If Beau Pribula takes over, he could ascend the list quickly.
So just who will be under center on Aug. 30 to take the first snap of 2025 when Mizzou hosts Central Arkansas? That’s the burning question most of us Tiger fans have atop our minds as we all look ahead to warmer weather and another exciting season.
If you were to ask the coaching staff, we all know the official canned answer will be that there’s no predetermined starter. That means there will be a healthy competition all throughout the off-season. Everyone is involved. Everyone has a shot. May the best man win.
Yada, yada, yada.
The funny thing is, us fans know that the coaches expect Penn State transfer Beau Pribula to win the job, even if they won’t come out and say it. I imagine the coaches know the fans also expect to see Pribula as QB1 this year too, in what is an important year for the program.
Can the Tigers maintain the level they’ve achieved the past two seasons, or will they take a step back as the roster has turned over?
Let’s assume that it is indeed a great competition between Pribula, Drew Pyne and Sam Horn, primarily, but that the former gets the starting nod.
Going with that line of thinking, it gets me reminiscing about who has been the best transfer QB in Mizzou history? What kind of season would Pribula have to produce in 2025 to surpass the previous best by a transfer?
Mizzou’s history of transfer quarterbacks is really thin, and I suppose that’s not surprising overall, as the concept of transferring is a more modern phenomenon. Even so, I was still surprised that my research indicated that the most impactful transfer QBs in program history have been (presented in chronological order):
- Terry McMillan (1968-69 / 20 games, 161-346 for 2708 yds, 22 TD, 20 INT, 46.5%)
- John Stollenwerck (1987-89 / 24 games, 114-254 for 1518 yards, 6 TDs, 12 INT, 44.9%)
- Kent Kiefer (1989-90 / 20 games, 348-589 for 4497 yards, 23 TDs, 30 INT, 59.1%)
- Kelly Bryant (2019 / 10 games, 181-292 for 2215 yards, 15 TDs, 6 INT, 62.0%)
- Drew Pyne (2024-present / 6 games, 49-82 for 391 yards, 3 TDs, 3 INT, 60.0%)
McMillan and Kiefer were junior college transfers, so that’s a different dynamic than the modern-day concept of taking a transfer from another four-year program. Effectively only three transfer QBs from four-year programs have ever had a significant impact for the Tigers. And the last one on the list, Drew Pyne, significantly impacted one game for all intents and purposes – but it was a critically huge contribution in 2024 as he led a thrilling comeback win over Oklahoma in relief of the injured Brady Cook.
Here’s a bit on each of these transfer QBs to refresh your memory.
McMillan was from Coral Gables, Fla. but went JUCO at Joplin Junior College (now Missouri Southern State) and in 1968 joined Dan Devine at Mizzou. He split snaps in ‘68 with Garnett Phelps and threw for 745 yards and four touchdowns as the Tigers went 8-3 overall and destroyed Alabama in the Gator Bowl. He returned as the starter in 1969 and helped lead one of the best Tiger teams of all time to a 9-2 campaign, and a share of the Big Eight title. He was much more of a playmaker his senior year, throwing for 1,963 yards and a Big Eight-record 18 TDs.
Stollenwerck was a Dallas native who attended SMU initially but left after the Ponies got hit with the NCAA’s death penalty. He came to Mizzou and was the primary QB his first year in Woody Widenhofer’s flexbone offense that was run heavy, so his stats weren’t eye-popping (831 yards passing, three TDs) as MU went 5-6 (unfortunately that would be Woody’s best season for his alma mater). In 1988 he was limited to six games (392 yards, three TDs), and he took a back seat in 1989 to JUCO transfer Kent Kiefer, playing in seven games his final year as a Tiger (295 yards, no TDs).
Keifer was brought in as a highly-touted passing QB in 1989 for first-year coach Bob Stull and his spread-style offense. He took over right away and did help the Tigers move the ball through the air better (2,314 yards, 12 TDs), but Mizzou could manage only a 2-9 record as Stull was rebuilding. He would split snaps in ‘90 with Phil Johnson as the Tigers went 4-7 but had a signature win over #21 Arizona State early in the season, only to be robbed of a monumental upset in the infamous Fifth Down Game against eventual (tainted) national champion Colorado. Kiefer would end up playing in nine games that season, throwing for 2,183 yards and 11 scores.
Amazingly, you have to go 30 more years before any type of transfer QB would play a prominent role for the Tigers, and that was when Mizzou won a well-publicized recruiting battle for Kelly Bryant of Clemson for the 2019 season. Bryant came in with a proven pedigree and hopes were high that Barry Odom’s squad would build on its win totals of seven in 2017 and eight in 2018. But it wasn’t meant to be, as the Tigers got ambushed in the season opener at Wyoming (despite Bryant throwing for 423 yards and two TDs). They would recover to win five straight and enter the rankings, but they would struggle down the stretch as Bryant was not 100% due to various injuries. The Tigers managed a win against Arkansas to end the regular season after receiving a ridiculous bowl ban from the NCAA late in the season, and after finishing 6-6, Odom was relieved of his coaching duties. Bryant would finish the year with 2,215 passing yards in 10 games and 15 TDs.
That leaves us with Pyne, who started his career at Notre Dame, went to Arizona State for one year and then found his way to Columbia, where he backed up Cook in 2024 and threw for 391 yards and three TDs in six outings. Of course, he’ll always be remembered quite fondly for his improbable comeback win against Oklahoma late in the year that helped keep the season afloat while Cook was out with injury. He threw for 143 yards and all of his three scores in that one. While he may not be the most prolific QB in school history, I hope that because of that OU win, he never has to buy a drink in CoMo the rest of his life!
So with all of that, there’s not much standing in the way of Pribula ascending to the top of this list – especially given the fact that he’ll have multiple years here if all goes well.
McMillan would be my personal pick as the most accomplished of this list to date, but that has more to do with the team’s success than his individual numbers. Kiefer threw the ball over the field, but those were for bad Tiger teams. Kelly Bryant was only here for one season that ended at 6-6 and an inglorious and unmerited bowl ban for Barry Odom’s last team in 2019, so while his numbers were decent, it was an experiment that just didn’t live up to the lofty expectations.
Nobody wants to put too much undue pressure on Mr. Pribula, but let’s hope that he makes the most of his opportunity this fall and helps in leading the Tigers to a big year. I don’t think it’s unfair to expect that the Tigers are in contention for a CFP berth into November.
What say you?
As a postscript to this, I wanted to mention that my friend and former boss Bob Brendel, longtime sports information director for Mizzou, reminded me about a fact that I’d forgotten about. Maybe the first true star in Tiger football history – Paul Christman – actually began his college career at Purdue.
Christman never played for the Boilermakers, and he wasn’t there for even a full semester before getting homesick after being buried ninth on the depth chart! The St. Louis native eventually saw the light and dropped out of Purdue and later found his way to Mizzou, where he would become an All-American under Don Faurot.
I guess technically Christman could be considered a transfer QB, but I chose to not include him in this exercize due to the unique circumstances and the difference in eras.
It’s a great story that is covered wonderfully by legendary writer Bob Broeg in his 1974 book Ol’ Mizzou: A Story of Missouri Football. You can find copies online if you want to track it down.