Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz said that quarterback Sam Horn, who sustained an injury in MU’s season-opening win over Central Arkansas on Thursday, will miss “an extended period of time” while appearing on SEC This Morning with Peter Burns and Chris Doering on Friday.
“It’s still a little bit of a wait-and-see game,” Drinkwitz told SEC This Morning. “We have an MRI this morning (Friday), and then we’ll know more on what the diagnosis is and the next step toward recovery. He’ll be out (for) an extended period of time.”
There is no exact timeline for Horn’s return yet. It’s likely that those details will not become available until Drinkwitz meets with local media Tuesday.
But Drinkwitz’s comments indicate that the Tigers will be without Horn for a significant portion of the season, if not the full year.
Beau Pribula, who impressed in his MU debut against UCA, is now Mizzou’s starting quarterback without an official decision ever needing to be made.
Pribula started the game for the Tigers and led Mizzou to a touchdown on their opening offensive drive, and the Penn State transfer started the second drive of the contest, too. After completing a third-and-short pass to Kevin Coleman Jr. to move the chains, Pribula remained on the field but lined up on the outside of the formation near the right sideline and Horn, somewhat surprisingly, entered the game in the shotgun
With the ball spotted on the Tigers’ 30-yard line, a new set of downs and both QBs on the field, Horn checked in and, on his first play, took a designed run up the middle for a six-yard gain.
Horn remained on the field for about a minute, before team trainers helped him off the field and into the injury tent.
He later exited the tent and, still unable to put weight on his leg, was helped down the tunnel in the south end zone and into Mizzou’s locker room.
The quarterback out of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was later pictured on crutches and wearing a full-leg cast on his right leg. After those pictures surfaced on social media, Mizzou officially ruled him out for the contest.
After the game, Drinkwitz had no official update, but his phrasing about Horn’s status indicated concern. He said teammates like defensive Zion Young hugged Horn at halftime.
“Just devastated,” Drinkwitz said Thursday night, before an official update on the severity of Horn’s injury was available. “You know, he was voted captain because his teammates care about him. And you hurt for the young man, because last year was taken away from him for a different (reason). And now this year he’s, you know, he’s gonna have to face another injury, and don’t know how long it’ll be.
“There’s something that wears you down mentally in those things. So, can’t second guess it. You just gotta face it every day, and we’ll face it with him. … We’re all really disappointed.”
Mizzou had extended its offseason quarterback competition between Horn and Pribula into the season. Since transferring in from Penn State, Pribula has been viewed as the frontrunner to win the job, but Drinkwitz has maintained through fall camp that the two quarterbacks have not had any separation.
Since joining the Tigers as a four-star, dual-sport athlete in 2022, Horn played sparingly behind Brady Cook, appearing in four total games and throwing eight total passes.
He was involved in a QB competition that ran into Week 1 in 2023, eventually losing out to Cook. Horn had Tommy John surgery after that year and missed the full 2024 football season.
The quarterback is also a highly-touted right-handed pitcher who can touch 98 mph with his fastball. Horn was a 17th-round MLB Draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in July, and he later signed a near-$500,000 signing bonus for the franchise. He missed the full 2024 football season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
He is expected to join the Dodgers after this football season ends. Since the severity of his injury is still unclear, when he may be able to begin his professional baseball career also is unclear.
With Horn now set to miss significant time, true freshman Matt Zollers’ role just became a lot more important, as the rookie likely becomes the Tigers’ primary backup behind Pribula.
Mizzou’s only other quarterbacks on the roster are either former walk-ons or what is now known as a ‘designated student-athlete,’ which is a designation that allows a team to have more players on a team than proposed under upcoming roster limits.
MU has Tommy Lock, who is likely QB3 in Horn’s absence, and freshmen Essien Smith and Kameron Eleby on the roster.
This is very likely to be Horn’s final season with Mizzou. When the new year rolls around, he is expected to join the Dodgers at their spring training complex.
If he is unable to return to the field this season, he will likely go down as a major “what-if” in recent Missouri history. He was one of the top recruits in program history when he arrived in 2022, and his immensely talented arm never truly got a chance to shine on either the gridiron or the mound.
If he can’t return, he will have thrown just 15 innings as a Mizzou baseball player and eight passes for Drinkwitz’s team.