Moving into the 2025 season, what’s the narrative looming for Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz? First things first, the head coach has been part of a gamble, dropping $1.5 million on quarterback Beau Pribula. Drinkwitz felt confident about their roster gains. On The Paul Finebaum Show, he shared, “I’m incredibly excited about the talent we’ve acquired on this football team.”
But SEC insider Cousin Shane came up with a wake-up call. On That SEC Football Podcast, he shared, “Drinkwitz is in no jeopardy of losing his job here. But if he loses a s— ton of momentum, if he comes out here and says ‘this is the most talented team’ and then drops two of the first four games.” Already, Drinkwitz is moving through choppy waters, and on top of that, there looms a quarterback battle. But the head coach has some clarity on how he wants to proceed. Time for Pribula to keep his ears wide open.
It’s a two-man race to grab the QB1 baton in Drinkwitz’s squad. The head coach got to choose his torch-bearer between Sam Horn and Penn State transfer Pribula. Turns out that Drinkwitz has a mental map for the selection process. On August 7, he appeared for an interview with KOMU 8 Sports. He walked the fans through the criteria for a good quarterback: “I think it’s really important to see quarterbacks who can get us in the end zone. Individual stats don’t matter as much. It’s are they able to lead their offense whether they’re with one, two, or three? Are they able to lead their drives and get their team on their side of the ball into the end zone?”
Horn has multiple years of experience in the Tigers’ offense, despite seeing the field scarcely. Over the two years at Missouri, Horn came up with 54 yards and 1 touchdown. He has not completed a pass since 2023. That’s mainly because of his UCL surgery. On the contrary, Pribula racked up 571 yards and 10 touchdowns during his two-year stint at Penn State, coming off with a 66.1% completion rate. Unfortunately, his stats do not give him an edge, as Drinkwitz has made himself very clear.
The head coach continued, “And the second thing is decision-making. Consistent decision making. Football is not free from error. They’re going to make mistakes. But how limited are those mistakes? Do they make mistakes more times than not? And like I told them and I’ve said to our staff, one bad day will not decide the competition, but to me, if you have two bad days, that might be enough for the other guy to be the starting quarterback.” After all, Missouri can’t afford to repeat the 2024 mistakes.
On the other hand, the Tigers had a tough time with offensive efficiency and kicking. Plus, inconsistency plagued their defense as their running game hit rock bottom. The next question remains: When will Drinkwitz make the final call?
As Eli Drinkwitz maintains secrecy, a Missouri insider reads the room
Brady Cook was declared the starter in 2022 within a month of players reporting for fall camp. But things have changed since 2023. Drinkwitz waited until after the first game of the season to officially name the starter. So, since there has been no consistency in their timeline, we can’t really be sure about when Drinkwitz is going to reveal the name. While the head coach keeps the name a secret, Power Mizzou’s Gabe DeArmond brought out his crystal ball.
That’s where the script flipped. While Drinkwitz is believed to count on Pribula, DeArmond shared, “They do have Sam Horn, who came in with all this hype 3-4 years ago and has never seen the field. He’s battled injury, all that stuff. He’s gotten really strong reviews out of spring football. They are at least going to go with the presumption that Sam Horn has a chance to compete for this job. I think it’s Pribula’s to lose.” But again, listening to Franklin’s story about Pribula, Drinkwitz might not go for Horn.
Turns out that James Franklin was willing to go to any length to stop Beau Pribula from moving out. “The first few meetings we had it was fine. Coach Franklin was so supportive. He was like, ‘Listen, I can reach out to these coaches for you. Like any school that you’re interested in, I’ll reach out to them and I’ll tell them that like he’s a great fit for you. Like he’s thinking about transferring, but we just want to finish the playoffs first, so he’s not going to officially enter the transfer portal,” recalled the quarterback. Pribula believes in Drinkwitz. But will the coach return the favor by giving him the starting role?
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