The battle continues: Mizzou set to play both quarterbacks in season opener

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Mizzou football's quarterback competition will officially roll into the 2025 season, as head coach Eli Drinkwitz announced that both graduate transfer Beau Pribula and returner Sam Horn will play in the season opener versus Central Arkansas.

“I informed the team this afternoon that both quarterbacks will play in the first game. I want to see them in a game-day situation to make a final determination," Drinkwitz said in a statement.

The decision to see both players in a game-day situation comes after Coach Drinkwitz said Pribula and Horn were neck-and-neck throughout all of fall camp. However, it will not be the first time that Drinkwitz has taken a quarterback battle into the season. Horn played the second half of Mizzou's season opener in 2023, as he battled former Tiger star Brady Cook for the starting job.

Pribula brings in plenty of game experience, as he continues the QB competition. In three years at Penn State, he played in 24 career games and registered a 66 percent completion percentage for 424 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception. The graduate student was big in short-yardage situations for Penn State’s offense, as he tallied 571 rushing yards on 94 carries and 10 touchdowns. 

The former Nitanny Lion talked with local media members before fall camp kicked off, in July. When asked about how he would approach the looming quarterback competition, Pribula said he would stay true to himself. 

“I’ve been a part of a QB competition before. You know, it's nothing new to me,” he said. “It's really just one day at a time. Just focus on yourself. At the end of the day, it's like you're just competing with yourself, you know? And that's all you have to do.” 

Although Pribula served as the backup behind Penn State starter Drew Allar, he did get plenty of experience in big-game situations. 

“All the game experience I had and big time games, you know, on the road and games like the Big Ten championship…I think it just helps, you know, just having experience in general and that goes for anything. Inexperience in tough environments or just like home games and everything, you know, it’s not anything new. So, when we go on the road, this year or even when we are at home, it’s not something that’ll just be brand new to me.” 

On the other hand, Horn doesn’t bring much in-game experience into the competition, as he’s only played in four-career games in his time as a Tiger. However, he has been at Mizzou his entire career and has spoken highly of his experience working behind former Mizzou star Brady Cook. When media members caught up with Horn before camp kicked off, he said he learned a lot from Cook about how you should attack everyday. 

“Brady was really good preparation and I thought being prepared is probably the biggest thing,” he said. “Just watching how Brady worked and how meticulous he was and how he worked. Just the little details.” 

The Georgia native hasn't played football since 2023, after getting Tommy John surgery. In his four career-game, Horn went 3-of-8 passing for 54 yards and one touchdown. He also added on nine yards on the ground. Over the course of fall camp, Coach Drinkwitz spoke very highly about how Horn attacked his rehab and got ready to be full-go in 2025. 

No matter what Coach Drinkwitz's decision ends up being, once the 2025 season wraps up, Horn will be leaving Columbia and tackling his next adventure as a part of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He was picked up in the 17th round by the Dodgers in the 2025 MLB Draft, but is still able to play football due to an NCAA rule that allows an athlete to go pro in one sport and still play another one collegiately. However, once the football season is over, Horn will not be able to play for the Tiger baseball team in 2026. 

Week-in and week-out, as the stars of the 2025 Tiger team were interviewed throughout fall camp, the team hammered home just how confident they were no matter what quarterback was chosen. In fact, Coach Drinkwitz said that statistically the two were dead-even most of the preseason. What the decision would really come down to for him is ‘transformational leadership.’ 

Mizzou and their quarterbacks will kick off the 2025 campaign on Thursday, Aug. 28 against Central Arkansas.