Mizzou QB coach Garrett Riley details quarterback room, offensive staff dynamic
COLUMBIA — Mizzou football is going to have a quarterback battle for the second consecutive season.
Not only are there new faces battling for the starting gig, there’s new faces making the decision on who wins it. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz remains at the top of the pecking order, returning for his seventh season with the program, but the following two decision-makers are fresh faces in Columbia.
There’s Chip Lindsey, a veteran offensive coordinator who’s pairing up with Drinkwitz for the first time in his career. Then there’s quarterbacks coach Garrett Riley, who previously worked under Drinkwitz at Appalachian State before taking stops at SMU, TCU and Clemson.
Riley and Lindsey are also crossing paths for the first time and collaborating quickly to build an offensive philosophy to maximize Missouri’s offense to the highest of its potential.
“(Lindsey) kind of came from a similar background that I did,” Riley said. “A lot of similar philosophies, but everybody has their own spin on things, and so that's been exciting for me, and fresh to get around him, some new ideas, new ways of thinking about some things. And so that's the fun part for us as coaches, is really — same thing as our team, right? Like, we got to gel together, and we got to develop team chemistry from a staff standpoint, and I think that's something that Chip does a really, really good job of.”
The staff will work with each of Missouri’s quarterbacks to decide who stands where in the depth chart. Before deciding the pecking order, they’ll need to familiarize themselves with the players first.
“Right now, it's just all about individual player development,” Riley said. “We need to make sure that we see Matt Zollers, Nick Evers, Austin (Simmons), Gavin (Sidwar), Brett Brown, all these guys must be better by the time we get to the end of spring. So, I mean, that's the main thing we're looking at right now.”
There also has to be a sense of understanding from the players perspective — every snap in the quarterback competition will matter, but stick to the process, and the results will come.
“You got to maximize your opportunities,” Riley said. “But you also got to just wait for it to come to you, like you got to be assertive in everything that you do. But there's also a little bit of understanding that it just doesn't need to be too big, right? Relax, understand what your process is. And so that's what we're trying to instill in these guys right now — really staying consistent that way, and just not getting ahead of yourselves.”
As the offseason moves along and the signal-callers start to take their place in the depth chart, Riley and the staff can then shift the primary focus of the room from a joint development to a competition.
Here’s what he’s looking for in that second stage.
“And then as you get into it, it's certainly ‘Who can, who can lead us to score?, ‘Who can take care of the football and be consistent in decision-making, okay?’ And then the execution part of it, right? You can be a great decision-maker, but if you never make a play, that's not a great formula.”
Now knowing what Riley, Lindsey, Drinkwitz and the rest of the staff are looking for, let’s run through their options.
Austin Simmons transferred to Missouri after three seasons at Ole Miss. He didn’t receive a snap in his 2023 freshman campaign, but threw for 1,026 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions in his subsequent redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons. The left-handed field general was ranked a four-star transfer in the 2026 class and a highly-touted addition for the Tigers.
Perhaps his three seasons of prior experience is what helps factor into what Riley likes most about him: his poise.
“The thing I like about him is he's a poised guy,” Riley said. “I don't think anything gets him too high or too low. There's not a lot of panic in him, learning a new system, learning his new teammates, just all those things combined. It's definitely been one of the highlights, just as we evaluate him.”
Simmons wasn’t the only transfer Missouri added in the portal, though, as the Tigers brought three-star Nick Evers from UConn. Evers has plenty of stops in his career, spending time with Oklahoma and Wisconsin before joining the Huskies. He started for part of the 2024 season, throwing for 918 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions before losing the starting job to Joe Fagnano, who kept the role through the 2025 season.
Evers now joins Missouri as an experienced veteran who’s been through the ups and downs of college football. While he’s certainly not the favorite to win the starting job, his addition to the room can’t be overlooked.
“Nick's the old man in the group. Hell, he may be older than I am, to be honest,” Riley joked. “So we get around with him a good bit about that. But you know, he's a veteran. He's bounced around, a little bit of a journeyman… I was recruiting him a little bit when I was at SMU — so several stops ago — but I love Nick's experience, and I think he's a really good teammate. I think he really understands how to be level-headed and stay even-keel throughout things… he's a talented guy. I mean, he really is. So he's done a good job for us, really providing depth and having a chance to maximize his reps right now, so very fortunate that he's here.”
While Simmons and Evers were additions through the portal, returning quarterback Matt Zollers will present a viable case to compete for the starting job as well. Zollers started three games for the Tigers in 2025 along with playing portions of a handful of other contests. He threw for 503 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions in his true freshman season, showing promise for what Missouri’s future could hold.
But as last season exhibited, what many expect to be the future can accelerate into the present at a moment's notice — Zollers was sprung into a starting role after the first and second-stringers were injured. While his time as a starter in 2025 was unexpected, he can now make a case to outright win the starting job in the 2026 competition.
“Love Matt,” Riley said. “Matt's a competitive guy. That's what's really stuck out to me here early being around him. Obviously, he's talented. Big arm, has a little experience. But I think he's a guy that's eager. I really think he's a hungry quarterback, hungry football player, to really get better, to learn the why of what we're doing.”
Rounding out the room is three-star incoming freshman Gavin Sidwar and returning walk-on Brett Brown. Either of the pair starting would be unlikely to say the least, but neither scenario is impossible — Zollers started games as a true freshman and Brown threw a potential game-winning pass in the Gator Bowl.
No matter where they sit in the depth chart, each quarterback plays an integral role to Missouri’s offense, as showcased in seasons prior. Riley, rightfully, takes pride in his guys.
“I always take a lot of pride in the quarterbacks,” Riley said. “Having their back, being consistent for them, being a consistent presence, teaching and developing these guys, where they can be the best they can here at Missouri, but also set them up for the next level. But I take a ton of pride in really getting to know them and having that relationship.”