What will Missouri's offense look like after a pandemic-shortened offseason?

With an inaugural season already brimming with uncertainty, Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz hasn’t even had a full offseason to establish his new offense.

Drinkwitz and his team only had three practices before the coronavirus pandemic put the offseason on a three-month pause until voluntary workouts on June 8. That lack of prep time brings a challenge for implementing Drinkwitz’s offense and could have a large effect on how it looks next season.

Will Missouri have enough time to properly implement a new offensive philosophy, or will it have to call an audible due to limited practice time?

“That is a question that keeps me up at night,” Drinkwitz said Wednesday.

Drinkwitz would prefer to run a pass-heavy offense, which requires timing and chemistry between a group of quarterbacks and receivers who will certainly have less experience together.

One of Missouri’s top pass-catching threats, Virginia Tech transfer Damon Hazelton, only has those three spring practices under his belt and still hasn’t been assigned a number by the team.

“The pass game involves timing and execution,” Drinkwitz said. “Football by nature is timing and execution, and do we have time to put together a product that’s going to be successful in a limited number of 25 practices for fall camp? I don’t know.”

Another thing in Missouri’s way is that Kelly Bryant’s replacement is still unknown. Spring camp would have given Drinkwitz time to evaluate TCU transfer Shawn Robinson, Connor Bazelak and Missouri’s other quarterbacks, all of whom are battling for the starting job.

“That to me is probably the biggest question mark on our football team right now, and (there are) not a lot of answers for you on June 17 ... (I) won’t have any until we get our hands on them and do things which hopefully starts August 6, being able to do some live stuff where I can see them actually compete for the job,” Drinkwitz said.

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Bazelak has been recovering from an ACL injury suffered last season and Drinkwitz said he is practicing at “full speed,” but he hasn’t been able to watch Bazelak. Although, Drinkwitz has hardly seen any Missouri signal-caller.

“Shawn, I thought in his three practices, did fine,” Drinkwitz said. “Taylor Powell, in three practices, did fine. Brady Cook looked like a kid who should have been going to graduation, which is absolutely normal and expected, and Jack (Samsel) was learning the offense too.”

Drinkwitz pointed at an increased volume in the quarterback run game, which would benefit the more mobile Robinson. Drinkwitz said receiver Jalen Knox or ex-quarterback Micah Wilson could even be used as a wildcat quarterback to give Missouri the advantage of extra options in the run game.

That could also mean a heavier workload for Missouri’s two backs, Larry Rountree and Tyler Badie. Badie excelled in the short pass game and was Missouri’s second-leading receiver, while Rountree had a team-high nine rushing touchdowns and 829 yards on the ground.

Drinkwitz has had success with running backs in the past with five 1,000 yard rushers in the past five seasons.

“I know the importance of the (running back) position and what it means and how it balances,” Drinkwitz said. “Especially for a new quarterback that, if he doesn’t feel like he has to be 100% right every play, he can just hand it off to the tailback and he can get you yards.”

The Badie-Rountree duo provides quite the benefit for this offense, as it’s clear Badie is a strength in the passing game, and Rountree is someone who can tacke a handoff, make space between the tackles, and be a threat downhill.

“(Rountree) along with Tyler Badie, I’m really excited about both of those guys,” Drinkwitz said. “They have got to be a big combination for us offensively in order to score points.”