ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Transcript

Eli ±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýHello, all! Happy fall camp. The Tigers are practice and extending their coaches at a fast and furious pace. Our coverage is kicking into gear as all that happens. Exciting times here in Columbia, Mo. Now, for your questions!

³¢´Ç²Ô²µ³Ù¾±³¾±ðµþ±ô³Ü±ð²õ¹ó²¹²Ô:ÌýHello Eli - I always appreciate your excellent work on the Mizzou beat - and I’m also a fan of your work on KTRS - The Big 550! What if…. Sam Horn lights it up as QB1 this season - my understanding is he still has one more year of eligibility “afterâ€� this season. Does his baseball contract with the LA Dodgers include an escape clause where he could pay his baseball signing bonus back - and play another year of Mizzou football next season? Thank You

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThanks, and I'm glad you made the KTRS mention — this is something Brendan and I talked a little bit about on the program yesterday. I'd be really, really fascinated to see Sam Horn's contract with the Dodgers and learn how it might be different from non-football-playing prospects' deals.

You're right that he has one more year of football eligibility remaining beyond this one. (Not your question, but his baseball eligibility is gone now that he's signed with an MLB team.) Horn playing football in 2026 would be fine by NCAA rules. But would the Dodgers be OK with that? Would Mizzou? 

This shouldn't really come as a surprise anymore, but when I was chatting with assistants at the start of fall camp and asking about their summers, they rightly pointed out that they don't really get summers. Maybe three weeks somewhere in there, but spring ball happens in February and March, there are OTAs in June, camp starts in July and the season runs August-December. Players are still around in between those times, too. It's a year-round sport, which I bring up to say Mizzou might not be happy with a quarterback who's not around year-round. Horn probably missed as much football time as he conceivably could to pitch a bit for the baseball team late this spring.

So to me, without knowing his conversations with Mizzou or the Dodgers, this feels like the football finale. Tough to imagine the Dodgers being OK with delaying this another year, tough to imagine MU working with a pitching prospect schedule. Technically, him playing in '26 is possible, but that's how I see it.

¶Ù°ä³Ò:ÌýEli: We all know that the Cook/Horn QB "competition" was a total farce and the Cook was Eli's guy all along. I'm not sure whey he went through the pretense but he did. We all assumed that Pribula would be the guy given what was likely spent to get him to Columbia, but Eli has, again, presented this as a legit competition. It feels more legit, this time, primarily since Pribula doesn't have all that much experience, but it still feels like Eli and Kirby like the mobility factor as part of the gameplan. Personally, I prefer the guy that can push the ball downfield with accuracy, whoever it is. What is your sense this time around?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýHere's the thing with '23... Drinkwitz would've played the QB who gave the program the best chance to win, I think, regardless of who that was. It just was quite evident that Horn wasn't ready and Jake Garcia wasn't that talented and Cook was fairly far ahead of both. So yeah, didn't wind up being all that much of a competition.

This one feels different. I'd say more legit, too. A couple months ago, I probably would've said it's 66.6% Pribula, 33.3% Horn. Now, I think that's more like 60-40. And I've had people who've seen more than I have tell me it's closer or even in Horn's favor. 

The reason I still lean Pribula is precisely what you mention: the mobility. It's not that Horn can't/won't run, it's just that Pribula is smooth and savvy and used to that. And I still don't have a read on where their arms stand. We know Horn throws a pretty ball, but it's hard to evaluate accuracy when we're watching routes against air. I haven't seen any issues this week with Pribula's throwing, but again we haven't seen much, period. 

There's a way you can view this quarterback competition, if it's Pribula's legs vs. Horn's arm, as a referendum on what the offensive philosophy will be. Does Moore/Drinkwitz/etc prioritize keeping a dual-threat QB in place, or do they try to roll with somebody who can take the top off the defense? I'm not sure it's really viewed like that inside the building, but that's a way we can think about it. Of course, the ideal scenario is not needing to choose between the two things.

One more note: Without me asking directly about it, Moore praised Pribula's intermediate accuracy. I'm assuming he means the 10-20 yards downfield range that most consider "intermediate." That could be a handy bread and butter for an offense...

Fly Man: Morning Eli! Hearing anymore buzz on B Ball recruiting?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThere'll be a small handful of official visits during the fall, tethered to football game weekends. The highest-profile one is Toni Bryant, who's a 6-9 power forward — and more importantly, a five-star. He's visiting during Border War weekend, which shows how much of a spectacle MU wasn't to show up. The fact that the Tigers are getting an official visit from him means his interest is serious.

´³´Ç³ó²Ô³¢:ÌýYoung Man-Has your crystal ball de-fogged to a point to provide your insight for a 2025 prediction for the season? Is success mostly tied to QB production?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'll set the line at 8.5 wins. Here's why... I put the 12 games loosely into three buckets: need to win, should win, could win.

Need to win: Central Arkansas, Louisiana, UMass, Mississippi State. 

Should win: Kansas, Texas A&M, @Arkansas, @Vanderbilt

Could win: @Oklahoma, @Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina

You could talk me into flipping A&M and South Carolina, but that's not really the point here. Taking care of all the games Missouri needs to or should win gets to eight wins. That feels like the minimum, to me, to maintain this trajectory. A good season, then, becomes doing better than that and pulling off a tough SEC road win (OU, Auburn) or beating a CFP caliber team at home (Bama, USC). 

Maybe the Tigers drop a should win but pick up a could win. But that's how I see it and why I'm setting it at 8.5.

Now, your second question is interesting. How tethered to the QB situation is this? To a significant degree, success and QB play will be correlated. Not breaking any new ground there. But honestly, whether the defense looks like one of the best in the SEC or just middle of the pack might be more of a bellwether than where the QB falls in the conference hierarchy.

´³´Ç³ó²ÔÂá:ÌýEli, let’s say that QB position competition is a draw and they both look like starters. Do you think that Drink would go into the season and eventually the SEC games with a two QB rotation? I’ve seen it work before in the past but not sure if they’d employ that in 2025.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThat's a great question and one I have too. Haven't asked Drinkwitz about the possibility yet, but I'm not sure what he'd really say about it — that's the sort of thing MU probably wouldn't want to give away before they go and do it. Part of the intrigue is that Pribula was part of that situation at Penn State, coming in to run (mostly) in lieu of Drew Allar. Maybe that's something where even if Horn wins the job, there are still some plays for Pribula. Given that the Nittany Lions made it into the CFP with that system, MU could be a little silly not to use Pribula that way even if Horn's the starter, no? 

In the event of a true 50-50 draw, I do wonder whether Pribula would get the nod because he's more likely to spend two years as the starter, whereas while Horn has two years of eligibility, there's the baseball matter explored above. 

Lots of possibilities to think about here. My boring but probably most accurate thought is that we'll have to wait and see on a lot of how it plays out during the season. 

¶Ù°ä³Ò:ÌýHas the QB battle overshadowed what could be a terrific defense? I wonder if that is getting ignored with all the lowball prognostications for Mizzou. Their D-line has tons of talent with the kind of depth that will keep fresh guys out there all game. It's another reason that I think Mizzou will confound expectations.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýProbably. The QB battle overshadows more or less everything, doesn't it? It's what I'm writing the most about and what I think y'all are the most curious about. The D-end and linebacker rooms at Mizzou are the deepest they've been in years. This is teasing a story I'll write this weekend a bit, but Brian Early, the D-ends coach, told me he's going to force it down to a rotation of four. Once you look at the talent, that seems sort of ludicrous because there are easily six who could play and hold their own — and that's after losing two to the portal. Linebacker's in a similar spot. 

That's why I said above that the defense might be more important than the QB this season. (Is that fair to weigh one position against 11? Maybe not.) If this is, say, a top-four defense in the SEC, that unlocks a whole, whole lot in potential for this team. 

³¢³Ü:ÌýRE: Horn signing with the dodgers... I've read people say this affects nothing about the QB competition, but I'm not sure how confident I'd be giving the reigns to a guy who has one foot out the door. I'm happy we have a capable backup, but it feels like that's his ceiling to me.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'll tell you the same about the competition. Only in the event of a true tie would that be a factor, I think. Drinkwitz will go with whoever gives him the best shot of winning this season. More than ever, he's (rightfully) building rosters one year at a time because there's no guarantee of who's around next year. If signing with the Dodgers affects Horn's ability, that'll show during the competition and he'll lose the job. But he's not going to be taken out of it simply because he signed. 

³¢³Ü:ÌýDo you know if that scrimmage at Lindenwood will be open to the public? Kind of doubt it, but that'd be awesome

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýIt will not be. I'll write a bit about this right before it happens, but that's more about getting the players used to what travel looks like, logistics, rules, routines, etc. Doesn't look like there'll be an open practice or scrimmage at all this preseason, unless the schedule changes.

³¢³Ü:Ìýhow do you predict the RB time share will shake out? To some degree it feels like Hardy will be a bell cow, but that's a lot to put on a young man making the transition to the SEC. You think Marquise Davis carves out a consistent role?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'll be especially interested to see how this plays out early in the season. Hardy's young, but Curtis Luper, the RBs coach, emphasized that they'll be monitoring how many hits he takes this season when refining his workload. That's the tricky balance with having a running back you want to lean on: getting him acclimated early on so he can find his form in the SEC, but trying to minimize some contact so he's still fresh-ish come November. I would imagine Jamal Roberts is RB2 given his experience, but Marquise Davis has a great shot at getting a role. Assuming he gets Kewan Lacy-esque opportunities, he'll have plenty of chances to prove himself. And Davis has about as ready of a body for SEC play as a freshman can. 

°Õ¾±²µ±ð°ù²ú´Ç³ú:ÌýIt appears the QB battle is a real competition. Has Horn's play surprised Drink and company? In other words if the coaching staff knew Horn could play at this level why spend a reported 1.5M on Pribula when a roster filler/backup QB would suffice?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThat's an interesting way of thinking about it. I suppose it has surprised them, but mostly be default. When the portal was open and they signed Pribula back in December, Horn had only just started throwing again after Tommy John. Coaches liked what they saw at the time, but there were just some inherent unknowns with that recovery process, plus a baseball season ahead for him. So while they thought he could get to an SEC starter level, they needed to bring in another option — and I suspect they wanted to have a competition anyway since that tends to bring out the best. I'm not sure whether the degree to which Horn is competing is surprising or not, but probably not a ton — this staff has believed in him and let him do the two-sport business from the get-go.

Mizzou Fan - Dallas: Is Marquis Johnson the wide receiver the real deal? Last year Brady Cook over threw or missed him completely.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýDepends a bit on what you mean by real deal, of course. He's incredibly quick, but that's been evident since 2023. The key for him is expanding his route tree. That was the case heading into '24, but just didn't seem to happen. Maybe that was the general step back taken by the offense, maybe it wasn't. He caught seven passes for 122 yards and a touchdown in the Music City Bowl, which is the best baseline we have for what his role will look like this season. That probably suggests he's ready. But what does Mizzou need him to be? Kevin Coleman Jr. and Joshua Manning will be the other two "starting" receivers. That could be an even trio or there could be a hierarchy. Getting Johnson to fill the Mookie Cooper role would probably be ideal. 

That'll do it for our chat today. Thanks for all the questions and for those of you that read this far. Same time next week!

-

-

-

-