Missouri football quarterbacks rep play-action passes in practice
Missouri football quarterbacks rep play-action passes in practice
Somewhere between discussing back-to-school dad duties and revealing that he was scouting Oklahoma while at a Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert last year, Missouri football head coach Eli Drinkwitz had time to talk about fall camp during his Thursday appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show.
The Mizzou coach addressed both the Tigers’ starting quarterback and offensive line competitions.
What he said about the QBs tracked with essentially everything he has said to date in preseason camp. Drinkwitz teased that there had been some separation in the race between Sam Horn and Beau Pribula at some point in the past week, but indicated that the two are back on level footing now. That’s not a surprise.
What he said about the O-line, however, is a different story.
“I think (quarterback is) the biggest question mark on our team,” Drinkwitz told Finebaum. “I think we’ve solidified exactly what we’re doing at the O-line position.”
That’s … news.
Mizzou went through some major changes along its offensive line Monday, steering away from the two players — Jayven Richardson and Johnny Williams IV — who had been competing for the starting left tackle job all spring and fall.
In a surprising late switch, Missouri shifted preseason All-American guard Cayden Green to left tackle, which meant right guard Dominick Giudice had to switch sides to left guard, and backup Curtis Peagler moved into a starting role at right guard.
That, from left to right, made the line as follows: LT: Green; LG: Giudice; C: Connor Tollison; RG: Peagler; RT: Keagan Trost. That means only one player from last season’s offensive line (Tollison) would remain in the same position this season.
Of course, “solidified” doesn’t necessarily mean the Tigers settled on their most recent look, which the Tribune observed in three straight practices between Monday and Wednesday. Missouri could very well have returned to the five starters they were using before the changes.
Time will tell where MU landed. Mizzou has a closed practice Saturday in St. Charles, Missouri, and the Tigers’ next practice with an open portion for attending media is Monday. Drinkwitz will meet with reporters on Saturday.
Now, back to the quarterbacks
“Sam Horn and Beau, both of them have been very good in fall camp,” Drinkwitz told Finebaum. “Both of them have really managed the situation really well. Hasn’t been a ton of separation. I felt like maybe last week there was some, and the other guy just really came in and clawed his way back into it. So, still a little bit left to kind of figure out there.”
Who was it that briefly took the lead? Drinkwitz didn’t expand, and Finebaum didn’t ask a follow-up question.
Either way, that’s also a somewhat new development. At every possible juncture to date in camp, with the most recent quote coming Aug. 9 after a team scrimmage, Drinkwitz has said there has been no separation.
While that might still be the case, it looks like one of the competitors briefly emerged as a frontrunner.
Drinkwitz again reiterated that he isn’t against sending both Pribula and Horn out for the Tigers’ season-opener, which was just two weeks away when the head coach appeared on the talk show.
Mizzou faces Central Arkansas to open the 2025 campaign on Thursday, Aug. 28, in Columbia.
“If we have to go into the first game and let it play out organically on the field, we did that two years ago with Brady Cook and Sam (Horn) both playing against South Dakota, and it worked out pretty well for us for that season,” Drinkwitz said. “So I’m not against having that happen. We still have a couple more practices here in fall camp that might determine it, so I’m not putting any timelines on it. We’ll just see how it plays out.”
Drinkwitz said he is pleased with the two players’ ability to “stay away from the negatives,” which tracks with what has been on display through the Tigers’ observable portions of practice to date and the QBs’ performances in the team’s closed-doors scrimmage, which the Tribune was able to attend.
There is still no timetable for a decision.
“Ideally, I would already know, you know, ideally,” Drinkwitz said. “But I think the thing with a quarterback decision is you don’t want to rush it. If you’re not sure, let it play out, and that’s just kind of what we’re doing. I’m not going to rush the decision.”
