How 4-star freshman Sam Horn could impact Missouri football's quarterback competition

Eli Drinkwitz has a decision to make.

With Missouri beginning individual skill instruction and with fall camp opening July 31, the time is coming for him to decide on the team’s starting quarterback. 

With four-star freshman Sam Horn in town after completing his high school baseball season, Drinkwitz finally has the pieces in place to make an informed choice.

The contenders: Horn and fellow newcomer Jack Abraham, plus Brady Cook and Tyler Macon, who each started games for the Tigers last season in place of 2021’s regular starter Connor Bazelak.

"I think I’ve been very clear since the start of spring that I would not name a starter until Sam Horn had the opportunity to compete for that position,” Drinkwitz said during a Thursday press conference. “That is ongoing and starting right now.”

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The complicating factor for Horn is the upcoming Major League Baseball Draft. A two-sport star in high school, who didn’t enroll early at MU due to his roundball obligations, Horn will be taken at some point in the July 17-19 draft.

Depending on how high he goes and the money involved, Horn may well choose baseball.

"I am not naïve to the fact that Sam is going to have a difficult decision in front of him in mid-July,” Drinkwitz said. “He is an unbelievable baseball player with the ability to get drafted.”

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Even with the possibility of losing Horn to the MLB Draft, Drinkwitz was optimistic about his potential. Horn won a Georgia state football championship in 2021 with Collins Hill High School and fielded offers from Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky, among others.

At Missouri, he would have the opportunity to continue playing baseball in addition to his football duties.

“He’s got elite-level arm talent,” Drinkwitz said. “He’s a big, strong, physical player. He’s got a lot of ability but he’s got a lot of development to do and he’s got to get sped up to the game of college football.”

With an early-season schedule that includes games at Kansas State, Auburn and a home matchup with defending national champion Georgia, Drinkwitz felt he needed more experience in the room. To remedy the situation, he brought in Abraham from Mississippi State.

Going into his seventh year of eligibility, Abraham was contending for the starting job in 2021 with the Bulldogs before suffering a concussion. He previously played at Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech and Northwest Community College (Miss.).

“That was something that we had to have,” Drinkwitz said. “Being able to explain that to Brady, Tyler, the football team and the Horns: the team, the team comes first. I had to put ourselves into a position for our team to be successful with contingency plans, and so that’s what we were able to do.”

More: What to know about all 5 of Mizzou’s quarterbacks entering the 2022 season

Drinkwitz was complimentary of the spring efforts of both Cook and Macon. Cook started in place of Bazelak in the Armed Forces Bowl to end the 2021 season, while Macon was under center to begin the game against Georgia last year.

Both of them played in Missouri’s spring game in March, with unofficial stats showing Cook completed 16 of 20 passes with two touchdowns and an interception. Macon threw two picks, including one to seal his team’s defeat, but threw for a touchdown and 233 yards, while also pitching in 35 rushing yards.

“Brady Cook and Tyler Macon both had good springs,” Drinkwitz said. “Us looking at a potential transfer quarterback was really no slight on them. It was more of, there’s one thing neither of those guys can change, and it’s the amount of experience they have playing college football.”

Missouri will begin camp the last day of July, at which point Drinkwitz said he would expect the roster to be set, including Horn.

He said he would expect a starter to emerge “sooner, rather than later.”

Matt Stahl is the Missouri athletics beat reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @mattstahl97.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou's QB competition includes potential MLB Draft pick Sam Horn