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Abraham brings experience, accuracy to Mizzou QB competition

It took a few tries, but Eli Drinkwitz and Missouri have added another player to the Tigers’ quarterback room. While Jack Abraham arrives as a walk-on, make no mistake, he will have a legitimate chance to compete for the starting spot. That was the primary thing the well-traveled graduate transfer was looking for in a new school, he told PowerMizzou.

“Throughout the whole process I’ve had walk-on spots, I’ve had scholarship spots,” Abraham said. “The main thing for me was just getting that opportunity and getting a fair chance to compete for a starting job. Walk-on or scholarship doesn’t matter, I’m going to go out there and work my tail off and earn my stripes."

Abraham will square off with Brady Cook, Tyler Macon and incoming freshman Sam Horn for the starting quarterback position. What does he bring to the competition? The most noteworthy characteristic is experience. Drinkwitz has been vocal about looking for someone with starting experience behind center. While Cook and Macon have each started one FBS game, Abraham, entering his seventh college season, has started 27, all with Southern Mississippi. Three of those starts came against SEC competition.

We took a look back at Abraham’s time at Southern Miss to assess what else he can bring to Missouri.

New Missouri quarterback Jack Abraham has started 27 college games in his six-year career.
New Missouri quarterback Jack Abraham has started 27 college games in his six-year career. (Tom Morris, LATechSportsPix.com)
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Abraham’s most noteworthy strength on the field has been his accuracy. In 2018, his first season as the Southern Miss starter, Abraham completed 73.1 percent of his passes, which led the nation. Across his three seasons as the Eagles’ starter, Abraham connected on 69.3 percent of his attempts.

That wasn’t simply a product of checking down all the time, either. Abraham wasn’t afraid to push the ball downfield, and showed an ability to connect when he did so. Abraham averaged 8.2 yards per attempt across his three seasons at Southern Miss. For comparison, Missouri starter Connor Bazelak averaged 6.8 yards per attempt last year.

On passes that traveled 20 yards or more downfield, Abraham earned a Pro Football Focus passing grade of better than 90.0 in both 2019 and 2020. He was one of 40 quarterbacks nationally to reach that threshold in 2019 and one of 37 to do so in 2020. During his Southern Miss career, Abraham completed 39.6 percent of his deep passes (20 yards or more) and averaged 14.82 yards per attempt on those throws. Last season, Missouri as a team completed 30.4 percent of its downfield throws and averaged 11.43 yards on such attempts.

One concern with Abraham, however, is his tendency to turn the ball over. Abraham has thrown 10 interceptions compared to 11 touchdowns on deep passes. Overall, he threw 29 picks while at Southern Miss, versus 41 scores.

Abraham also hasn’t shown much as a runner. He ran for a grand total of 25 yards across his three years at Southern Miss, although that includes yardage lost due to sacks. Abraham had to deal with a lot of pressure as a Golden Eagle; he was sacked 46 times in 27 games. In 2019, he was pressured on a whopping 35.3 percent of his dropbacks.

Abraham acknowledged that he’s unlikely to be labeled by anyone as a dual threat quarterback, but he’s not a statue, either. He did rush for seven touchdowns while at Southern Miss.

“I’m not the best runner, not the fastest, but I can make something happen if I need to,” Abraham said. “I get out there and usually run a lot faster when there’s large humans chasing after me.”

The other concern about Abraham that can’t be ignored is his injury history. Abraham missed two games in 2018 due to injury. In 2020, his season ended after five games due to a concussion. He endured another concussion last June, and he had to miss all of last season due to post-concussion syndrome. He announced in April that he had been cleared by doctors to return to the field.

Having not played in a college game since October of 2020 and never having seen the field for a Power Five team, Abraham arrives at Missouri with significant question marks. But his starting experience and ability to push the ball downfield represent assets the Tigers’ other quarterbacks have not yet shown. Time will tell whether or not they will be enough to win him the starting job.


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