Drinkwitz Explains Decision to Extend QB Competition into Week 1

Drinkwitz has a plan for how playing time will be divided between Sam Horn and Beau Pribula, but wasn't wanting to share.

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

Eli Drinkwitz has a plan at quarterback for Week 1, but isn't looking to share it.

He doesn't have a starter, but plans to have both Beau Pribula and Sam Horn play in the Tigers' Week 1 game against Central Arkansas. But anything past that, such as how the two quarterbacks will rotate, Drinkwitz kept to himself Saturday when talking to the media.

"We have a plan in place and have discussed with the team, and feel prepared to execute that plan," Drinkwitz said. "I don't feel the need to share that plan."

Drinkwitz also declined to share what specifically he's looking to see from the two quarterbacks in the Week 1 game in order to decide who will be the starter moving forward. Most importantly, he just wants to see them actually play in a game, as neither have ever started in a college football game.

"I think they both demonstrated the ability of toughness, preparation, decision making, accuracy and leadership in a practice setting," Drinkwitz said. "But that doesn't mean they've done it in a game setting for us."

Drinkwitz has claimed all throughout fall camp that he hasn't been able to see enough separation between the two options. Evaluating the decision is something that Drinkwitz has said has kept him up at night and woke him up in the morning throughout fall camp.

"Just didn't feel like I could make a decision without a little bit more information," Drinkwitz said. "I didn't want to rush the decision. I think the decision of the starting quarterback, for me personally, is something that I'm going to have a lot of conviction about."

The top question to watch Thursday night when Missouri takes the field has become how exactly the opportunities will be split up between the quarterbacks. Will each get a half? Will they rotate every quarter? Every few series? Plus, which quarterback will see the field first?

The last time Drinkwitz chose to extend a quarterback competition into the regular season was in 2023, when Brady Cook started for the first half in the season opener, followed by Horn in the second half. Cook had 21 pass attempts to show off what he had, yet Horn only had five.

But, Cook had a leg up already, being the incumbent starter. This year, the game tape to look back at for both Pribula and Horn is slim. Even though Pribula has appeared in 23 games over the last two seasons, rotating in as a run-first quarterback behind Drew Allar at Penn State, he only threw for 10 or more pass attempts in one of those games.

After both Pribula and Horn have impressed in fall camp practices, the only other test to throw at them is having to react in a game situation.

"Quarterbacks are going to have to go through progression reads and understand what the progression is," Drinkwitz said. "You have to identify coverage and understand how that's changing, changes their progression, which is a good challenge."