Missouri Tigers football opens camp. The quarterback competition is fully open, too
Luther Burden was easily the biggest story line of Missouri football’s offseason. The five-star receiver touted by players and coaches for his college readiness and one-handed catches likely won’t be a question mark for the team’s 2022 campaign.
But what will be uncertain heading into fall camp on Monday is who the now-215 pound receiver will be catching passes from during Missouri’s season opener against Louisiana Tech at Faurot Field on Sept. 1.
“Open quarterback battle,” quarterbacks coach Bush Hamdan said at a media availability session on Sunday. “This is the best time of the year. … It’s fun. It’s always stressful. You never really know what to expect.”
Not too much has changed since head coach Eliah Drinkwitz spoke to the media June 2 during offseason summer workouts. Drinkwitz repeatedly said that he would not name a starting quarterback until freshman Sam Horn arrived on campus and had a chance to compete for the position.
Missouri’s competition features just about everything. In age, it ranges from Horn, an 18-year-old who just enrolled in his first college class, to Jack Abraham, a 24-year-old married man playing for his fifth college football program in seven years. Redshirt freshman Tyler Macon and sophomore Brady Cook have shown that they can also be explosive with their legs in addition to their arms.
Macon and Cook presumably enter camp as the favorites after beginning their Missouri careers as backups to Connor Bazelak. Both Cook and Macon started one game last season after Bazelak dealt with injuries and struggled down the stretch.
“We got old guys, we got guys who have been here for two years, we’ve got freshmen,” Cook said. “It’s a full room, with a bunch of different personalities and experiences. It’s been a real blast.”
Macon’s only start came in Athens, Georgia against the eventual National Champion Georgia Bulldogs. Macon completed six of 13 passes for 74 yards and added 42 rushing yards in a 43-6 loss. Macon said that he reflected on the game and now takes pride in what he learned.
Cook started over Macon and Bazelak in the Armed Forces Bowl. He completed 27 of 34 passes for 238 yards and one touchdown and also added a rushing TD. But after spending the past two seasons primarily on the bench, he’s not taking this chance for granted.
“I just come into it thinking this is my opportunity,” Cook said. “Just go get it done. You don’t get many opportunities like this one in your football career. I’m just going to stay calm, compete every day and go get it. …
“The competition is what it is. It’s not going to go away until Week One is here. I’ve just got to stick it out and go get this thing done. Right now, it’s just an exciting feeling. Everyone’s happy. What will really be the test is Day 14, Day 15, when everyone’s tired. I’m focused on when that tired feeling hits, when that hard feeling hits, how am I going to respond.”
Horn, a two-sport athlete and youngest of the bunch, was not a lock to even join Missouri’s football team this fall. A highly regarded top-75 prospect in baseball, Horn waited until July’s MLB Draft to make the decision to stay on track and enrolle in Columbia. Now he has a steep learning curve ahead of him.
Abraham, another wild card in the competition, brings the most experience to the group. He began his career at Louisiana Tech in 2016 and last year competed with Will Rogers for the starting quarterback job at Mississippi State.
“He’s a guy that’s got a nice quick release,” Hamdan said. “He’s a good processor. I just go back to that maturity, that intelligence part, where he’s certainly a football junkie type kid. That’s going to really help him in the situation he’s currently in. Having to be ready to go fast.”
Hamdan said that there’s no timetable on when a decision will be made. If a player is pulling away after two weeks, they might give him an opportunity to lead the team. But he doesn’t mind waiting until the final day either.
“Certainly the decision will not be rushed,” he said.
