¹û½´ÊÓƵ

His mother died on April 28. He yearns to connect with her on Aug. 28.

“I’m going to ask if I can wear some cleats I got specially made,� said the Mizzou receiver, whose Tigers open the 2025 season that night against Central Arkansas. “They are some pink cleats that say: ‘RIP, Mom, I love you.’ Pink is her favorite color. I’m going to end up trying to wear some type of pink, just to represent her.�

She was just 39. Denise Bell died in Johnson’s hometown of Dickinson, Texas. He didn’t feel comfortable sharing how she passed. Can you imagine being a college kid and having to grieve? Unfathomable emotions. You-don’t-want-to-even-go-there thoughts.

“I’m just a 2.0 of her,� said Johnson, who is 20 years old. “I joke more than her, but she was just like me. She always cared about me, always was there for me. … My mom, she was just uniquely herself. Didn’t care who was around, she was going to be herself. …

“I’m going to do what I do best — going out there and working and doing everything for her.�

Johnson is so fast, he has two nicknames regarding his rapidity — Speedy and Flash.

“The Flash,� Mizzou quarterback Sam Horn corrected me.

With Luther Burden III and Theo Wease now in NFL camps, much is being made about Mizzou newcomer Kevin Coleman Jr., a transfer receiver with a resume that could rattle the more vulnerable cornerbacks. But I feel that Johnson will have a breakout year in 2025. He played so well in the Music City Bowl. He’s a junior now. He very well may be the fastest guy in any game (he won a Texas state title as a high school sprinter). And he’s playing with a heavy heart, which, of course, is the color pink.

“Marquis made some huge strides last season in the bowl prep,� said offensive coordinator Kirby Moore, who is also in his third Mizzou season. “And then finishing there in the bowl game, with his opportunities outside, because Theo moved in the slot (with Burden not playing). We know he can stretch the field. I just think he really showed up with those details on some of those intermediate routes, being on the same page with Brady (Cook). And then he’s carried those over throughout the offseason. …

“I think from a leadership standpoint, too, he’s seen a lot more ball. And in that whole receiver room there’s a lot of depth — and they’re going to be pushing each other.�

Johnson arrived on radars in 2023 when the Tigers played Memphis in ¹û½´ÊÓƵ. The quarterback Cook cooked up a play for Johnson, who weaved his way for a 76-yard touchdown. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, who uses a particular four-letter word instead of actual four-letter words, said after the game: “Crud — that sucker is fast as lightning.â€�

But Mizzou was so deep at receiver in 2023. And in 2024. Remember, Mookie Cooper was out there, too. Johnson has 38 career catches and seven came in the Music City Bowl win against Iowa. With Mizzou down 10 late in the third quarter, Johnson corralled a key 44-yard Cook pass — the Tigers scored shortly after. Speedy, er, The Flash, finished with 122 receiving yards that afternoon in Nashville.

“I think he has really good ball skills — and a great knack for finding the ball in the air,� said Horn, who is competing with Beau Pribula to be Mizzou’s starting signal-caller (Cook is in New York Jets camp). “And for me as quarterback, I love that, being able to get the ball whenever I want to. Let him make a play. And he’s a playmaker that’s for sure — big-play guy.�

At Mizzou’s camp-opening media day, Drinkwitz brought up three pass-catchers of whom “there’s a reasonable expectation that you can take your game to another level.�

They were Johnson, the tight end Brett Norfleet and the receiver Josh Manning, who is in a similar situation to Johnson — looking to break out as a receiver on the outside.

Norfleet has watched his fellow junior Johnson for a while now. Asked about Johnson, Norfleet shared: “You know, the cliche answer would be the speed — I mean the kid can straight-out fly — but for me, what also sticks out is just his competitive attitude, something that y’all might not see. But when we’re going up against our defense in practice, he always brings the energy. … I just think you know, in order to play this game, you have to have a competitive mindset. Otherwise you’re just going to get ran through.�

On, Twitter/X, Johnson’s name is listed as “The Flash.� And his Twitter/X handle is @_SpeedyQuis. This summer, he posted a photo taken in a studio. He’s in his black Mizzou No. 2 jersey — and he’s holding a pink T-shirt. It featured four photos of Denise Bell and the words: “LONG LIVE MY QUEEN.�

Later in the summer, he retweeted a photo of Michael Jordan.

He was still in his Bulls uniform and sweaty after a game that just ended. And Jordan had his arm around his mother, who looked up at her son with a smile.

The caption simply read: “Make her proud.�

That’s the theory, anyway.

“If we want to be good on special teams, we have to have our best players play,� special teams coordinator Erik Link told the Post-Dispatch. “That could be one phase, that could be two phases.�

To be clear, this isn’t about the specialists — the kicker or the punter — but the players around them: those who have other roles on offense or defense but are necessary as blockers and chase-down tacklers on kickoffs and punts.

On the whole, those units didn’t perform too well in 2024. Mizzou’s special teams, across the board, were a net negative according to ESPN’s SP+ ranking, which is an opponent-adjusted measure of efficiency. MU ranked 98th among the 134 Football Bowl Division programs in special teams SP+ at the end of last season.

That was the third-worst in the Southeastern Conference, with only Texas and Auburn ranked lower. Those three were the only league members with negative special teams SP+ scores. Mississippi, Florida and Vanderbilt, meanwhile, were the top three in the nation.

The Rebels, Gators and Commodores all missed the College Football Playoff, so it’s not like SP+ scores make or break a team’s quality. It’s probably not even a metric that anyone on the Mizzou coaching staff cares about.

Still, it shows the room for growth in special teams performance.

Enter the depth the Tigers acquired this offseason.

Positions like linebacker, defensive end, safety and wide receiver are full of players talented enough to see the field regularly. Given the fact that only two or three players from each of those positions can be on the field at any time, some aren’t going to play as much as they’d like or deserve — even with in-game rotation.

That’s where the coaches’ special teams pitch comes in.

“(If) we get 60 reps in a game and we’re dividing it 30-30, go get another 15 on special teams,� coach Eli Drinkwitz said, “and make an impact in a way that will have a dramatic effect on us.�

“A guy might be a starter on defense,� Link said, “but he might be sharing time. It might up another 10, 15 plays, 12 plays, whatever it is to help out on the kicking game.�

Seems straightforward enough. Only games — now less than a month away, with calendars turned to August — will tell whether that pitch works.

Last year, the four non-specialists to play the most special teams snaps — counting kickoff coverage and returns, punt coverage and returns and both sides of the ball on field-goal attempts — were mostly reserves. Tight end Tyler Stephens played 172 special teams snaps compared to 150 offensive snaps, safety Trajen Greco got 164 on special teams compared to 37 on defense, cornerback Ja’Marion Wayne played 136 on special teams compared to 29 on defense and linebacker Brady Hultman played 135 on special teams to just two on defense.

The only regular starter to play more than 100 special teams snaps last season was middle linebacker Corey Flagg, who was 13th among non-specialists in special teams snaps.

The point? Mizzou’s best players weren’t appearing on special teams duty.

“The more high-quality depth you have on a football team should improve your team in all three phases, but certainly in the kicking game,� Link said.

“It’s got to help our special teams,� Drinkwitz said. “We were not where we wanted to be last year in special teams, and that’s an area we have to improve. That means getting better players on the field. That means getting our most consistent players on the field.�

Camp notes

Drinkwitz met with reporters following Mizzou’s Saturday practice, which was its fifth of fall camp.

To no surprise, he has not named a starting quarterback. The competition at left tackle remains ongoing, too, with Jayven Richardson and Johnny Williams IV in the mix.

Quarterback contenders Sam Horn and Beau Pribula have “all done some really good things and some really dumb things,� Drinkwitz said. “And that’s kind of the quarterback position. Now it’s about seeing, do they continually make that same mistake or can they self-correct?�

Trajen Greco, who is expected to be in the safety rotation this season, has not practiced this week with what Drinkwitz dubbed a “soft-tissue injury.� He’s expected to return to practice Sunday. Safety Jalen Catalon missed Saturday’s practice and center Connor Tollison was limited, but neither is a long-term or serious issue.

Camp will progress in intensity next week when Missouri has two days of intrasquad scrimmages on tap.

Missouri’s Theo Wease Jr. and Arkansas’ Andrew Armstrong were snapped up instantly, each given $234,000 in guaranteed money, which is on the high side for undrafted rookies.

The Dolphins gave a $125,000 guarantee to Northwestern’s A.J. Henning and a nonguaranteed contract to Baylor’s Monaray Baldwin.

Through eight practices, Wease and Armstrong have made the most plays of the four. But Wease has been the best of the quartet, catching multiple touchdown passes in the red zone and finding a knack to get open.

So is Wease happy with how he has played? “Not even close,� he said Friday. “Not at all. I still have a long way to go — every aspect, blocking, learning the playbook, making more plays, getting open as much as I can.�

But he said he already knows that he is “most definitely� an NFL-caliber receiver.

Wease said not being drafted “fueled me some more .. But I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed.�

He said other teams offered similar guaranteed money, but the Dolphins “felt like the best opportunity for me.�

Being bypassed in the draft wasn’t the most adversity he has faced.

In 2021, his third year at Oklahoma, he broke both feet in separate practice incidents six months apart.

“I broke the left one first, healed it, then broke the right one,� he said. “Normal football plays [in] practice.

“That was probably the biggest setback I had my whole life. First time being taken away from the game where I missed the whole season. I learned a lot about myself and I knew I really loved this game.�

Wease, 6-2, caught 60 passes for 884 yards (14.7 average) with four touchdowns last season, his second at Missouri after spending four at Oklahoma. He caught 173 passes for 2,610 yards and 20 TDs in 63 college games.

In different single seasons, he ranked in the top 10 in two different Power 4 conferences in receptions, yards and TD receptions. Last year, he was fifth in the Southeastern Conference in receptions and seventh in receiving yards.

Eric Galko, the executive director of the East/West Shrine Bowl, said by phone in May that Wease “came in with high expectations, but got an injury late in the season. He tried to come to the Shrine Bowl but wasn’t healthy. He’s a physical outside receiver and has juice to separate vertically.�

Wease said what he does well is simple: “Getting open and catching.�

’s Lance Zierlein said his “ball-tracking and high-point timing stand out on tape” but explained why he wasn’t drafted, noting that even though he has good size at 6-2, he has “average explosiveness on the outside. His routes aren’t good enough to shake tight man coverage underneath and his small hands will make contested-catch wins more difficult to come by against pro corners.

“Wease is steady and productive, but he might not be dynamic enough to ascend beyond an average backup.�

But Wease — who ran the 40 in 4.59 seconds at the NFL Combine — has displayed a knack for getting open in practice.

Wease, who has no college experience returning punts or kickoffs, is competing for one or two jobs behind starters Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and top backups Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Malik Washington.

Also competing: Dee Eskridge (who has value as a returner and a decent chance to stick), Armstrong, Erik Ezukanma, 2024 seventh-round pick Tahj Washington (who missed his rookie season with a lower-leg injury), Baldwin (who caught a deep pass in practice last week), Henning (who has several catches but also a few drops in camp) and Tarik Black.

But even if Wease makes the practice squad instead of the 53-man roster, “I will just go back to work. [It would be] nothing to be disappointed about.�

Wease appreciates the chance to pick up nuances of the game from Hill and Waddle: “I can learn a lot from both of them.�

He said Tua Tagovailoa “throws perfect. I’m not just saying that because he’s my quarterback. He throws perfect. If we drop it, it’s on us nine times out of 10 for sure.�

He also has developed a chemistry with No. 3 quarterback Quinn Ewers, noting both grew up in Texas. (Ewers grew up in San Antonio, Wease in Allen).

Catching passes from a left-handed quarterback (Tagovailoa) isn’t new for him; he played with former Oregon and Cleveland Browns rookie Dillon Gabriel at Oklahoma.

As a five-star recruit, Wease can handle pressure and still find a way to enjoy the experience.

“I’m living my dream right now,� he said.

“And that’s the truth,� Drinkwitz said.

Cornerback is a deep and fairly experienced position for Mizzou heading into this season, but also one that needs to see improvement for the MU defense to reach its potential.

“We return every snap at the corner position from last year,� Drinkwitz said. Drey Norwood played a team-high 593 snaps in 2024, according to PFF. The Tigers got 372 snaps out of Nick Deloach Jr. and 567 out of Toriano Pride Jr. And they added Washington State transfer Stephen Hall, who played 881 there.

The question is whether pitting those four defensive backs against each other will lead to improvement.

The best the Missouri defense looked during the Drinkwitz era was when it had a star tandem of Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. as the cornerbacks. But they both went to the NFL after the 2023 season, and Norwood combined with either Pride or Deloach didn’t pack the same kind of punch last season.

Maybe expecting MU to find a pairing like Abrams-Draine and Rakestraw again is too much to ask — but cornerbacks coach Al Pogue thinks it’s possible.

“We were very fortunate in the past to have that with Ennis and KAD,� Pogue told the Post-Dispatch, “but we feel like we have that same potential in the room.�

Norwood is expected to retain his starting role as the team’s primary cornerback, therefore drawing matchups against most opponents’ top wide receivers. In that role last season, he was passable in coverage — enough of a deterrent, anyway, to draw fewer targets than Pride did despite playing more snaps.

Opposing teams threw Norwood’s way 35 times, according to PFF, which led to 22 catches and a 62.9% completion percentage. Norwood forced three incompletions, intercepted two passes and allowed two touchdowns.

(It’s worth noting that PFF’s coverage stats are imperfect, particularly when it comes to assigning responsibility for a play. Coverage breakdowns often involve errors from multiple players and it’s therefore difficult for an algorithm to recognize which player allowed a touchdown to occur, for example. Still, it’s the best publicly available metric, so it’ll have to suffice.)

That was Norwood’s first season as a starting corner, having previously been a fill-in for Abrams-Draine and Rakestraw.

“Drey has always been the model of consistency for us,� Pogue said. “We’ve always known that. Drey’s helped us win a lot of football games. He’s battled some of the top receivers in this league and held his own.�

What’s up for competition, more likely, is the spot opposite Norwood.

Neither Pride nor Deloach was able to command that second cornerback position in their first seasons jockeying for it.

Deloach allowed the highest passer rating of any MU corner, conceding 17 catches on 30 targets, with four forced incompletions and two touchdowns.

Pride faced the most targets of any Missouri cornerback, with 43 throws his way. That led to 24 catches, two touchdowns, five forced incompletions and two interceptions.

The Tigers occasionally swapped them for each other during games, trying to find the most consistent coverage option there.

For Pride, an East ¹û½´ÊÓƵ product who transferred in from Clemson, that wasn’t quite up to par.

“Me being new, that’s not an excuse for anything,� Pride said. “I really shouldn’t start out slow and pick it up later. I need to stay consistent.�

As a response, he put together a much-improved set of spring practices, Drinkwitz said.

Hall’s 2024 season was a bit of an oddball one at Washington State, which played the year as one of two remaining Pac-12 schools, mostly against Mountain West programs. He spent quite a bit of time on the field, racking up 881 snaps.

Opposing teams targeted Hall 67 times, leading to 50 catches, one interception and two touchdowns. Two of his better games came against Texas Tech and Washington, both power conference programs.

While he’s competing against Pride and Deloach for snaps this year, he’s certainly established himself as a contender at Mizzou.

“Stephen Hall, towards the latter part of the spring, started developing confidence in the system and the scheme,� Drinkwitz said. “I don’t think there’s anybody working harder in that corner room than Stephen Hall, and I’ve been very, very impressed with his mentality and work ethic.�

So what’ll be the criteria for determining which corners see the field the most this fall?

“For me and for this team, it’s who’s going to provide that spark?� Pogue said. “Who’s going to be consistent? Who’s going to be productive? Who’s going to be the guy that we can go and say, ‘Hey man, we need you to lock this guy down this week?’�

There’ll be no shortage of talented wideouts to try to lock down. All-SEC receivers Ryan Williams (Alabama), Cam Coleman (Auburn) and Eric Singleton (Auburn) headline the Missouri schedule.

In the next few weeks, Mizzou needs to find a tandem capable of stopping them.

“There’s plenty of guys,� Drinkwitz said. “Coach Pogue’s got to get to coaching.�

“I don’t necessarily think Matt’s out of it just yet,� Drinkwitz said Sunday. “He’s going to have to really come in and come on in fall camp, but that’s not been unheard of.�

Call it a 2 1/2-man race then, and it’s probably fair. If Zollers outplays the more experienced quarterbacks on the roster, MU would seriously consider starting him. It’s just that the odds of a true freshman doing that are quite long.

No one will be surprised if Zollers winds up redshirting the 2025 season. Maybe he gets into a blowout game for a series or two just to get a taste. Whether that happens will be an interesting look at how Drinkwitz and offensive coordinator Kirby Moore want to develop the program’s highest-rated quarterback recruit since Drew Lock.

As is fairly common among modern college football players, Zollers enrolled early to participate in spring practices. He looked impressive, partly because his high school career had ended just a few months earlier with his foot pointing a different direction from the rest of his leg in a grotesque ankle injury.

Avoiding ligament damage helped him hit the ground running at Missouri, where it’s been his arm that’s most eye-catching.

“Matt’s got one of the liver arms within our room,� Moore told the Post-Dispatch. “He’s made throws that are very impressive.�

While reporters only see very limited parts of the Tigers’ fall camp practices and have not seen the quarterbacks throw against defenders or more than 20 yards downfield, Zollers’ arm looks on par with those of Horn and Pribula.

That shouldn’t be a surprise, given that Zollers threw multiple 60-yard passes — that’s 60 yards through the air, not a catch-and-run situation — at the high school level.

Power is hardly a concern for the four-star prospect out of Royersford, Pennsylvania, and is part of why Drinkwitz hasn’t fully ruled Zollers out of the competition.

The reality of practices has shown the 2 1/2-contender nature of the QB battle. While Horn and Pribula have alternated days spent paired with starting center Connor Tollison, Zollers has consistently taken snaps from fellow frosh Henry Fenuku.

When Zollers is in with the offense, Moore is trying to keep things streamlined to help his adjustment to a collegiate playbook and a far more challenging defense lined up on the other side of the ball.

“The big thing with Matt is we’ve got to make sure he’s playing fast and make sure we’re not slowing him down with too many schematics,� Moore said. “Make sure motions and we’re keeping those things nice and tight so he’s able to let his talent take over and make those throws that we’ve seen him make throughout spring ball and within the June period.�

Maybe it’s shown behind closed doors, but there haven’t been obvious deer-in-headlights moments of confusion or flubs from Zollers. His form is smooth, his body language confident.

Drinkwitz attributes some of that to Zollers arriving on campus early to get spring ball under his belt. But there’s a real sense around the program that it’s Zollers’ talent that has him poised to be a key source of potential for the future of Mizzou.

“I ran into Matt and (freshman wide receiver) Donovan Olugbode at breakfast (Sunday) morning, and man, you could just tell there’s a different confidence in them, knowing what to expect in practice,� Drinkwitz said. “Any time those guys know what to expect, there’s not going to be a drill that they haven’t performed before. They know what they’re going against every day. The lights aren’t going to be too big. I think you’re going to see a big jump.�

A prep star at St. Mary’s High School in ¹û½´ÊÓƵ, Coleman garnered a four-star rating from multiple national recruiting sites as well as the designation as the No. 1 prospect in Missouri as a senior. He also earned Post-Dispatch All-Metro Football co-Offensive Player of the Year honors along with East ¹û½´ÊÓƵ’ .

Coleman’s local high school exploits paved the way for the next three years. Coleman ventured out on a college football odyssey that included stops at Jackson State, Louisville and Mississippi State.

Now, Coleman has come full circle. This winter, he transferred to Missouri in advance of his senior season so he can finish his collegiate career back “home� and alongside his “brothers.�

Coleman’s willingness to return home also serves as a testament to how far the Mizzou program has progressed since its first couple of seasons under .

The season before Coleman joined the Jackson State program (then coached by Deion Sanders), Mizzou went 6-7. The next season, Coleman’s freshman year of college, Mizzou went 6-7.

Then came an 11-2 season with an appearance and a Cotton Bowl win against Ohio State in 2023. Last season, Mizzou went 10-3 and finished ranked No. 22 in the final AP poll. Meanwhile, Coleman’s cohort Luther Burden III made himself an NIL darling in his final season and then a second-round pick in the NFL draft.

“The way Coach Drink took this place over and put on for our state, Mizzou back in the days was known for football but not in the previous years until he came and he just worked this place up to the top,� Coleman said on Sunday, as he prepared to start his first fall camp as a member of the Missouri football team.

“We’re still working. I definitely see this (program) in a different place than I’d seen it previously.�

Last season’s game between Missouri and Mississippi State, which Missouri won 39-20, also marked the day Coleman knew it was time for football to bring him back home.

“Even though I was going against a team I wanted to beat really bad, especially my hometown team, I was definitely cheering Jamal Roberts on inside my head, inside my heart when he was touching the ball,� Coleman said.

“That’s a guy I played high school with. I actually watched him play growing up because he was a younger guy, so I got to watch him play.�

Roberts, who helped St. Mary’s win back-to-back state championships as a junior and senior, joined the Mizzou program in 2023. Roberts got limited playing time as a freshman (two games, one carry, one tackle on special teams) in Columbia, but Coleman kept throwing encouragement and advice his way.

Leading up to last year’s matchup, Coleman and Roberts remained in touch and even exchanged some friendly barbs. Roberts’ longest run of the season, 14 yards, came in that game against Mississippi State.

Afterward, Roberts and Coleman got together on the field to take a few photos. That’s when Coleman really felt the tug at his heartstrings.

“Having talks with Jamal Roberts and after the game taking pictures with a few ¹û½´ÊÓƵ guys and just having that feel like I’m with my brothers again,â€� Coleman said of what made him decide to come back. “You know, the guys I grew up with. The guys I grew up playing against. The guys I talk to and communicate with. And we’re doing the same thing.

“We all have the same goal, and that’s to make it. To make it out the city we’re from and put on for the city we’re from. So I had that vision after the game and talking with Jamal Roberts. Like, ‘Hey if you’ve got the opportunity to come back, why not?’�

Coleman joins a wide receiver group that lost three of its top four receivers (by yards) from last season. While he’s a newcomer to Mizzou, Coleman earned All-SEC third team honors last season and ranked third in the conference in receiving yards per game (77.7).

He hauled in 74 passes for 932 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games last season. In his three collegiate seasons, he’s tallied 1,769 receiving yards and 11 touchdown catches as well as 48 punt returns for 322 yards.

Coleman should give the Mizzou offense a steady presence at wide receiver as they break in a new starting quarterback — either redshirt junior Sam Horn or Penn State transfer Beau Pribula.

Asked what Coleman brings to this team, Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said, “A lot of plays made in the SEC against different competition. He’s done it in different conferences. I think the quarterback’s confidence just in him making plays, tight coverage, finding windows, the leadership within the receiver room.�

“Kevin has been awesome, his football acumen,� Moore continued. “I’ll ask him questions about difference schemes that he’s been a part of. He’s going to be a big asset this fall.�

He also received a $100,000 bonus for signing the extension and will receive another $100,000 if he’s still the defensive coordinator on Feb. 1 of next year — essentially, if Batoon doesn’t take another job during the next offseason cycle of coaching changes.

That salary range will place Batoon roughly around the 30 highest-paid assistant coaches in college football. Offensive coordinator Kirby Moore, who makes $1.5 million per season, is tied for the 22nd-highest salary, per USA Today’s database of coach contracts.

The contract was signed by Batoon on July 7. It follows a new deal signed by Eli Drinkwitz that gives the sixth-year coach a larger pool to spend on assistant coach salaries — something evidently put to use quickly.

“We’re building something special at Mizzou, and I’m incredibly grateful to be a part of it,� Batoon said in a statement. “This program is full of talented student-athletes and coaches who take pride in doing things the right way. I’m thankful to Coach Drinkwitz and the administration for their trust, and I look forward to continuing to elevate our standard of excellence on the defensive side of the ball.�

Mizzou hired Batoon from South Alabama in January 2024, signing him to a three-year deal that ran through the 2026 football season and paid $1 million per year.

The Tigers’ passing defense improved under Batoon in 2024, though it did give up more to opponents on the ground. Heading into 2025, however, Batoon’s defense has the depth and star power to take a step forward in his second season.

“It’s been a great working relationship,� Drinkwitz said of Batoon near the end of the 2024 campaign. “I think the defensive staff has grown with more and more synergy and understanding of each other in what we’re trying to do.�

Eli ±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýHello, all! Happy fall camp. The Tigers are practice and extending their coaches at a fast and furious pace. Our coverage is kicking into gear as all that happens. Exciting times here in Columbia, Mo. Now, for your questions!

³¢´Ç²Ô²µ³Ù¾±³¾±ðµþ±ô³Ü±ð²õ¹ó²¹²Ô:ÌýHello Eli - I always appreciate your excellent work on the Mizzou beat - and I’m also a fan of your work on KTRS - The Big 550! What if…. Sam Horn lights it up as QB1 this season - my understanding is he still has one more year of eligibility “afterâ€� this season. Does his baseball contract with the LA Dodgers include an escape clause where he could pay his baseball signing bonus back - and play another year of Mizzou football next season? Thank You

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThanks, and I'm glad you made the KTRS mention — this is something Brendan and I talked a little bit about on the program yesterday. I'd be really, really fascinated to see Sam Horn's contract with the Dodgers and learn how it might be different from non-football-playing prospects' deals.

You're right that he has one more year of football eligibility remaining beyond this one. (Not your question, but his baseball eligibility is gone now that he's signed with an MLB team.) Horn playing football in 2026 would be fine by NCAA rules. But would the Dodgers be OK with that? Would Mizzou? 

This shouldn't really come as a surprise anymore, but when I was chatting with assistants at the start of fall camp and asking about their summers, they rightly pointed out that they don't really get summers. Maybe three weeks somewhere in there, but spring ball happens in February and March, there are OTAs in June, camp starts in July and the season runs August-December. Players are still around in between those times, too. It's a year-round sport, which I bring up to say Mizzou might not be happy with a quarterback who's not around year-round. Horn probably missed as much football time as he conceivably could to pitch a bit for the baseball team late this spring.

So to me, without knowing his conversations with Mizzou or the Dodgers, this feels like the football finale. Tough to imagine the Dodgers being OK with delaying this another year, tough to imagine MU working with a pitching prospect schedule. Technically, him playing in '26 is possible, but that's how I see it.

¶Ù°ä³Ò:ÌýEli: We all know that the Cook/Horn QB "competition" was a total farce and the Cook was Eli's guy all along. I'm not sure whey he went through the pretense but he did. We all assumed that Pribula would be the guy given what was likely spent to get him to Columbia, but Eli has, again, presented this as a legit competition. It feels more legit, this time, primarily since Pribula doesn't have all that much experience, but it still feels like Eli and Kirby like the mobility factor as part of the gameplan. Personally, I prefer the guy that can push the ball downfield with accuracy, whoever it is. What is your sense this time around?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýHere's the thing with '23... Drinkwitz would've played the QB who gave the program the best chance to win, I think, regardless of who that was. It just was quite evident that Horn wasn't ready and Jake Garcia wasn't that talented and Cook was fairly far ahead of both. So yeah, didn't wind up being all that much of a competition.

This one feels different. I'd say more legit, too. A couple months ago, I probably would've said it's 66.6% Pribula, 33.3% Horn. Now, I think that's more like 60-40. And I've had people who've seen more than I have tell me it's closer or even in Horn's favor. 

The reason I still lean Pribula is precisely what you mention: the mobility. It's not that Horn can't/won't run, it's just that Pribula is smooth and savvy and used to that. And I still don't have a read on where their arms stand. We know Horn throws a pretty ball, but it's hard to evaluate accuracy when we're watching routes against air. I haven't seen any issues this week with Pribula's throwing, but again we haven't seen much, period. 

There's a way you can view this quarterback competition, if it's Pribula's legs vs. Horn's arm, as a referendum on what the offensive philosophy will be. Does Moore/Drinkwitz/etc prioritize keeping a dual-threat QB in place, or do they try to roll with somebody who can take the top off the defense? I'm not sure it's really viewed like that inside the building, but that's a way we can think about it. Of course, the ideal scenario is not needing to choose between the two things.

One more note: Without me asking directly about it, Moore praised Pribula's intermediate accuracy. I'm assuming he means the 10-20 yards downfield range that most consider "intermediate." That could be a handy bread and butter for an offense...

Fly Man: Morning Eli! Hearing anymore buzz on B Ball recruiting?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThere'll be a small handful of official visits during the fall, tethered to football game weekends. The highest-profile one is Toni Bryant, who's a 6-9 power forward — and more importantly, a five-star. He's visiting during Border War weekend, which shows how much of a spectacle MU wasn't to show up. The fact that the Tigers are getting an official visit from him means his interest is serious.

´³´Ç³ó²Ô³¢:ÌýYoung Man-Has your crystal ball de-fogged to a point to provide your insight for a 2025 prediction for the season? Is success mostly tied to QB production?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'll set the line at 8.5 wins. Here's why... I put the 12 games loosely into three buckets: need to win, should win, could win.

Need to win: Central Arkansas, Louisiana, UMass, Mississippi State. 

Should win: Kansas, Texas A&M, @Arkansas, @Vanderbilt

Could win: @Oklahoma, @Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina

You could talk me into flipping A&M and South Carolina, but that's not really the point here. Taking care of all the games Missouri needs to or should win gets to eight wins. That feels like the minimum, to me, to maintain this trajectory. A good season, then, becomes doing better than that and pulling off a tough SEC road win (OU, Auburn) or beating a CFP caliber team at home (Bama, USC). 

Maybe the Tigers drop a should win but pick up a could win. But that's how I see it and why I'm setting it at 8.5.

Now, your second question is interesting. How tethered to the QB situation is this? To a significant degree, success and QB play will be correlated. Not breaking any new ground there. But honestly, whether the defense looks like one of the best in the SEC or just middle of the pack might be more of a bellwether than where the QB falls in the conference hierarchy.

´³´Ç³ó²ÔÂá:ÌýEli, let’s say that QB position competition is a draw and they both look like starters. Do you think that Drink would go into the season and eventually the SEC games with a two QB rotation? I’ve seen it work before in the past but not sure if they’d employ that in 2025.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThat's a great question and one I have too. Haven't asked Drinkwitz about the possibility yet, but I'm not sure what he'd really say about it — that's the sort of thing MU probably wouldn't want to give away before they go and do it. Part of the intrigue is that Pribula was part of that situation at Penn State, coming in to run (mostly) in lieu of Drew Allar. Maybe that's something where even if Horn wins the job, there are still some plays for Pribula. Given that the Nittany Lions made it into the CFP with that system, MU could be a little silly not to use Pribula that way even if Horn's the starter, no? 

In the event of a true 50-50 draw, I do wonder whether Pribula would get the nod because he's more likely to spend two years as the starter, whereas while Horn has two years of eligibility, there's the baseball matter explored above. 

Lots of possibilities to think about here. My boring but probably most accurate thought is that we'll have to wait and see on a lot of how it plays out during the season. 

¶Ù°ä³Ò:ÌýHas the QB battle overshadowed what could be a terrific defense? I wonder if that is getting ignored with all the lowball prognostications for Mizzou. Their D-line has tons of talent with the kind of depth that will keep fresh guys out there all game. It's another reason that I think Mizzou will confound expectations.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýProbably. The QB battle overshadows more or less everything, doesn't it? It's what I'm writing the most about and what I think y'all are the most curious about. The D-end and linebacker rooms at Mizzou are the deepest they've been in years. This is teasing a story I'll write this weekend a bit, but Brian Early, the D-ends coach, told me he's going to force it down to a rotation of four. Once you look at the talent, that seems sort of ludicrous because there are easily six who could play and hold their own — and that's after losing two to the portal. Linebacker's in a similar spot. 

That's why I said above that the defense might be more important than the QB this season. (Is that fair to weigh one position against 11? Maybe not.) If this is, say, a top-four defense in the SEC, that unlocks a whole, whole lot in potential for this team. 

³¢³Ü:ÌýRE: Horn signing with the dodgers... I've read people say this affects nothing about the QB competition, but I'm not sure how confident I'd be giving the reigns to a guy who has one foot out the door. I'm happy we have a capable backup, but it feels like that's his ceiling to me.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'll tell you the same about the competition. Only in the event of a true tie would that be a factor, I think. Drinkwitz will go with whoever gives him the best shot of winning this season. More than ever, he's (rightfully) building rosters one year at a time because there's no guarantee of who's around next year. If signing with the Dodgers affects Horn's ability, that'll show during the competition and he'll lose the job. But he's not going to be taken out of it simply because he signed. 

³¢³Ü:ÌýDo you know if that scrimmage at Lindenwood will be open to the public? Kind of doubt it, but that'd be awesome

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýIt will not be. I'll write a bit about this right before it happens, but that's more about getting the players used to what travel looks like, logistics, rules, routines, etc. Doesn't look like there'll be an open practice or scrimmage at all this preseason, unless the schedule changes.

³¢³Ü:Ìýhow do you predict the RB time share will shake out? To some degree it feels like Hardy will be a bell cow, but that's a lot to put on a young man making the transition to the SEC. You think Marquise Davis carves out a consistent role?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýI'll be especially interested to see how this plays out early in the season. Hardy's young, but Curtis Luper, the RBs coach, emphasized that they'll be monitoring how many hits he takes this season when refining his workload. That's the tricky balance with having a running back you want to lean on: getting him acclimated early on so he can find his form in the SEC, but trying to minimize some contact so he's still fresh-ish come November. I would imagine Jamal Roberts is RB2 given his experience, but Marquise Davis has a great shot at getting a role. Assuming he gets Kewan Lacy-esque opportunities, he'll have plenty of chances to prove himself. And Davis has about as ready of a body for SEC play as a freshman can. 

°Õ¾±²µ±ð°ù²ú´Ç³ú:ÌýIt appears the QB battle is a real competition. Has Horn's play surprised Drink and company? In other words if the coaching staff knew Horn could play at this level why spend a reported 1.5M on Pribula when a roster filler/backup QB would suffice?

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýThat's an interesting way of thinking about it. I suppose it has surprised them, but mostly be default. When the portal was open and they signed Pribula back in December, Horn had only just started throwing again after Tommy John. Coaches liked what they saw at the time, but there were just some inherent unknowns with that recovery process, plus a baseball season ahead for him. So while they thought he could get to an SEC starter level, they needed to bring in another option — and I suspect they wanted to have a competition anyway since that tends to bring out the best. I'm not sure whether the degree to which Horn is competing is surprising or not, but probably not a ton — this staff has believed in him and let him do the two-sport business from the get-go.

Mizzou Fan - Dallas: Is Marquis Johnson the wide receiver the real deal? Last year Brady Cook over threw or missed him completely.

±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ÌýDepends a bit on what you mean by real deal, of course. He's incredibly quick, but that's been evident since 2023. The key for him is expanding his route tree. That was the case heading into '24, but just didn't seem to happen. Maybe that was the general step back taken by the offense, maybe it wasn't. He caught seven passes for 122 yards and a touchdown in the Music City Bowl, which is the best baseline we have for what his role will look like this season. That probably suggests he's ready. But what does Mizzou need him to be? Kevin Coleman Jr. and Joshua Manning will be the other two "starting" receivers. That could be an even trio or there could be a hierarchy. Getting Johnson to fill the Mookie Cooper role would probably be ideal. 

That'll do it for our chat today. Thanks for all the questions and for those of you that read this far. Same time next week!

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“It was definitely tough,� Horn told the Post-Dispatch of his recovery. “Took a little bit longer of a process just because of the whole two-sport deal.�

Oh yeah, the two-sport deal: the thing that might make Horn the most interesting college quarterback in the country.

He’s Sam Horn, the former four-star recruit who played with Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter in high school. He’s Sam Horn, the evergreen source of potential despite just eight career passes thrown in his college career. He’s Sam Horn, the contender in this season’s starting quarterback battle who shouldn’t be counted out of it and might even have a better chance of winning the job than many have acknowledged. He’s Sam Horn, the quarterback who wears No. 21.

And he’s Sam Horn, the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching prospect. The two-sport deal.

The Los Angeles Dodgers picked Horn late in the MLB draft a few weeks ago, setting up a decision for the strong-armed righty. His agent had made clear to baseball clubs that Horn playing football this fall was non-negotiable, which explains why the top 100 prospect went in the 17th round of the draft.

In the end, he worked out a compromise with the National League powerhouse, signing for nearly $500,000 — some $350,000 of which came above what his draft position would have earned, sweetening the deal quite significantly — and the blessing to hit the gridiron once again, per MLB Pipeline guru Jim Callis.

Horn, talking with reporters just a couple of hours before he signed with the Dodgers, called the MLB draft “a cool process to be a part of.�

“It’s something new every day,� he said.

Really, that’s been Horn’s entire career at Mizzou.

Two-sport athletes, and two-sport quarterbacks more specifically, are rare but not unheard of at the college level — the sporting equivalent of seeing a live armadillo in Missouri, perhaps.

Horn, who hails from Lawrenceville, Georgia, committed to the Tigers in part because he could pursue both football and baseball. He made a cameo against New Mexico State as a true freshman in 2022, throwing two incomplete passes and recording one 10-yard run.

Nonetheless, he competed against Brady Cook and Jake Garcia — more the former than the latter, it must be noted — for the starting job in 2023. That battle came down to the season opener against South Dakota, but Horn didn’t seem to get the same kind of opportunity in that game as Cook did.

Horn went 3 for 5 for 54 yards, a touchdown and an interception in that second-half showing. The touchdown was a silky 31-yard throw over the middle, and the pick was a bobbled pass that wasn’t really his fault. But Cook was the starter, and Horn was relegated to throwing just one more pass during the rest of that season.

“Even when it was Sam and Brady going into ’23, you kind of had some expectations of how Brady was going to play the game and so on and so forth,� coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “Sam had to really go in there (and) beat him out in order to get that job. Just wasn’t able to get over the hump. This (year) will be uniquely different.�

Hang on — not to 2025 quite yet.

Early in 2024, Horn underwent Tommy John surgery to fix a UCL injury in his right elbow. The procedure seemed more geared to prolonging his chances at a baseball career than football, given the nuanced yet significant differences in throwing motion between the two sports.

So Horn missed all of the ’24 season, appearing at practices, games and team meetings but unable to actually throw a football. His time on the shelf wasn’t without learning experiences.

“It was really good being around Brady and just watching Brady, how he works,� Horn said. “And honestly, just missing football: You sit there and you’re just watching. You miss it. It’s good to be back.�

He started working his way back ahead of MU’s Music City Bowl appearance that capped the season, then looked to be good to go at the start of spring practice earlier this year.

While he pitched for the Tigers baseball team later in the spring, Horn was naturally around the football program less than Pribula was, but that doesn’t seem to have discounted the former’s chances at winning the starting QB job all that much.

There’s a noticeable difference, to coaches, in the Horn who’s competing for the starting job this year compared to the 2023 version. His throwing motion is still crisp and powerful, his spirals still impossible to ignore when they’re zipping around the practice field.

After a year of only being able to work on the mental aspects of quarterbacking, that’s where Horn has made his greatest gains.

“Naturally, (he) got a lot more reps within college football and seeing it,� offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said. “The amount of meetings and processing, and you’ve got to be able to play fast. We’re playing in one of the conferences (where) ... a lot of things happen quickly at the line of scrimmage, so you’ve got to make quick decisions and take care of the football within that.�

One of the eventual determinants of which quarterback will start for the Tigers might well be the mental aspect of it. In that regard, Horn’s already in a position to succeed because he battled back to be in this competition — something Moore called “his care factor.�

“Last year was very unfortunate with the injury,� Moore said, “and that was our big thing to Sam: ‘Run your race. It’s still you vs. you.’ We needed to bring in competition with the depth in the (QB) room, but he’s done an awesome job.�

It was the wrong hotel.

“The only thing on my mind at that moment,� Pribula told the Post-Dispatch, “was, ‘I really need to go to the bathroom.’ I had to pee pretty bad. Soon as he’s done talking, I got out of the car, I was like, ‘Where’s the nearest bathroom?’ I walk in there and blink. This place looks a little different than the hotel I’m staying in. Whatever, I went to the bathroom. Next thing you know, he’s calling me: ‘Hey, I dropped you off at the wrong one.’�

Drinkwitz came back and drove Pribula to the correct hotel. He still got his quarterback, so no harm was done.

“I’m not sure what he thinks about my intelligence level,� Drinkwitz said, “but it was good enough to get him to play for us.�

Now, Pribula is battling with returner Sam Horn to start as MU’s quarterback this season. Through the first two practices of fall camp, the competition seems fairly neck and neck. True to Drinkwitz’s promise that they’d split first-team opportunities early on, Pribula was the first quarterback out for drills Tuesday after Horn was on Monday.

Pribula is, technically speaking, the most experienced quarterback on Missouri’s roster. But in the grand scheme of college football, he’s more of an unknown.

Penn State, where Pribula spent his first three seasons, used him mostly as a situational runner to give a play a different look from starter Drew Allar. Across his time with the Nittany Lions, Pribula ran the ball 94 times for 571 yards and 10 touchdowns. Through the air, for comparison, he only attempted 56 passes, completing 37 for 424 yards and nine touchdowns.

And of those passes, just 18 have gone to targets 10 or more yards downfield, according to Pro Football Focus’ tracking.

Pribula, the runner, is a known commodity. Pribula, the passer, less so. The Post-Dispatch asked him Sunday, the first time the Tigers’ newest quarterback met with the media, whether he feels he’s been able to showcase all he’s able to do as a QB.

“It’s a good question,� Pribula said. “A lot of the time that I went in at Penn State, it was usually a run, unless (it was) when Drew got hurt and I had to be the full-time quarterback and the entire playbook was open for me at my disposal. I think there’s definitely opportunity for me to, hopefully, be in a role where I can run and throw.�

If Mizzou’s Kirby Moore-designed offense looks like it has during his first two seasons as offensive coordinator, the quarterback run will be a staple. Both designed runs, read plays and scrambles made previous starter Brady Cook a productive runner.

Given that Pribula has to this point mostly made a name for himself with what he’s able to do on the ground, he’d seemingly have a leg up in that category when it comes to the MU quarterback competition. Does he feel like he surprises people, then, with his arm?

“I guess so,� Pribula said. “They didn’t get the opportunity to see me throw as much just because I would come in and run, usually. Maybe it would surprise people, but hopefully moving forward, it doesn’t as much.�

For their part, his new coaches have frequently praised his arm. Not that they would publicly share any other sentiment, but they’re believers in what he can do through the air.

“He made some great throws on some intermediate throws within spring ball,� Moore said. “So he can throw the football.�

“When you watch the tape, there’s not an inability for Beau to throw — he just didn’t quite have the opportunities,� Drinkwitz said. “I would say after this spring, I’m as confident as ever that Beau is a very talented passer. I don’t have any reservations about that.�

Getting Pribula to Columbia in the first place was the result of an emotional exit from Penn State for the quarterback.

He grew up in York, Pennsylvania, and committed to the Nittany Lions as a sophomore in high school — there were no doubts in his mind about where he wanted to play college football. With eligibility to play in 2025 and 2026, he thought he would start there when Allar went on to the NFL draft.

Except shortly before the start of last season’s College Football Playoff, Allar’s trajectory changed, and he looked headed back for one year of college, which would’ve meant another year in a backup role for Pribula.

He entered the transfer portal to find a starting job and in doing so needed to leave the Nittany Lions just as they were beginning their postseason. Penn State coach James Franklin backed Pribula’s decision, rightly pointing out the impossibility of a college football calendar that requires portal entrants to take early visits while teams are still in the playoff.

If the nature of his transfer wore on Pribula, it hasn’t been evident through the start of his first preseason at Missouri. He seems upbeat, competitive and matter-of-fact when it comes to talking about the decision.

“I played in a lot of fun games there, had some good experiences,� Pribula said. “But when Drew decided to forego the draft — I liked Penn State, I love Penn State, but at the same time, I love playing football too. Just the opportunity to play football is something that I really wanted to do.�