Mizzou puts practice No. 1 of spring camp in the books

By: Nathalie Jones

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) -- The Mizzou football team officially kicked off head coach Eli Drinkwitz's sixth spring camp in Columbia, with the first of 13 total practices.

There's a lot of new faces up and down the roster, and even on the coaching staff, but the eyes of local media all turned to one of the Tigers' new quarterbacks. Former Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons took the field for first official practice in the black and gold.

On Thursday, when Coach Drink addressed the local media ahead of the start of spring ball, he made sure to mention just how excited he is for the quarterback competition he has this season. Simmons will be in competition with returner Matt Zollers for the starting job in 2026.

Although nothing will be decided in spring, it's a good chance for chemistry to be built.

Simmons' presence in camp does add a new wrinkle for Coach Drinkwitz that he hasn't had a ton in the past. The former Rebel quarterback is actually a left-handed QB, which can present its own set of challenges.

"The truth of it is that if a left-handed quarterback actually ends up playing for you, they usually turn out to be really good because they have had to overcome a lot of bias. You know, you look at Kellen Moore at Boise State, you look at a guy named Steve Young. You know, those guys had to overcome a lot of bias to get that opportunity and then they turned out to play really, really well," Drinkwitz said. "It will affect some of the crux beliefs that coaches have about quarterbacks like you don't ever boot to the off hand of the quarterback, so we might have to be conscientious of that. I think there is some conscientious things that I've challenged both Garrett [Riley] and Chip [Lindsey] to make sure we're aware of in our scripting, to make sure that that we're not putting our quarterback in a negative spot. But, other than that, [Simmons has] got to go play some football snd I'm sure he's been battling that stigmatism his whole life of being the lefty."

Friday's practice also marked the first time that first-year offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey got to take the field for a camp. Coach Drinkwitz added him in the offseason, after former OC Kirby Moore left to be the head coach at Washington State.

Lindsey came to Columbia after spending a year rebuilding the offense at Michigan. Coach Eli said he will bring some fresh ideas to the Tigers.

"He's been through, these battles and wars, he's coached at a really high level in a lot of different places and feel like he has a low ego, high output. Obviously, he has a history of quarterback development. He's got plenty of pelts on the wall from the quarterbacks that he's developed in the offensive schemes that he's had," Drinkwitz said. "To be able to bring him in, combine him with the staff that we have, bringing in some other voices from the outside with Alex [Atkins] and Garrett [Riley], I thought has been a really good addition and look forward to seeing what they do offensively."

Over the course of spring camp, the goal for players is individual development, which also means earning their numbers. Coach Drinkwitz has never just given a player, no matter their experience, a number when they walk on campus. On Friday, there were dozens of no-number guys out on the field, as those players will look to earn that on their jersey, this spring.

Up next - Mizzou will hit the practice fields, again, on Saturday.