Everything Eli Drinkwitz Said After Central Arkansas Win

Missouri football opened its season with a 61-6 win over Central Arkansas on Thursday night. Quarterback Beau Pribula shined in his first start, throwing for 283 yards. The defense allowed just 6 points, carrying over its dominance from 2024.

There wasn't a shortage of excitement, as the Tigers got everyone involved. Freshman linebacker Dante McClellan logged a pick-six in the fourth quarter, freshman running back Marquise Davis scored, and more.

Missouri gave head coach Eli Drinkwitz a lot to be proud of. Here's all he had to say after the team's compelling win to start the year.

Opening Statement:

"I'll just say I just got some news that made me realize that football is a great game, but it is just a game, and there's a lot more important things in life, and so hearts out to what's going on, and y'all will learn that pretty quick. So devastated for that family."

Drinkwitz was referencing the passing of KOMU sports director Ben Arnet. Drinkwitz later offered his condolences on social media.

My thoughts and prayers are with Ben Arnet’s family and friends. Ben was more than a professional Sports Broadcaster, He lived his passion! He loved what he did and who he did it with. We will miss you, Ben! Rest In peace!
— Eliah Drinkwitz (@CoachDrinkwitz) August 29, 2025

(I'm) proud of our football team. Thought they fought well tonight, thought they competed really hard, really pleased with the way our three phases came together, very disappointed and sad with the injury to Sam (Horn) and the injury to Blake Craig, and those two things are really disappointing, and we'll see tomorrow what the extent of those injuries are. So kind of takes the damper a little bit off the win. So with that, I'll open up for questions."

On whether or not the injuries to Sam Horn and Blake Craig are expected to be long-term:

"I'm not going to speculate. I'm not a doctor. We'll find out more tomorrow."

On Beau Pribula stepping up after Sam Horn left the game:

"I don't think he 'stepped up,' I think he was just continuing to play the way he was playing. I thought he did a nice job handling the situation.

He (Horn) knew he was going to play the first half, and knew we were going to run that formation pretty early in the game. Just disappointing that he got injured. That was a heck of a run."

On the gap integrity of the defense in the first half:

"I thought it was a little bit leaky. Honestly, in the first half, I didn't feel like we were dominating until I got halftime and realized they were 0-6 on third down, and I thought maybe my expectations were a little bit too high.

But, I think there's still some things that we got to do a little bit better. Didn't think we were physical enough on the perimeter. We've given up too many first-down yards on first-down runs. But really proud of the takeaways in the second half. I challenged at halftime that we needed to get some sacks and takeaways because we didn't have any at halftime, and obviously Dam(on Wilson II) and Langden (Kitchen) fourth-and-1 and that was a heck of a pick by Dante McClellan. That was a heck of a play."

On the confidence level in Matt Zollers as a backup QB and Robert Meyer as a backup kicker:

"Ask me that on Monday or Tuesday's press conference. We're not there yet."

On Beau Pribula's first outing:

"I was pleased. I knew he prepared well in fall camp. I tried to tell everybody that we had two quarterbacks that could win football games. And I fully expected that to be the case. I thought he played, honestly, pretty well, I thought Sam played pretty well, too.

I thought his ability to extend plays, I thought that one big time run was pretty, pretty headsy there, and then his ability to pull the ball on some zone-read stuff was nice. But, I mean, he threw the ball really well, too. So it was good."

On the offensive explosiveness:

"I don't know if it was the second or third drive we had — I think it was the third drive — it was like 14 plays for three points, and it was taking forever, and I just said 'Guys, we've got to figure out how to be more explosive, wanna try to go grind out four yards a pop here.' So I thought that freed us up. We hit a couple of runs there, Ahmad (Hardy), hit a run, but then we vertically dialed in our play calls, we did the first drive too, so I'm not saying anything, but I thought (offensive coordinator) Kirby (Moore) did a really nice job handling that and giving him some explosive plays.

And then. when Matt (Zollers) came in, I mean, look, you just throw the ball where the defense tells you you have to and good things will happen. He did that with Jude (James), and then had a heck of a run right there. That was awesome."

On evaluating the offensive line:

"There were some good, bad, and some things in between. First couple of drives we we're getting to the second level, but we weren't finishing those blocks. And I think there was a couple of mistakes that are from learning to play new positions and figuring out that unit together, but overall I was pretty pleased today."

On how the team spread the ball around to multiple different receivers:

"I mean, that's what you got to do to be a good offense, you got to be able to spread the ball around. I thought Jamal Roberts did a really nice job running the football. And then all the different people who touched it, we've still got more in the tank too, in the wide receiver room. I don't have the stats. I don't know if Daniel (Blood) had a catch tonight, but we know he's a guy that can really affect the game as a wide receiver. I don't know if Xavier (Loyd) got one tonight either and I know he can, too. So there's still a lot of guys left."

On the mixing of Jamal Roberts and Ahmad Hardy:

"It's kind of hard for me right now without watching the tape. I thought Ahmad was a physical runner. I thought we were able to get him on that edge, on that little toss play, which was nice. For whatever reason, we weren't really able to get the backside sealed off on our outside zones the way we normally do. And so that's got to be a point of emphasis moving forward to create the running lanes we want. Jamal, I thought had a really good run on that backed up, obviously we got a holding penalty, but he did a nice job."

On how the younger guys, freshmen looked:

"I think the biggest thing, was there wasn't a noticeable drop off. I think that's kind of the most important thing. In that last drive there, that group was running a lot of show (scout) team this week, so you're kind of fighting with one hand behind your back and some of that stuff. So, for the most part, I was really pleased with their effort. Covering kicks, I thought we had a bunch of young guys doing that, too, that was nice.'

On Marquis Johnson's resilience through personal adversity:

"Marquis told the team after practice yesterday, he was going to need them. This was the first time Ms. Denise (Johnson's mother who passed away in April )wasn't going to be here. And, the team, we just all said, 'Hey, we got you.' And I think it was a really, really tough Tiger Walk. He was crying when he walked in, and we just told him to focus one moment at a time, we knew Ms. Denise wanted to watch him play tonight. For him to get that opening touchdown was pretty special, and then for him to just continue to make plays and be open.

The maturity level that he's displayed in the last four months has been incredible. At some point, the whole story will come out regarding what he's had to do back home, and how he's had to really become a primary caretaker for his two brothers back home, and what he's been able to do has been really, really impressive. Not sure there's are a lot of people that are as tough as he is, and I'm proud of our organization too, for doing a great job of having his back (through) this whole thing and supporting him as he continues to be the leader of his family, because that's right now what he is."

On how Kevin Coleman Jr. and Tavorus Jones performed in the return game:

"The first one, I thought Kevin should've fair caught that one, but he said he wanted to get hit, so he got hit. ... We really wanted to emphasize our return units, and those guys did a great job holding up the gunner and creating space that we need, and he (Coleman) did the rest, and that was awesome.

Unfortunate we got the holding penalty on the kickoff return, but I think 'T-man' showed us exactly why we recruited him. Why we believe in him, why we want the ball in his hands, and that was an impressive return, too."

On the team's reaction to Sam Horn going down:

"Just devastated. He's voted captain because his teammates care about him. You hurt for a young man because last year was taken away from him for a different reason (Tommy John surgery), and now this year he's gonna have to face another injury, and don't know how long it'll be. And there's something that wears you down mentally in those things, so can't second-guess it. You just gotta face it every day, and we'll face it with him. But you know, I know he's really close with Connor (Tollison) and Brett (Norfleet), and I know Zion and him are really close and they were hugging it out at halftime. So we're all really disappointed."

Read more Missouri Tigers News: