Coach Barry Odom and players spoke at media day on Nov. 7 at the Mizzou Athletic Training Center.

_Odom and his players discussed last weekend’s loss to South Carolina and the team’s upcoming game against Vanderbilt._

**Odom on Saturday’s loss to South Carolina:** “There were some times it felt like we were in the game. Even late, we got it to the point where [we] had an opportunity to win it. Just didn’t play well enough down the stretch to do that.”

**Odom on linebackers against South Carolina:** “With the linebacker injuries and then Cale Garrett getting the targeting call there early, Don Barnes ran out, our equipment guy, and gave me a pair of cleats in case we got one more [player] down.”

**Odom on what is keeping the team motivated:** “Any time that you’ve invested a lot of time and effort and all the different things that go into it, any time you’ve invested something that you care deeply about, you want to be successful … there’s a lot of really great things going on within our program. We’re making progress in a lot of areas. There are some bright spots. I’m ready for that to turn into a win … I think we care enough about each other that we’ll fight and claw and scratch to go get that done.”

**Quarterback Drew Lock on playing with a younger offense and how it helps going forward:** “You never like to talk about the next season during a season, but we are pretty young on the offensive side of the ball. Nothing beats experience, and a lot of guys are getting a lot of playing time. Some people that didn’t necessarily think they would be playing are playing this year, clocking in good minutes and getting experience.”

**Lock on Vanderbilt’s defense:** “I know how we are going to attack them, and I know how me as a quarterback is going to prep for this week.”

**Defensive back John Gibson on the team’s mindset for the end of the season:** “I believe we will finish strong. I haven’t really seen signs of people just giving up on the team … I feel like we’re ready to set the tone for next year and leave the legacy for the seniors.”

_Monday also marked the one-year anniversary of [last year’s football boycott calling for Tim Wolfe’s removal as UM System President,](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2016/10/22/athletics-and-activism-looking-back-historic-footb/) and players reflected on the experience._

**Defensive lineman Ricky Hatley on last year’s boycott:** “We just wanted to help our classmates on campus showing that we care. I know we’re in our own world over here, but we [are] involved in stuff on campus with certain events.”

**Lock on the week of last season’s boycott:** “It was definitely a wild week, thinking about it now. In the moment, you’re just kind of living it, going day by day … looking back on it now, that is one crazy week. A lot of things that happened that week set paths for us to be here today with the coaching staff that we have and some of the things that have changed around here.”