COLUMBIA, Mo. — It sure doesn’t seem like Matt Zollers is the third wheel of Missouri’s quarterback competition. Or he’s not just along for the ride, anyway.
The true freshman signal-caller is the third of three contenders to be the Tigers’ next starting QB, if you even consider there to be three. Usually, Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz has described the battle as a two-man race between Sam Horn and Beau Pribula, though lately he’s injected some of his Zollers excitement into the fray.
“I don’t necessarily think Matt’s out of it just yet,” Drinkwitz said Sunday. “He’s going to have to really come in and come on in fall camp, but that’s not been unheard of.”
Call it a 2 1/2-man race then, and it’s probably fair. If Zollers outplays the more experienced quarterbacks on the roster, MU would seriously consider starting him. It’s just that the odds of a true freshman doing that are quite long.
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No one will be surprised if Zollers winds up redshirting the 2025 season. Maybe he gets into a blowout game for a series or two just to get a taste. Whether that happens will be an interesting look at how Drinkwitz and offensive coordinator Kirby Moore want to develop the program’s highest-rated quarterback recruit since Drew Lock.
As is fairly common among modern college football players, Zollers enrolled early to participate in spring practices. He looked impressive, partly because his high school career had ended just a few months earlier with his foot pointing a different direction from the rest of his leg in a grotesque ankle injury.
Avoiding ligament damage helped him hit the ground running at Missouri, where it’s been his arm that’s most eye-catching.
“Matt’s got one of the liver arms within our room,” Moore told the Post-Dispatch. “He’s made throws that are very impressive.”
While reporters only see very limited parts of the Tigers’ fall camp practices and have not seen the quarterbacks throw against defenders or more than 20 yards downfield, Zollers’ arm looks on par with those of Horn and Pribula.
That shouldn’t be a surprise, given that Zollers threw multiple 60-yard passes — that’s 60 yards through the air, not a catch-and-run situation — at the high school level.
Power is hardly a concern for the four-star prospect out of Royersford, Pennsylvania, and is part of why Drinkwitz hasn’t fully ruled Zollers out of the competition.
The reality of practices has shown the 2 1/2-contender nature of the QB battle. While Horn and Pribula have alternated days spent paired with starting center Connor Tollison, Zollers has consistently taken snaps from fellow frosh Henry Fenuku.
When Zollers is in with the offense, Moore is trying to keep things streamlined to help his adjustment to a collegiate playbook and a far more challenging defense lined up on the other side of the ball.
“The big thing with Matt is we’ve got to make sure he’s playing fast and make sure we’re not slowing him down with too many schematics,” Moore said. “Make sure motions and we’re keeping those things nice and tight so he’s able to let his talent take over and make those throws that we’ve seen him make throughout spring ball and within the June period.”
Maybe it’s shown behind closed doors, but there haven’t been obvious deer-in-headlights moments of confusion or flubs from Zollers. His form is smooth, his body language confident.
Drinkwitz attributes some of that to Zollers arriving on campus early to get spring ball under his belt. But there’s a real sense around the program that it’s Zollers’ talent that has him poised to be a key source of potential for the future of Mizzou.
“I ran into Matt and (freshman wide receiver) Donovan Olugbode at breakfast (Sunday) morning, and man, you could just tell there’s a different confidence in them, knowing what to expect in practice,” Drinkwitz said. “Any time those guys know what to expect, there’s not going to be a drill that they haven’t performed before. They know what they’re going against every day. The lights aren’t going to be too big. I think you’re going to see a big jump.”
