Head coach Eli Drinkwitz and select players from Mizzou Football assembled today to talk to the media during the lead up to this weekend’s Border War matchup.
Drinkwitz began the media session by remembering KOMU Sports Director Ben Arnet, who tragically passed away on the day of the Central Arkansas game and worked for Mizzou Athletics for nearly a decade.
“He was a great man, a great True Son, and somebody that I know everybody in this room will miss greatly. It seems inappropriate to just move on…
but Ben would know there’s a story to tell,” Drinkwitz said, “The story is not finished yet, so we’ll be keeping his family and friends in our thoughts and prayers, and we will continue to tell the story of Mizzou just like he would.”
Here’s what the Tigers had to say:
Eli Drinkwitz
- Drinkwitz said that starting kicker Blake Craig will miss the rest of the 2025 season after fully tearing his ACL. He had surgery today to repair the injury.
- Robert Meyer will take over field goal kicking duties, and the team also brought in Ryder Goodwin from JUCO school Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. Oliver Robbins, who was previously at NAIA Florida Memorial before joining Mizzou in the offseason, will now take kickoffs.
- Drinkwitz also said that Sam Horn will be out for an “extended period of time,” but that the team does not know exactly how long that will be yet. Mizzou brought back Brett Brown, a walk-on quarterback who was with the team the past few seasons, to bolster the depth of the quarterback room.
- On the significance of the Border War: “Obviously, it’s an important game to a lot of people. And our team fully is aware of the importance of this game to our fans and the state, and what is represents nationally and what it represents in a historical significance. We’ve embraced it, we understand it; we’ve taught about it, we’ve made sure our team knows about it, we’ve had guest speakers.”
- Drinkwitz was asked but declined to elaborate on what speakers were brought in and what they specifically talked about.
- On the 2025 Jayhawks: “They did an excellent job rebuilding the roster from last year. I think their quarterback [Jalon Daniels] is a terrific player. He’s back to his former self to I think maybe two years ago, going into preseason, he was two in the preseason Heisman rankings, and he’s returned to that form, in my opinion.”
- Also on the Jayhawks: “I think the team is very well coached, very disciplined in how they play. It certainly will be a challenge for our program and our team because of what they do. So we’ve got out hands full between understanding the rivalry and the intensity of the game and understanding the game is played on the field.”
- On getting to be a part of the rivalry: “It’s a privilege to wear the Mizzou on your chest. And when you wear Mizzou, you represent the six million people in the state, and that’s just current. I think we’re team 136 [in Mizzou Football history], and there’s some people that felt like there’s just a lot of importance, and this is our chance to write our part of the story.”
- On playing or coaching in a rivalry game: “You’ve got to understand it; but once the ball is kicked, you’ve got to play the game. And you’ve got to play the game with execution of fundamentals and technique, and the most important thing for us right now is to improve from last week’s performance.”
- On how to help handle the emotions of your team during a rivalry game: “I think there’s a fine line between overhyping and getting so emotional that you don’t have poise and control. You want to have energy; you don’t want to be emotional. And we want to have great, positive energy and be excited to play.”
- On the sellout crowd Thursday night: “What an awesome way, to sell out, to start the season. The environment was tremendous: the students were loud, they were early, and that student section was rocking. [I] can’t thank the administration enough for the new lights; I think the new lights and the ability to create an atmosphere was tremendous.”
- On moving forward from the first game’s performance: “That’s really the name of the game is improvement. You know, it doesn’t matter how good you are right now, it’s how much better can you be, and can you close that gap? And that’s really what we’re looking for this week is to close that gap of becoming the best team that we can be.”
- On Matt Zollers’ development and readiness: “I think our staff has done a really good job of growing Matt while also allowing Beau and Sam to compete for the job; we really didn’t hinder his reps or performance while we were doing that. We were actually very cognizant in fall camp, in summer walk throughs and during spring, to make sure he was growing and developing reps. Because make no mistake about it, Matt Zollers is the future for us at the quarterback position here.”
- On if there will be any changes to Pribula’s playing style after the Horn injury: “Beau’s gonna be Beau; I don’t need Beau to change anything. You can’t control injuries, you can’t be afraid of them. You’ve got to play your game, and whatever makes Beau the best quarterback he can be is what Beau’s got to be.”
- On new kicker Robert Meyer: “He’s got a great leg. It’s just confidence and understanding conditions, right? He’s always been able to kick, so he’s just got to have confidence he can do it in front of sold out crowds, which is always a nervous thing to do.”
- On the offensive line: “First drive, obviously, was really good. And I don’t remember if it was the second or third drive, we had a couple of issues. One was a communication issue on the slide; we thought we were on the slide side and we weren’t. One, we just got beat. And look, first time to ever play left tackle here; that’s going to be part of the growth process. I was more concerned with the interior movement that we weren’t able to get: there was a fourth down that we didn’t get the movement that we needed to in the A gap, and we weren’t able to secure the back side of the outside zone the way we need to in order for that play to be effective. That was more concerning to me than the [pass protection].”
Beau Pribula
- On what he’s learned about the Border War: “I had no idea about the whole Civil War history. I thought it was just a sports rivalry, but I guess it goes beyond that, so I thought that was pretty cool.”
- On playing in the atmosphere of a big game: “That’s why you play. That’s why you want to come to schools like Mizzou, to play in big time atmospheres. So like you said, being a part of big time games in the past [at Penn State], it’s just a lot of fun. But at the same time, you’ve got to have the same process.”
- On what it means for ‘Beau to be Beau’: “I’ve always kind of had a knack for just running the football, but at the same time, how can I use that most effectively? Keeping my eyes up right before the line of scrimmage to extend plays, using my feet can be a threat, but how can that be most effective?”
- On Sam Horn’s injury: “It probably hasn’t been easy for him, but we’re all here to support him. He was in a meeting the other day, just two days after, which just says a lot about his character.”
- On if he’s doing anything different after his first start: “It’s really the same process each week, just consistency. I think really the [same] minute to minute schedule each week, and just following that and being consistent will be big for the entire season.”
- On helping prepare Matt Zollers: “Both being from Pennsylvania, I feel like I take a little bit of responsibility for helping him out, just being a freshman [and] especially now that he has to step up. I set my schedule, my process, and [I’m] just taking him under my wing as much as possible to help with some of that stuff just being a freshman.”
- On how the offense can improve: “Putting together efficient drives and scoring touchdowns every time. We don’t want to settle for three ever. And just continuing to read every play through, trust what you see, go through his progression and just continue to take what the defense gives you.”
Jalen Catalon
- On his experience playing Jalon Daniels: “I’m taking tendencies and things I’ve seen before, but I know every single year people develop and become better than they were last year. So we’ve just got to bring our A game and be ready to go.”
- On how he’s developed since joining the Tigers: “After looking at the film, one thing I grew at was just letting the game kind of come [to me] a little bit more. I think there were still some times last week where I kind of tried to force myself to make plays, but it was good just to kind of have that feedback from my coach and realize that I’m right there to make plays too. It’s just knowing that we have a really great defense, and everybody’s going to make plays.”
- On what he’s telling younger players going into their first major game: “Enjoy it; have fun. This is what college football is all about. The rivalry is all about all the thing that people make it to be; but at the end of the day, I tell them it’s just another game. The sun’s going to come up tomorrow, and we’re all going to go about our business and we’re going to do our thing.”
Connor Tollison
- On the o-line’s performance week one: “I thought it was a little slow, a little clunky. I think we’ve got to do a little bit better at communication between one another. But it’s always that first game, you’ve kind of got to get it out of the way and just improve on it this week.”
- On what led to some of the breakdowns in the line: “Miscommunication, just thinking somebody might have help inside and they don’t. It really starts with me just getting everybody on the same page. That’s probably the hardest thing about playing 0-line, is getting all five guys together. If you’re missing one and something happens it can be glaring, so getting all five guys to play as one unit, I think it’s our biggest thing moving forward.”
- On how to improve the line’s communication: “I think at practice, you kind of have to be a little obnoxious about the communication. And I think the more games you play together, naturally, it just happens. It’s easier, you’ve kind of seen it before, so maybe you’re a little more comfortable talking. Yeah, I think you just have to overdo it in practice.”
Nick Rodriguez
- On Jalon Daniels: “He’s an all-around great athlete and player, so he’s put some things on tape that makes it challenging for us.”
- On using the intensity of a rivalry game: “Just play the game, the game we grew up playing. The game we love to play: violent and physical.”
- On being part of the team to renew the rivalry: “It’s awesome to be able to come out here and represent for team 136 of Mizzou Football. It’s just a great opportunity that’s presented in front of us, and we’ve just got to go achieve it.”
