Starting quarterback, Beau Pribula, was forced to come out of Saturday’s game against the No. 10 Vanderbilt Commodores early in the third quarter due to an ankle injury that resulted in him being carted off the field.
Because of an injury to second-string quarterback Sam Horn earlier in the season, true freshman Matt Zollers was put into the game to try and get the College Gameday victory. While this endeavor did fail in the end, Zollers still impressed many with his ability to stay in the pocket and deliver accurately and powerfully. Zollers finished the game going 14/23 for 138 yards and a TD.
Zollers, similarly to Pribula, hails from a high school in Pennsylvania and even took a visit to Penn State, Pribula’s former school, before signing with Mizzou on Dec. 4 of last year. Zollers, originally a five-star recruit, was eventually downgraded to a four-star after missing almost his entire Senior year with an ankle injury (the parallels between Zollers and Pribula just don’t seem to end).
Standing at 6’ 3” and 204 pounds, Zollers earned his five-star mark by impressing many throughout his two years as a starting quarterback in high school. In 2022, he threw for 2,052 yards on a 61.6% completion percentage with 23 touchdowns and only three interceptions while running for 241 yards and six touchdowns. As a result, he was selected as the Offensive Player of the Year in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division.
In 2023, he really stepped things up by throwing for a school-record 2,917 yards on 62.8% completion percentage with 37 TD and 2 INT while running for 420 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 6.5 yards per carry.
In his efforts, Zollers led his team to a 9-3 record and to the Pennsylvania District 1 Class 6A quarterfinals, earning him the MVP of the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division and an All-State selection.
Zollers has the physical traits to succeed for the black and gold. The question is, as a true freshman, can he lead a team that is waning from two devastating losses over the last three weeks?
Head coach Elijah Drinkwitz and his staff will have two weeks, thanks to this weekend’s bye, to prepare Zollers and the rest of the team for No. 3 Texas A&M coming to town. The general assumption is that Drinkwitz and offensive coordinator Kirby Moore will do their best to scheme things properly for the 19-year-old Zollers as Columbia hopes that he can keep the Tigers’ season alive.