Can Missouri repeat its 11-2 that included a rout of Tennessee and a win over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl?

“It depends on the quarterback. The quarterback made it go. Brady Cook made it go,” one coach said. “They put a lot of pressure on defenses because of him. If he rolls the same way, they can do the same thing. They don’t have the same talent roster of Alabama, Georgia, A&M or Texas. They don’t have that. But they can still be very good.”

Cook isn’t the only key cog. Receiver Luther Burden is one of the nation’s best.

“Luther Burden is a big-time talent,” one SEC coach said. “He’s projected as a first-round draft pick. He can hurt you with a reverse or a flanker screen or a midrange pass or a deep ball. He was a key recruit three years ago and he was a big factor in helping Missouri win a Cotton Bowl in Drinkwitz’s third season.”

The Tigers will be without one key offensive weapon, Cody Shrader, who rushed for a school-record 1,627 yards last season.

“They’ll miss Cody Shrader a lot,” a coach said. “The biggest thing was, he was tough and relentless. He played with a lot of confidence.”

One coach said Missouri will also miss defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who left for LSU.

“That will hurt,” a coach said. “That guy did a tremendous job with Missouri’s defense.”

One coach praised Drinkwitz for doing a “phenomenal job” last year and engendering a positive “culture.” He added: “He’s a very sharp, innovative football coach.”

Can he keep winning at a high level?

“No,’’ the coach said. “It’s a hard location. The talent in Missouri is similar to the talent in Tennessee – you’ve got to go to other places to get players.”

TEXAS A&M

Based on his contract, Jimbo Fisher failed miserably at Texas A&M. Now the Aggies are paying Fisher about $75 million to go away. His best season was the 2020 Covid year (9-1 v. SEC competition).

The Aggies start fresh with Mike Elko, who they hired from Duke.

“Mike Elko is calm and he can bring things together,” said one SEC coach. “He can do more with less (like at Duke) but he’s got more now. I do think Elko will do a good job.”

Will Ekko have more success than Fisher?

“He better!” the coach said.

What was Fisher’s downfall?

“When you hit the portal or sign guys to NIL deals, you better be careful,” one coach said. “It can disrupt the culture on your team. That’s what happened in 2022. And when you bring guys in through the portal or sign them to NIL deals out of high school, you better be careful. Those guys can quit on you.’’

Another coach said Fisher’s undoing was turnover at the quarterback position.

One coach sees the Aggies much improved over last year’s 7-6 team.

“I think they’ll be good,” the coach said. “I think (quarterback) Connor Weigman is the key, I do. The SEC is a lot like the NFL, you’ve got to have a quarterback. And when Weigman got hurt last year, it really impacted A&M.

“They’re defense is solid. They’ve recruited well, they’ve got talent there.”

OKLAHOMA

Brent Venables bounced back from a 6-7 season to win 10 games last year.

How will the Sooners do in Year One in the SEC?

“It’s Oklahoma, they’re gonna be fine in the SEC,” one coach said. “Are they going to be as dominate as they were in the old Big 8 or Big 12? That’s hard.”

One coach said Venables “is a very good football coach,” but replacing Dillon Gabriel will be difficult. Gabriel bolted for Oregon.

“NIL probably had a lot to do with it, one coach said, “and he knew his offensive coordinator (Jeff Lebby) was leaving. They were together back at Central Florida.”

One coach said Oklahoma’s biggest adjustment to the SEC will be at the line of scrimmage.

“They’re Big 12 built,” a coach said. “Not to say they’re not good players, but they’re Big 12 built and they’re not like the SEC. In the SEC you have two or three special guys on the offensive and defensive line, whereas in the Big 12 play, you might have one on offense and one on defense.”

Oklahoma has long established a recruiting base in Texas, a border state.

“They’ve always made a living in Texas,” a coach said, “and they might do even better as a member of the SEC.”

AUBURN

Coach Hugh Freeze is known for producing prolific offenses. But that won’t happen at Auburn until the Tigers get a better quarterback, one SEC coach said.

“Peyton Thorne was a bad player at Michigan State,” the coach said. “Why take him? Is that the best quarterback they can get? Peyton Thorne ain’t going to lead you to the Promise Land. He’s an average player. You need a dynamic guy like Cam Newton to run your offense, or one of those guys Auburn had in the past (like Nick Marshall).”

One coach doesn’t like Auburn’s personnel after watching the Tigers loss 31-13 to Maryland in the Music City Bowl.

“It was the least talented Auburn team I’ve seen in 50 years,” the coach said. “They were awful. They lost a lot of kids before the game, a lot opted out of the game. But they were completely disheveled.”

Despite a mediocre season, Auburn had a chance to upset hated rival Alabama, leading with seconds left before the Tide completed an improbable touchdown pass on fourth down.

“You’re Auburn in a down year,” a coach said. “Alabama is a College Football Playoff team. You’ve got them beat. It’s fourth-and-31 and you lose. That should never happen. It’s got to be the worst play in college football, except maybe Cal scoring against Stanford with the band on the field.

“The best thing Auburn did was get rid of (defensive coordinator) Ron Roberts. The worst thing was hiring Roberts. He obviously didn’t understand you can’t do that stuff at Auburn.”

Another coach said: “The only good news for Auburn: Nick Saban is not at Alabama.”

KENTUCKY

Kentucky had two 10-win seasons in four years but dropped to 7-6 last year.

Still, coach Mark Stoops body of work at a perceived basketball school has been impressive.

“Mark Stoops does as good a job with what he has as anybody in SEC,” one SEC coach said. “Mark is a football coach. He finds a way to make it work. He’s always recruited good and developed better than most people in the SEC. I think he does as good a job as anybody in the country with what he’s got. And Kentucky football is a hard job.”

Why is Kentucky a hard job?

“People don’t wake up in the morning dreaming of going to Kentucky for football,” the coach said. “They do for basketball.”

Kentucky’s offense has struggled recently partly due to a coaching change Stoops made, a coach said.

“The best offense Stoops had was when he had Eddie Gran as offensive coordinator,” a coach said. “Mark brought him back as a consultant to help him. Eddie Gran always fabricated a way to move the football. They had Benny Snell as a keystone piece. Then they won some games with a receiver (Lynn Bowden) playing quarterback.

“They don’t have household names at skill positions. They haven’t had marquee players on offense for whatever reason.”

Stoops said if he doesn’t have the same resources (NIL money) as the better teams in the SEC, he will have trouble competing.

“He’s right,” said one coach.