigsby is a very outstanding running back,” Missouri defensive tackle Jayden Jernigan said. “He’s just able to move, his vision is very clear, and when he sees the gap he hits it and goes. Much like our last opponent, against K-State, he’s able to hit the gaps and when he hits the gaps and when he hits the gaps he goes. Our job is just to contain him. Stop him. Do what we need to do.”

Jernigan also emphasized the need to get off to a better start against Auburn than MU did against Abilene Christian.

“Our minds really weren’t focused on ourselves just completing the mission,” Jernigan said. “We were really overlooking who we were playing, so I feel like this week, when we prepare ourselves better, there’ll be a better outcome.”

Missouri’s game at Auburn is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football: SEC game with Auburn requires better defense