Takeaways at Every Position from Mizzou's 2nd Scrimmage of Fall Camp

Everything Eli Drinkwitz learrned from Missouri's scrimmage Saturday.

Aug 6, 2025; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Beau Pribula (9) talks with the team at the conclusion of a fall camp practice at Mizzou Athletic Training Complex. | Amber Winkler/MissouriOnSi

The Missouri Tigers have reached the point of fall camp where decisions will begin to be made.

The past week was arguably the most pivotal for the Tigers in the camp. It started with a scrimmage Monday and ended with another Saturday.

The coaching staff will meet Saturday night to evaluate where things now stand with the depth chart.

The team started practice with the offense backed up against their end zone, followed by red-zone situations and finished with a game-ending drive.

A number of players had surprisingly impressive performances, making the case to earn a role in the upcoming season. Here's everything Drinkwitz learned from the scrimmage, broken up by position.

Offense

Aug 6, 2025; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Sam Horn (21) celebrates after a play during a fall camp practice at Mizzou Athletic Training Complex. | Amber Winkler/MissouriOnSi

Quarterbacks

Drinkwitz went into the scrimmage looking for separation between Sam Horn and Beau Pribula in the starting quarterback competition, but didn't see either one stick out compared to the other.

"There was just too many lulls in the middle by both of them," Drinkwitz said. "So, we just got to clean that up, the execution end. Neither one of them were very effective in the backed up situation."

Though there were mistakes, neither quarterback turned the ball over. Both also led several scoring drives in the red-zone and open-field periods.

The key factor Drinkwitz has constantly mentioned for the quarterback battle has been consistency. Live reps give more of an opportunity to see that, but Drinkwitz has still yet to see enough of it from both quarterbacks.

"They're both playing really good football right now," Drinkwitz said. "So, we'll go into next week and keep the battle going"

Running backs

Ahmad Hardy was held out of the scrimmage today, just to protect his legs before a season where he should be a workhouse for the Missouri offense.

READ: 'Be Ready for Impact': Mizzou Defenders Describe Ahmad Hardy

Though the defense was able to get a break from Hardy's physicality, the rest of the running back rotation made the most of the opportunities.

Redshirt sophomore Jamal Roberts was "really good," in Drinkwitz's eyes, especially when running downhill.

Shifty redshirt junior Tavorus Jones also had "some great reps."

But the star of the show for the running backs was true freshman Marquise Davis. His second week of fall camp overall was much better than his first. After the first week, Davis' No. 7 jersey was swapped for a No. 77 as a reminder to go full speed in practice. That message has seemingly been received.

"He keeps playing too good. ... Plays a lot better in (No.) 77," Drinkwitz said.

READ: Eli Drinkwitz 'Pleased' with Responses from Freshman in Week 2 of Fall Camp

Wide receivers

As he as been through all of fall camp, true freshman Donovan Olugbode was again a standout. Marquis Johnson also grabbed a one-handed touchdown catch. Joshua Manning also made a crucial catch in two two-minute situation.

Daniel Blood saw a good amount of opportunities, but struggled with drops. He's been taking all of the second-team reps in the slot behind Kevin Coleman Jr.

"Today, I didn't see the consistent Daniel Blood," Drinkwitz said. "Quite honestly, I think he can perform at a higher level. We need him to. We need him to perform at a higher level than he did today."

Blood caught eight passes for 81 yards last season. He has the athletic tools to be a dynamic weapon after the catch, but he'll need to make a jump to earn more opportunities.

"He's got to be more explosive with the ball in his hand," Drinkwitz said. "He's capable of being a dynamic player in this league. And, today felt like last season, where he's up and down. Can't be up and down. Gotta be consistent."

Tight ends

Eli Drinkwitz has stated multiple times this preseason that the coaching staff is hoping for the tight ends to have a larger role in the passing game this season.

Brett Norfleet and Jude James both provided good reason for that, making multiple crucial catches.

"Those guys have got to be weapons for us," Drinkwitz said. "We got to utilize them. They're just too good in the run game that we got to be able to utilize them down the field. They did a nice job today."

Offensive line

Connor Tollison was held out of the scrimmage, just for the sake of giving the veteran a rest.

Drinkwitz saw a significant improvement from the offensive line in pass protection on Saturday compared to the first scrimmage.

Though it's mostly been the same starting lineup along the offensive line to begin fall camp, multiple different rotations will be tested next week.

"Next week, we'll make a change and we're going to see if we got a different starting five next week to see what it looks like

The two spots up for grabs — left tackle and right guard — have mostly been filled in by Jayven Richardson and Dominick Giudice respectively. Expect Johnny Williams IV to get more opportunities at left tackle, then Jaylen Early at right guard.

Defense

Aug 6, 2025; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers linebacker Josiah Trotter (40) gets ready for a fall camp practice drill at Mizzou Athletic Training Complex. | Amber Winkler/MissouriOnSI

Defensive line

Two young players had especially impressive performances at defensive tackle — redshirt freshman Justin Bodford and true freshman Jason Dowell. Bodford had forced one of the defense's two safeties.

Ohio transfer Bralen Henderson also had a tackle for loss.

Linebackers

This is another position where a true freshmen stood out, with Dante McClellan continuing am impressive camp.

"Dante McClellan is a guy that we're going to be able to count on at linebacker," Drinkwitz said.

On the veteran side of things, Khalil Jacobs made an impact.

"I think he did a great job today on first and second down, that's really where we challenged him to make impact plays," Drinkwitz said. "When he plays downhill, he's a difference maker, and he did that today."

Jacobs carved out a role for himself as a key player on third downs last year, but seems to be making an argument to earn more playing time on early downs too.

Edge rushers

True freshman Daeden Hopkins was in the Missouri backfield "pretty much all day." The route to playing time for the four-star prospect this season looks treacherous on paper, but Drinkwitz believes he's going to play himself "into a role real quick," if he continues to perform this well.

Another true freshman who is crowding up this deep position group is Javion Hilson, who has stood out as a contender for playing time since he arrived in the spring.

Defensive backs

Jalen Catalon was another veteran who was held out of the scrimmage to take a rest day.

The competition for the second starting cornerback spot alongside Drey Norwood seems to be narrowed down to two options; Toriano Pride Jr. and Stephen Hall. Nicholas Deloach Jr. split time with Pride at that spot last year, but Pride and Hall seemed to have emerged as the two frontrunners.

But, expect both Hall and Pride to both still earn playing time, even if one sticks out at the end of fall camp.

"I think Stephen Hall and Toriano (Pride Jr.) and Drey (Norwood), all three of them are really, in my mind, are starters. Those guys have played a lot of football and been effective in coverage for a long time, so it's really a luxury that we have."

At safety, Virginia Tech transfer Mose Phillips III made an impact.

"(Phillips) had some big time hits, I thought he really played and popped for us," Drinkwitz said.

Special Teams

Drinkwitz called Missouri's punt coverage the "biggest area of improvement" for the team so far. At the start of fall camp, he mentioned the special teams unit as a whole as one that needed to improve from last year.

"I think we've done a really good job emphasizing our punt-return team, and those guys have done really well. And with Kevin (Coleman Jr.) back there (at returner), I think that's going to be something I think we could be really good at."

At the top of that punt unit is Stanford transfer punter Connor Weselman. Drinkwitz liked what he saw from Weselman, along with JUCO transfer John Butcher, in the scrimmage today.