Eli Drinkwitz discusses plan to play Beau Pribula, Sam Horn a half each in Mizzou’s season opener
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Eli Drinkwitz has been mum about how he would rotate Mizzou quarterbacks Beau Pribula and Sam Horn in Thursday’s season opener against Central Arkansas. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, though, Pribula, the former Penn State QB, will play the first half. Horn will play the second.
Based on how they do in that one, Drinkwitz will make his decision as to who will be the Tigers’ QB1, a decision he said on Saturday he would “have a lot of conviction about.”
Mizzou’s head coach discussed his plan for Thursday on his “Tiger Talk” radio show on Tuesday night.
“There’s no way great way to do it. Somebody’s gotta run out there first,” Eli Drinkwitz said, according to Missouri Tigers On SI’s Joey Van Zummeren. “Everybody’s going to get an opportunity to play. I don’t know what the game will be like at halftime.”
Pribula enters with the most experience, having backed up Drew Allar at Penn State and having been allowed to showcase his dual-threat capabilities in various packages within James Franklin’s offense. He totaled 571 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns through 24 games in 2023 and 2024.
Meanwhile, Horn, a 4-star recruit in Drinkwitz’s 2022 recruiting class, has been around the program longer. However, the Atlanta-area native, a former right-handed relief pitcher on the Tigers’ baseball team and a Los Angeles Dodgers draft pick in July, has far less in-game experience. He threw just 8 passes in 2022 and 2023 combined and missed all of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
