Comparing Mizzou's QB Competition to National Ones: The Extra Point

Many teams across the country have already named a starting quarterback for the 2025-26 season and the Tigers are one of the last ones standing.

Aug 6, 2025; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterbacks Matt Zollers (5), Beau Pribula (9) and Sam Horn (21) walk back during a drill during fall camp at Mizzou Athletic Training Complex. | Amber Winkler/MissouriOnSI

Missouri On SI football reporter Michael Stamps takes a look at the Missouri football quarterback competition through the lens of other ones going on around the country.

Welcome to Missouri Tigers On SI's "Extra Point," a video series featuring the site's Missouri beat writers. Multiple times a week, the writers provide analysis on a topic concerning the Tigers or the landscape of college sports.

It's no secret that the Missouri Tigers have yet to name a starting quarterback for the 2025-26 season. In fact, on Wednesday, head coach Eli Drinkwitz made a statement dictating how the first game of the season in terms of the quarterback competition would go.

“I informed the team this afternoon that both quarterbacks will play in the first game," Drinkwitz said. "I want to see them in a game-day situation to make a final determination.”

Nobody knows when the Tigers will officially have their starting quarterback for the rest of the season, but most of the country seems to have that sorted out already, in some sense.

A high number of teams entered fall camp for the 2025-26 season, looking to name a starting quarterback. Most, if not all, of those teams have now found their man. This leaves the Tigers as one of the last teams to pick theirs.

Ohio State, one of the premier teams in the country, named its on Monday in sophomore Julian Sayin. The Alabama Crimson Tide, an opponent of the Tigers this season, named returning junior Ty Simpson as their man.

Even the UMass Minutemen, another opponent of Missouri, named Brandon Rose, a transfer from Utah, as their starter. This likely won't put any pressure on Drinkwitz to expedite his decision, but it is something to keep in mind.

Around the country (per CBS Sports)

Ohio State: Julian Sayin, Sophomore
Alabama: Ty Simpson, Junior
Notre Dame: Freshman
Tennessee: Joey Aguilar, Senior
Syracuse: Steve Angeli, Junior
Boston College: Dylan Lonergan, Sophomore
BYU: Bear Bachmeier, Freshman
UCF: Cam Fancher, Senior
Stanford: Ben Gulbranson, Senior
California: Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, Freshman
Memphis: Brendon Lewis, Senior
Fresno State: E.J. Warner, Senior
New Mexico: Jack Layne: Junior
Rice: Chase Jenkins, Sophomore
UMass: Brandon Rose, Junior
Kennesaw State: Dexter Williams II, Senior

All that being said, it's clear that Drinkwitz is not in a rush to name a starter. It's also likely that the mentioned team's naming a starter has no effect on the team's decision to pick one of their own.

"You wish it was easy and that there would be something definitive that you could point at and say, 'Hey, this was the reason why,'" Drinkwitz said on Tuesday. "But it's not gonna be the case. So we'll figure it out from there."