Columbia, Mo. — Mizzou football revamped its quarterback room in the 2026 offseason, and with it the identity of the team. Former starter Beau Pribula is out. He transferred to Virginia, who Missouri fell to in the Gator Bowl. Pribula's backup, Matt Zollers, will take on a new role but is staying at Missouri. 

Here's who makes up Mizzou's new-look depth chart. 

QB1: Austin Simmons
QB2: Nick Evers
QB3: Matt Zollers
QB4: Gavin Sidwar
QB5: Brett Brown
Unknown: Sam Horn

Let's break down what role each of these signal-callers will play in 2026. 

Simmons will likely mark Missouri's third consecutive season with a different starter under center since Brady Cook in 2024. Simmons  enters Mizzou with just two career starts under his belt, in which he threw for 576 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions against Georgia State and Kentucky. 

His addition is in a similar vein to Pribula's last offseason as quarterbacks with little experience at the collegiate level before becoming a starter. The difference between the two is that Simmons actually held a starting role — he won a quarterback battle between himself and Trinidad Chambliss ahead of the 2025 season. Pribula never did that, having sat behind Sean Clifford and Drew Allar at Penn State for the first three seasons of his career.

After Simmons went down with an injury, Chambliss took his spot and never relinquished the job again. Simmons may have lost his job, but the more appropriate way of phrasing it would be that Chambliss won it — sitting behind a senior quarterback who totaled 4,070 yards and 30 touchdowns on one of the best offenses in the nation isn't something to discredit Simmons for. 

He has since signed with Mizzou with the projection of becoming a full-time starter for the first time in his collegiate career. Simmons, a four-star transfer, brings the potential to unlock Missouri's offense with his mobility and arm strength. 

Realistically, all he needs to do support Mizzou's star running back tandem of Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts to help the Tigers' offense function. Hopes may be high, but there shouldn't be a heavy weight on Simmons' shoulders to carry in offense in his first season as a full-time starter. 

Zollers entered the 2025 season as fourth-highest ranked quarterback commit in program history. Despite the high ranking, he was slotted to sit behind both Pribula and Sam Horn for his true freshman season. 

But instead of recovering from a previous leg injury and learning the ropes of what it takes to be an SEC quarterback, Zollers' developmental season was robbed from him when both Pribula and Horn suffered serious leg injuries. 

Horn suffered a torn meniscus in the first game of the season, moving Zollers up the depth chart from QB3 to QB2. This caused him to play three of his five redshirt-preserving games in Missouri's non-conference slate. This meant that if Pribula went down in conference play, Zollers would have to step in as the starting quarterback and burn his redshirt. 

That happened in the third quarter against Vanderbilt, as Pribula dislocated his ankle which sidelined him for the remainder of that game along with the next two, launching Zollers into the starting lineup. 

Zollers performed as a true freshman is expected to: high highs and low lows — he totaled 503 yards, four touchdowns and two touchdowns in his spotty season. 

But it was clear Zollers wasn't ready to start — his sputtering performances against Texas A&M and Virginia proved that. Missouri did what they could in the 2026 offseason to make sure Zollers won't experience another chaotic season in his sophomore campaign and can now take his developmental season he was once allotted. 

Evers is the solution to allowing Zollers to take the gap year. He's a four-year veteran with experience in multiple situations under his belt transferring to Missouri to play a team-first role for his final season of college football. 

He began his career at Oklahoma in 2022, where he threw one incomplete pass as his lone attempt. Evers quickly hit the portal and transferred to Wisconsin for the 2023 season, but never attempted a pass for the Badgers.

Evers finally earned a starting job at UConn in 2024, but ended up splitting time with Joe Fagnano after mediocre play resulted in him losing the gig. Fagnano nearly fully took over in 2025, as Evers ended his two-season stint at UConn with 1,023 yards, nine total touchdowns and five interceptions. 

Evers won't be immediate competition for Simmons or long-term competition for Zollers, but rather a safety blanket for both — if Simmons goes down, Evers can captain an offense for short stints and allow Zollers to keep his spot on the sidelines. 

The only way Sidwar should see the field in 2026 is if Simmons, Evers and Zollers all suffer injuries. While this is highly unlikely, Mizzou's quarterbacks have been struck by a wicked injury bug in recent seasons, so knock on wood if you'd like. 

Akin to what Zollers' 2025 season was supposed to be, Sidwar should get to develop for his true freshman campaign with the Tigers and learn the reigns for how to be a college quarterback. 

Brown is still listed on Mizzou's roster — most players who transferred away from the team are not. While he only threw one pass in 2025, that pass one of the most important plays of the season: a hail mary toward the end zone with the clock at zero and Mizzou down six points in the Gator Bowl. 

He may see the field for a snap here and there, but Brown is most likely insurance going forward. 

Horn was in a competition with Pribula for the starting quarterback job in 2025, but never got to finish it — his season ended after just one play, when he suffered a torn meniscus in Week 1. 

He missed the rest of the season recovering from injury but was drafted to the MLB by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2025 MLB Draft. Horn has a choice — turn pro in baseball to by joining the Dodgers or stick around and partake in the race for a starting quarterback job at Mizzou that he'll begin with a noticeable disadvantage. 

The choice seems clear — he likely won't play a factor in Mizzou's quarterback room in 2026 — but he hasn't made an announcement yet.