Talking season is in full swing.
This week, SEC head coaches and player representatives are taking the stage at the conference’s media days in Atlanta. The event started Monday and will run through Thursday, when Missouri football’s ambassadors will take the stage bright and early to talk some Tigers.
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Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz is set to speak at SEC Media Days beginning at 8:05 a.m. CDT Thursday. The Tigers are bringing along center Connor Tollison, safety Daylan Carnell and defensive end Zion Young to meet with the media, too.
Most of what you hear at media days is canned and uniform: Team X’s players are progressing nicely and there is excellent competitive depth and they had a productive spring and the team chemistry is unlike anything you’ve ever seen and … stop us if you’ve heard any or all of this before.
There are still some interesting topics that will likely surface out of Atlanta, so here are some storylines to watch as Drinkwitz and company take the stage to represent Mizzou at SEC Media Days:
Quarterback competition, Sam Horn draft status
Look, it’s going to come up. And the Tigers’ quarterback room did just get a little more intriguing.
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Beau Pribula and Sam Horn are expected to compete to be Mizzou’s starting quarterback this fall. Drinkwitz has been intent on letting this race run its course, meaning there is no set timeline for the Tigers to make a decision.
But the situation has shifted a little. Horn, a dual-sport athlete who also pitches for the MU baseball team, was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 17th Round of the 2025 MLB Draft on Monday.
Has Horn made a call, and has his draft situation changed anything about planning to play football in the fall? If not, are the Tigers any closer to making a call between him and Pribula?
The answer from the spring isn’t likely to change. Yes, there’s an open competition. Drinkwitz will likely say they’ll make the decision public as soon as they know. Any other answer would be a surprise. Still, the head coach is going to be asked.
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More: Missouri football QB Sam Horn picked in 17th round of MLB Draft. Now, he has a choice to make
More: Missouri football QB Beau Pribula talks Penn State transfer, Mizzou fit on podcast appearance
Missouri Tigers quarterback Sam Horn (21) during pregame warmups of the Tigers game against the Arkansas Razorbacks Saturday on Nov. 25, 2022, in Columbia, Mo.
Eli Drinkwitz called this his most talented team. Will he double down?
The Mizzou head coach appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show on March 20 and said that “this is the most talented football team that I’ve had since we’ve been here at the University of Missouri.”
SEC Media Days is a bigger stage, where storylines tend to make national headlines. Will Drinkwitz head to the lectern in Atlanta and deliver the same vote of confidence in his squad?
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Coaches tend to be a little more guarded due to the potential virality of quotes on the SEC Media Days stage. It’s a get-in, get-out-without-going-viral deal for most.
But this is a Mizzou team that could be on the cusp of doing something the program has never done and win double-digit games in three straight seasons.
After an 11-win 2023 and 10-win 2024, the Tigers turned over a lot of key personnel and have a preseason win-total set at 7.5 in Vegas.
Is that fair, for a team and coach who have proved they can get over the line?
Will Drinkwitz go to bat for his guys in the face of the media contingent that quite consistently has the Tigers ranked as a bottom-half SEC squad in the preseason? Will he project the same level of confidence as he did in March?
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This is certainly his chance.
More: USA TODAY Sports Network 2025 preseason All-SEC football predictions
Missouri Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz addresses the media at the 2023 SEC Football Kickoff Media Days at the Nashville Grand Hyatt on Broadway, Monday, July 17, 2023.
Does Drinkwitz take on any national-interest topics?
One of Drinkwitz’s best traits is his willingness to often address the larger issues in the college athletics landscape: The transfer portal; conference realignment; protecting regional rivalries (we’ll get there); NIL; the power structure (or lack thereof) at the top of college football.
But, the SEC Media Days is a different animal, and we’ve seen the Mizzou head coach join the filibustering bunch of coaches who read the depth chart in its entirety in recent years.
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He’s managed to avoid causing too much of a fuss on the conference stage.
Will he avoid it again this year? There’s plenty of topics he can take on, if he so chooses.
Revenue-sharing and the likely soon-to-be-sued College Sports Commission; the in-limbo eight- or nine-game SEC schedule; the structure of the College Football Playoff. Take your pick.
Will Drinkwitz dish up a good quote, or is he trying to avoid out-of-context social media clips this year? We’d guess he leans toward strictly talking about his football team rather than the national topics of conversation this week, but it would be interesting to hear his thoughts.
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Does Border War come up?
Drinkwitz has never shied away from his adoration for regional rivalries in college football.
Well, he’s got a big one coming back this year.
The Border War is back on the football field, with Mizzou set to host Kansas on Sept. 6. It will be the first time since 2011. KU coach Lance Leipold has already delivered his thoughts on the matter.
“Rivalry games are what make college football so special,” Leipold said at Big 12 Media Days. “I didn’t really realize when I first got to Lawrence that the Kansas-Missouri game is more of a rivalry than Kansas-Kansas State.”
That made some waves in Manhattan, as you might imagine. The Jayhawks haven’t beat the Wildcats since 2008.
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Added Leipold: “To go to Columbia this year will be special. I’m sure there are a lot of people on both sides of it that are going to be fired up. To see some of these rivalries get renewed is special and will be a great time and we’ll be looking forward to it.”
Drinkwitz is prone to leaning into rivalry games. He was pictured holding up a sign that read “Five Level One Violations” during a Mizzou-Kansas basketball game from the Mizzou Arena crowd in 2022, a barb at the Jayhawks for past NCAA violations.
Will he lean in even more this week, now that KU is less than a couple months from coming to town? He’s had some time to think up something good.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Top storylines as Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri football take on SEC Media Days
