After three years of Brady Cook taking snaps, the Missouri Tigers will have a new signal caller going into the 2025 season.
But who it will be is yet to be determined, though offensive coordinator Kirby Moore has been pleased with all three options, as well as the incoming freshman in the quarterback room.
“They’ve been very supportive. Everyone’s embracing each other,” Moore said. “When they’re taking the reps, they’re right behind them taking it, they come off, ‘Hey, what do you, what did you see there? What do you think about this? In the meeting room, they’re working together, watching film extra. On Sundays, which is an off day for us, hey, they’re texting me, Drew (Pyne), Sam (Horn), Beau (Pribula), ‘Hey, can we all watch film together?’ Which is really cool.”
Horn returns as a redshirt junior after missing a season with a UCL injury he suffered during the lead up to the 2024 baseball season.
He was able to return to throwing progressively throughout the 2024 football season and eventually was able to fully be part of the Tigers’ bowl prep as the team prepared to face Iowa in the Music City Bowl in Nashville.
“Yeah, the bowl prep was, was really cool for him to get out there,” Moore said. “Hey, get some seven-on-seven reps within that transition here into the spring, I don’t think (the transition) was as drastic and he’s taking it head on, done a really good job, right? Going with different groups, seven-on-seven team, and very similar to Beau, has done a great job taking care of the football.”
But instead of becoming the de facto main man when Cook graduated, Horn has entered a competition with both graduate Pyne who led the Tigers to a win against Oklahoma late in the season last year when Cook was injured and junior Pribula, who spent the past two years as a gadget option at Penn State before joining the Tigers in the transfer portal.
The main attribute Pribula was able to show in his limited time with the Nittany Lions was his mobility. His ability to run the ball was clear in those opportunities and has become more so through his first spring practice with the Tigers.
“It’s definitely a benefit, right? It’s a, I think I’ve seen that firsthand, right, the last two years, being with Brady and all of our guys have been able to extend plays, be a part of the run game, be a plus-one team at times,” Moore said. “And that’s something in this conference, you’ve got to be able to do when you need it.”
And the Tigers get to see all their options going against a top-tier defense filled with high-quality pieces, making sure each quarterback is ready for what they will see during the season.
“The defense that we’re going against, the front seven, they are very, very good and that’s making us better,” Moore said.
But no matter which option the Tigers go with, whether Horn, Pribula or Pyne and as the coaching staff gets its first glimpses of freshman Matt Zollers, the focus has remained on individual improvement with the plan to build around each player’s strengths once more decisions have been made.
“That’s really the goal of this spring ball is personal development, right? It’s individual player development, building the DNA of our offense and then figuring out what our guys do well,” Moore said.
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