Heading into his first game as Mizzou’s coach, Drinkwitz thought he came up with a good plan to slow down Alabama’s offense — keep the ball out of Jaylen Waddle’s hands and force DeVonta Smith to beat them.
“So, I was like, ‘Hey look guys, Jalen Waddle is what makes them go, alright? So we got to double Jalen, and let DeVonta Smith beat us,’ “Drinkwitz continued. ‘Okay? He’s kind of a nice piece out there, but man, we got to take Jaylen Waddle away.’
“Let me just tell you we were ineffective at doing both of those. But at the end of the year, I’m sitting there watching DeVonta Smith win the Heisman Trophy thinking, you know in my mind, we were gonna force the ball to that guy. That’s how much I thought of Jalen Waddle, and both of them were tremendous players. So that’s the outstanding defensive contribution I had for the season.”
Waddle still put up 134 and 2 TDs in that game. Smith had 89 yards.
Just shows how much defensive coordinators feared Waddle before he got hurt. He was so dangerous he got a team to ignore a WR as good as Smith, and they still couldn't stop him.
After using a top 5 pick on an injured QB and the wacky trades we made at pick #3, Grier has really put his reputation in the hands of Tua and Waddle. Praying they work out.