Mizzou Tigers football coach explains why Beau Pribula will start Thursday opener
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Coach Drinkwitz confirmed Beau Pribula will start the opener's first half.
- Sam Horn will follow in the second half, continuing the quarterback competition.
- Live game play will determine the starter before Missouri faces Kansas Sept. 6.
Missouri Tigers football coach Eli Drinkwitz has played his starting-quarterback plans close to the vest this summer.
He revealed last week that he plans to play each of the two quarterbacks battling for the No. 1 job — holdover Sam Horn and Penn State transfer Beau Pribula — in Thursday’s season opener against Central Arkansas at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium.
During Wednesday’s Southeastern Conference coaches teleconference, Drinkwitz confirmed that Pribula would take the field in the first half, Horn in the second.
Is there a reason, the coach was asked? Technically, yes ... but it’s an incredibly simple one.
“Somebody had to go out first,” he said.
Drinkwitz wants to give both quarterbacks roughly the same amount of playing time to showcase their skills against the Bears. He brought up MU’s 2023 quarterback battle, when Brady Cook eventually won the job.
It took a while. Cook started that year’s season opener, against South Dakota, but Drinkwitz then handed the ball to Horn for the second half.
Horn had a shot then, too, before Cook won the role.
“I’ve done it before, where you alternate every two series or each quarter,” Drinkwitz said, “and I just didn’t feel like that was a healthy way.
“We did it in 2023, where we played both halves, and I felt like it gave our offense a chance to play with some rhythm and that gave our quarterbacks a chance to be evaluated. And so that’s the plan going into (Thursday’s season opener). As with anything, plans are subject to change based off the environment, what’s going on, but that’s what we’ll plan on doing.”
Drinkwitz maintained throughout training camp that there was no clear favorite to become the Tigers’ QB1.
“I think both quarterbacks have done an excellent job of doing the things that we’ve asked them to do and there wasn’t enough separation that I felt like there was a clear-cut starter,” Drinkwitz said. “And so the next best evaluation is in a live football game to see how guys respond, not only to preparation and a game plan, but also respond to a crowd, also respond to being tackled and being hit.”
The Tigers’ are heavy 36.5-point favorites vs. Central Arkansas on Thursday. But there’s ample reason to watch this game in its entirety as Pribula and Horn duke it out in a real-time showdown for the starting job as the season continues.
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And next week’s non-conference opponent is a particularly important one. The Border War resumes as Kansas comes to Columbia for the teams’ first game since 2011.
Drinkwitz offered no insight into which QB he might favor for the Tigers’ Sept. 6 afternoon home game against the Jayhawks.
“I’ll probably just read everybody’s Twitter comment,” he said, “and then based off that, I’ll come up with a decision.”
