By Marie Reader
Drinkwitz Named Coach of the Year; Five First-Teamers Tied For Most In League
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Seven University of Missouri football student-athletes earned Associated Press All-Southeastern Conference honors and Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz was named the league’s coach of the year, AP announced in early December.
CB Kris Abrams-Draine, WR Luther Burden III, T Javon Foster, DE Darius Robinson and RB Cody Schrader were first-team selections while G Cam’Ron Johnson and K Harrison Mevis were second-team honorees.
Mizzou’s five first-team selections matched Alabama for most in the league. Drinkwitz is the first MU football to earn an AP Conference Coach of the Year honor since Gary Pinkel in 2007 (Big 12).
The Tigers put together a spectacular regular season, going 10-2, the school’s first double-digit win season since 2014. MU went 6-2 in SEC games and won both the Mayor’s Cup over South Carolina and Battle Line Rivarly over Arkansas.
Abrams-Draine was a semifinalist for the Bednarik and Thorpe Awards and leads the SEC with 16 passes defended and 12 PBUs. His four interceptions matched a career best and he has accepted an invitation to the Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Burden emerged as one of the most electrifying players in the country, ranking among the nation’s leaders in yards after contact. He was a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff and Maxwell Awards. He averaged just under 100 yards per game (99.8) and was third in the league with 1,197 yards on 83 catches with eight touchdowns.
Foster and Johnson helped anchor an offensive line which paved the way for a 3,000-yard passer (QB Brady Cook), a 1,000-yard receiver (Burden) and 1,000-yard rusher (Schrader). The OL group is a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award and ranks third in the SEC for sacks allowed.
Mevis is the first Mizzou player to score 400+ points via kicking. He closed the regular season by connecting on 14-straight field goal attempts and made 80-percent of his kicks this season (24-of-30). A two-time SEC Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 18 and Nov. 20), he hit game winners of 61 and 30 yards to beat Kansas State and Florida, respectively. He holds the Mizzou career records for scoring (403 points), field goals made (86) and 50-yard field goals made (13). He also ranks eighth all-time in the SEC in points scored and third in career field goals (86) in the conference.
Robinson had a standout season after returning for an extra year and learning to play a new position on the edge. His 7.5 sacks rank sixth in the league while his 12.0 tackles for a loss sits eighth. He added 41 tackles, five QB hurries, a forced fumble, recovery and was a two-time SEC Player of the Week.
Schrader led the SEC in rushing, won the Burlsworth Trophy and is a finalist for the Doak Walker Award. The league’s leading rusher by more than 30 yards per game, Schrader has 1,499 yards on 247 carries, including earning the Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week honor for his 205-yard performance vs. Tennessee the weekend of Nov. 11. The nation’s second-leading rusher has 13 rushing touchdowns and has scored in nine straight games after a 217-yard outing vs. Arkansas to close the regular season.
ASSOCIATED PRESS ALL-SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE AWARDS
Coach of the Year: Eliah Drinkwitz
FIRST TEAM
• Kris Abrams-Draine, CB
• Luther Burden III, WR
• Javon Foster, T
• Darius Robinson, DE
• Cody Schrader, RB
SECOND TEAM
• Cam’Ron Johnson, G
• Harrison Mevis, K
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For all the latest information on Mizzou Athletics, please visit MUTigers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow Missouri football (@MizzouFootball) and Coach Drinkwitz (@CoachDrinkwitz) on X. You can also find the Tigers on Instagram and Facebook.
COURTESY MISSOURI ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
