Two more fall camp practices remain for Missouri football, and Eli Drinkwitz is dialing up the “urgency.” Here’s what that means for MU's QBs and more.
Eli Drinkwitz was in a teaching mood at Lindenwood.
Missouri football, to close its third and final full week of fall camp practices, journeyed to St. Charles, Missouri, to stage a team scrimmage that mimicked the intricacies and operations of a road game. The team traveled Friday, stayed overnight and woke up Saturday with a mock-game on deck.
But the Tigers’ head coach had a twist stored up.
Before the practice, Drinkwitz removed the helmets from a number of his key players — an indicator that they would not be suiting up for the scrimmage. The majority of the players held out were the Tigers’ most-experienced team members; the sure-fire two-deep members Drinkwitz doesn’t need to see again before the new campaign kicks off.
“I told them, ‘Hey, when you go on the road, you always face adversity. You never know when somebody's got to step up,’” Drinkwitz said. “‘And so these guys that don't have helmets aren't playing today, and go figure it out.’”
Missouri football is heading into its final full week without a game before the 2025 season begins. The Tigers will open their new campaign against Central Arkansas at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28 on Faurot Field.
The end of camp will come quicker. Mizzou will hold its 17th and 18th practices of the preseason Monday and Tuesday, respectively, and then it’s into gameweek preparations — when things get a little more urgent; a little more real.
“I told them next week's all about urgency,” Drinkwitz said. “You know, we’ve got to have urgency to raise our level of where we're at. We can't just coast. We’ve got to have some urgency to get going.”
So, what’s still left to settle?
Well, let Drinkwitz’s helmet-confiscation calls give you a clue.
One of the position groups whose guardian caps stayed firmly on their heads at Lindenwood was the Tigers’ quarterbacks, meaning Beau Pribula and Sam Horn both went live in action in the faux road game.
Drinkwitz, during an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show last Thursday, said there had been a little bit of separation between Pribula and Horn, but did not specify which player had taken the pole position. He went on to say that the other contender, whoever that may be, clawed their way back on level footing.
The head coach said in St. Charles that he has broken down the numbers from the contenders on the team’s off day, and from third downs to touchdown/interception ratios to completion percentages he noted “it's remarkable how close it is.”
It seems likely at this point in camp that both QBs trot out for the opener against UCA, as Drinkwitz again said he has no timeline to make a call and that he isn’t “pressed” about having it settled by Week 1. Mizzou has little to lose by running both QBs out against the FCS-level Bears.
Before that arrives, it seems like Pribula and Horn will get their mettle tested.
Playing the scrimmage behind closed doors and removing the players the quarterbacks have practiced the most with in camp could very well be the type of day that decides the order in that matchup, however. Drinkwitz wants to see who can handle the hard.
“For me, it's about being a transformational leader at this point, and who's going to lean into the team and really get the most out of those guys,” Drinkwitz said. “And they're going to have to kind of separate themselves from the quarterback battle and really get the most out of the guys they’re playing with.”
Once the quarterback revelation arrives, the Tigers are more or less done with depth decisions.
The offensive line — while wildly different than it looked three weeks ago — appears to be settled.
Cayden Green looks likely to remain at left tackle. Dominick Giudice’s versatility and experience has the staff comfortable with putting him at left guard. Connor Tollison, provided he is healthy, and Keagan Trost are locks to start at center and right tackle, respectively.
All that’s left to sort out now is whether Tristan Wilson or Curtis Peagler is the fifth and final starter along the line at right guard.
Drinkwitz has said to this point that he feels confident about approximately 18 defensive players being involved in the rotation, but he would like to see that number get closer to 25. While some of those final few rotational spots may still be up for grabs, the two-deep isn’t likely to see too much change before Aug. 28.
So, it’s full steam ahead with the season in sight.
If it wasn’t the case before, as urgency gets dialed up a notch, all eyes are on the QBs.
“I'm not going to force the decision, and then that means that they would both play in the first game, and we'll evaluate those reps,” Drinkwitz said. “But I don't feel the pressure like, ‘Oh, I've got to make a decision. We got to move on and solidify it.’ Like, that's not the case with this football team. So, this team's growing. All of us need urgency to raise our level, because, again, we didn't start fast enough today.
“So, there's got to be urgency when you show up to play. But that doesn't mean I need urgency to make a decision and force the wrong thing to happen, right? Be quick but don’t hurry.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Why Eli Drinkwitz called for ‘urgency’ as Missouri football nears end of camp
Category: General Sports
