Some of the biggest offseason questions for the Tigers after their Gasparilla Bowl loss to Wake Forest was who would be the quarterbacks coach? Who would be the offensive coordinator? And would there be a transfer portal addition in the quarterback room?
In the span of fewer than three weeks, Missouri has answered all of those questions. Kirby Moore was hired from Fresno State to be the new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator while Miami transfer Jake Garcia will be the new transfer quarterback. Garcia will battle for the starting job with last season's starter Brady Cook, as well as Sam Horn and four-star signee Gabarri Johnson.
What does this mean for the program and spring football?
Garcia, who has three seasons of eligibility left, likely wouldn't have come if he thought he was going to just be holding a clipboard, so the starting position is, for all intents and purposes, to be determined.
Drinkwitz signed an extension in week 10 of this past season and the Tigers finished the regular season .500 for the third time in Drinkwitz's three-year tenure. There has to be more progress for this program as a whole, but especially on the offensive side of the ball; hence the addition of Moore, Garcia and a couple of other offensive transfers.
Cook's up-and-down play in 2022, as well as the team averaging 24.8 points per game, isn't going to cut it in 2023 and Drinkwitz knows that. Hopefully, for the Tigers, there is more of a quarterback competition than there was last season which saw Cook win the job a week into fall camp.
Going into spring football, it will be a two-man race between Garcia and Horn. Cook is expected to miss all of spring as he recovers from a torn labrum in his right (throwing) shoulder, and Johnson will not be an early enrollee and will finish out his senior year of high school. The Tigers also have JUCO walk-on transfer Dylan Laible and walk-on Tommy Lock, who are likely going to be bodies for depth.
Many strides can be made from spring football to fall camp, but both Garcia and Horn will have a chance to one-up the other and put Moore's new scheme to work on the field. Cook will still be learning from the sidelines obviously, but unless Garcia and Horn really struggle, he might be at a slight disadvantage for the time being.
What does this mean for fall camp?
Going into fall camp it will likely be a three-player race among Cook, Garcia and Horn. Even though Johnson will come in June it's almost unfathomable to expect a true freshman who missed spring football to adjust to college life and pick up a Southeastern Conference offense by week one. He likely will redshirt like Horn did last season.
Cook had the best season of the three and for as much flak as he got for his inconsistent play, especially early on in the season, he finished the season strong and was the team's best offensive player for the last three regular season games to help them reach bowl eligibility. Yes, Cook was the best player on the same offense that featured Luther Burden III and All-SEC second-team wide receiver Dominic Lovett, who has since transferred to Georgia, for an important stretch of the season.
He also played with the torn labrum from midway through the Kansas State game in week two all the way through the bowl game, so it's safe to say the injury probably hampered his ability to play to his full potential.
Cook got better with his decision-making in the second half of the season and he didn't throw an interception after week eight versus Vanderbilt. Not to mention he was the Tigers' second-leading rusher.
Twelve of his 19 touchdowns came after that game as well. He knows the offense, he has a season of being an SEC quarterback under his belt and arguably could've had an eight-win or nine-win season if things outside of his control didn't go in favor of the Tigers' opponents (week four at Auburn and week 10 versus Kentucky).
Cook throws some questionable passes and it can be argued that the reason he didn't throw an interception after week eight was because a number of opposing defensive backs dropped likely picks or penalties negated an interception from counting (such as the defensive pass interference against South Carolina when Cook threw a pass to Mookie Cooper in double coverage).
Cook will have to wait until fall camp to show what he can do with the surgically repaired labrum, but his understanding of how to play in this league and the rapport he has already built with the team as last year's starter works in his favor.
Garcia was the nation's 47th overall player in the class of 2021, according to Rivals. Recruiting rankings don't mean nearly as much once players arrive on campus, but it does often serve as a good estimate of a player's ceiling and potential.
Garcia comes to Columbia after spending the last couple of seasons with Miami where he appeared in nine games over those two years racking up 950 passing yards seven touchdowns and four interceptions. Last season, Garcia appeared in eight games and went 1-3 in starts. He completed 68 of 115 (59%) passes for 803 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions.
Mario Cristobal runs a power-spread offense which has many similarities to Moore's offense and what he's expected to run for the Tigers in the fall. So, Garcia will more or less be on the same accord as everyone else learning Moore's version of the offense.
What Garcia has going for him is he can make all the throws the offense would require him to make, but he doesn't panic when faced with a rush and while he rushed for minus-75 yards last season he is capable of leaving the pocket and scrambling for a couple of yards or executing some zone read and or option plays. Another underrated thing for him is he is used to learning new offenses. He went to five high schools in four years and actually led his Grayson (GA) team to a 38-14 win over Horn and Collins Hill in the Class 7A Georgia state championship in 2020.
Garcia has had a slight tendency to throw bad interceptions as evidenced by his three-interception performance versus Duke last season. All turnovers are bad, but some are great plays by the defense or an unlucky bounce here or there, but that wasn't the case versus Duke, so he'll have to improve his decision-making.
Again, Garcia likely comes over knowing the position isn't automatically his, but he must feel confident in his ability to compete and win the starting job. Transfers rarely move if they know they're going to be backups.
Horn, Cook and Garcia all have good size for the position, but Horn is probably the most athletic of the three which is no small feat considering how mobile Cook proved to be and how well he used his legs to make plays last season.
He played one series last season versus New Mexico State and went 0 of 2. He did have a 20+ yard reception wiped out by an illegal man downfield penalty, but besides that Horn spent most of his time on the sidelines learning the game. Like Garcia, he was a highly recruited four-star quarterback and he won a state championship alongside the nation's No. 1 player, Travis Hunter, the season after losing to Garcia in the title game.
The talk around Horn last season was that he simply wasn't ready and that's why he only got to play one series, but he has the tools. In high school, he showed he can throw with velocity (of course he can because he's also on Missouri's baseball team and has a 95-mph fastball) and touch. He also showed that he can be shifty once he gets out of the pocket and into space. His biggest thing will probably be working on his accuracy and decision-making which he will have more than enough chances to work on during spring football and fall camp.
Lastly, Horn certainly has the most fanfare behind him and while that has nothing to do with on-field production it might be a motivating factor for a coach entering season four with less-than ideal-results. He's someone fans have been interested in since he signed. Having fanfare isn't enough of a reason 一 if any reason at all 一 to play someone. Drinkwitz should let whoever is the best option play and it will be up to Horn to earn that opportunity.
The quarterback competition is now up for grabs. Who will be the quarterback come week one is anyone's guess, but what's certain is there will be at least a three-man competition and Drinkwitz will have to make sure whoever he picks gives the team the best chance to succeed.
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