Missouri’s newest portal addition is anything but a proven thing… which makes him so dang exciting!
After several weeks Missouri finally has its portalled-in quarterback. But what do the Tigers actually have in this new guy? That’s a better question, and one I’m hoping to figure out today.
Over three years and 14 games, rising redshirt junior Beau Pribula has dropped back for a pass 58 times and run the ball 92 times. That’s 150 snaps. As a comparison, Brady Cook hit snap #150 as a redshirt sophomore against Kansas State in 2022. The point: Pribula hasn’t seen a ton of live game action.
But, his coaches seem to love him. The Penn State fans certainly loved him. And a ton of coaches around the country were interested in finding out more, so there’s aspects about Mr. Pribula that point to positivity. And, allegedly, Mizzou beat out the likes of Ole Miss, Iowa, and UCF for his services, two of which have a history of great quarterback play (not you, Iowa).
Let’s take a look under the hood to see the advanced stats that Pribula brings to Columbia as its potential starting quarterback for 2025.
Where He Fits: Coming out of high school Pribula was a high-level 3-star recruit, valued as a dual-threat guy who could improvise and create opportunities when plays broke down. He operated in an offense at Central York that was geared around him making a play, asking him to both throw it and run it a ton. While he threw it 234 times in his junior season, he actually threw for 419 more yards his senior season while throwing it 37 fewer times while racking up over 400 yards and 8 touchdowns on the ground.
Reading his scouting reports from 2022 reminds me a lot of what you read about pre-injury Matt Zollers in 2024 but flipped: whereas scouts gush about Zollers as a great thrower who can move, similar praise is heaped on Pribula for his tremendous nose for running while having a cannon for an arm.
In college, though, Pribula was cursed to arrive at Penn State at the same time as a future NFL 1st-Round Draft Pick named Drew Aller was also unpacking his bags in State College. Pribula’s usage was as a change-of-pace quarterback who would run it in specialized packages and only throw it a little but he did relieve an injured Aller in Penn State’s victory over Wisconsin this year. You hear talk of how accurate a thrower Pribula is but that’s only been true this year: his 21 passes in 2023 had a 52% accuracy and 32% success rate, whereas in 2024 his 35 passes had a 74% accuracy and 57% success rate. His ANY/A of 11.6 is in elite territory (and also small sample size) and is even better than Brady Cook this year (8.3) AND last year (9.4).
When Pribula runs (and, boy, the dude loves to run) he averages 6.7 yards per carry, a 62% success rate, a 38% 1st down conversion rate, with 21% of his rushes going for 10+ yards (all of that is removing yardage lost due to sacks). Now, he plays behind a Top 25 offensive line and benefits from both two excellent running backs and small usage, but you can see the skill set here.
When He’ll Play: If he beats out Horn and Pyne, he’s your starter for next year. If not, there’s a chance he rotates in much like he did at Penn State. But, again, you don’t leave your hometown dream school where you’re a backup to transfer to a school you have no connection to in order to also be a backup.
What It All Means: Pribula needs to prove in-game that he can throw it accurately over a sustained campaign and, until we see it, I reserve judgment that this isn’t going to be an upgrade over any quarterback currently on the roster. But he has a lot of the off-field intangibles that are a positive add to any team, flashes of abilities that could be excellent long term, and two years to figure it out at Mizzou before handing the reins to the next Pennsylvania quarterback (maybe). Mizzou needed a splash portal add for their quarterback room and they got it. Way to go, Drinkwitz staff!