Eli Drinkwitz Evaluates Mizzou's Quarterback Room Entering Spring Practices

For a second straight offseason, Missouri's quarterback room underwent significant reconstruction. With just one returner to the group, Matt Zollers, the likely starter and the depth of the position group look completely different.

Entering spring practices, which begin Friday, Drinkwitz labeled the position as a competition. From the outside, Ole Miss transfer Austin Simmons is the clear front runner. He entered last season as the Rebels' starting quarterback before suffering an ankle injury in Week 2.

"Excited about the quarterback competition that we're going to have this year," Drinkwitz said in a press conference Thursday. "... For us, core value No. 1 is always compete. And so there's going to have to be added competition."

Simmons was one of Missouri's top additions in the transfer portal, being rated by 247Sports as the 12th best quarterback available in the portal. Over the last two years with Ole Miss, Simmons completed 64 of his 107 pass attempts for 1,026 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions.

Coaches at Ole Miss frequently praised Simmons' intelligence, along with his arm strength that he built as a pitcher on the baseball diamond.

"I think he's very competitive in nature, and he's got natural talent as a quarterback, obviously, very good arm talent, decision maker, has the ability to run, " Drinkwitz said. "Obviously, hasn't played a ton of football because of the injury last year, but when he has gotten his opportunity, has played at a really high level and high clip."

If Simmons is named the starter, Missouri will have the interesting task of flipping its offensive playbook to suit his left-handed throwing. Not only does that flip the directions routes are run, but there's other things that simply don't work the same as they would with a right-handed passer.

"I think there is some conscientious things that I've challenged both (quarterbacks coach) Garrett (Riley) and (offensive coordinator) Chip (Lindsey) to make sure we're aware of in our scripting, to make sure that we're not putting our quarterback in a negative spot," Drinkwitz said.

Ahmad Hardy doesn't believe that Simmons being left handed will change anything for what he does as a running back, but he was initially caught off guard by it.

"He's left handed, so it's kind of weird," Hardy said. "I mean, used to a right handed quarterback."

Simmons is still raw as a player, but will have a proven quarterback developer coaching him in Lindsey. The former Michigan offensive coordinator has helped Nick Mullens, Jarrett Stidham and Drake Maye to success at stops throughout his career. That proven history was a key reason why Drinkwitz decided Lindsey was the right person for the job.

"Obviously, has a history of quarterback development," Drinkwitz said of Lindsey. "He's got plenty of pelts on the wall from the quarterbacks that he's developed in the offensive schemes that he's had."

Behind Simmons is a veteran with a windy path to Missouri, UConn transfer Nick Evers. A four-star prospect out of high school, Evers started his career at Oklahoma before transferring for stints at Wisconsin and two years at UConn. In 2024, he started eight games for the Huskies, where he threw for 918 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions.

Nov 15, 2025; East Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies quarterback Nick Evers (3) warms up before the start of the game against the Air Force Falcons at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

The addition of Simmons and Evers puts Zollers into an interesting spot. Due to injuries to Missouri's top two quarterback options in 2025, he was suddenly thrust into having to play significant snaps in four games, including the Gator Bowl.

In those appearances, Zollers struggled in a way you'd expect a freshman quarterback to in the SEC. But, Drinkwitz praised him throughout the year for how he handled the situation with maturity.

"I thought he was really thrown into some (disadvantageous) situations," Drinkwitz said. "I thought he handled it remarkably well, and I think he just got to continue to grow and get better develop every day."

Drinkwitz stated multiple times through 2025 that he believes Zollers is the "future" of the quarterback position for the program. Though his first year was one of unexpected situations for Zollers, his second could be one of development, possibly as a redshirt. Though, Drinkwitz didn't close the door on Zollers having the opportunity to make the future the present.

"To be the very best quarterback that he can, can be compete every single day, to be the best version of himself, give himself the opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback job here," Drinkwitz said of what his goal is for Zollers in 2026. "And if he doesn't (become the starter), be the very best teammate that he can be as he's growing into that that role."

No matter how exactly the pieces fall, Missouri's quarterback room seems to be in better shape than it was in 2026.