NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The inside of the Gaylord Opryland resort is meant to be a spectacle, where a walk through its halls includes strolling past indoor waterfalls and jungle-ish greenery. Observant Missouri fans taking in the Nashville destination shortly before 1 p.m. on Sunday might have caught a passing glimpse of their favorite team’s coaching staff speed-walking through.
They were heading from the Music City Bowl’s pregame news conference to the Tigers’ final bowl practice, held 20 minutes away in Vanderbilt’s indoor training facility.
That’s the shuffle of bowl trips, which are part getaway, part event promotion and part coaching for the Mizzou staff.
And the transfer portal is happening, too. Entries technically are closed now, though players on teams such as MU that have a late bowl game — or playoff game — will get another brief window to enter after their final game of the season.
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The portal is where the biggest news has been on the Missouri front lately, with the signing of former Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula. But taking questions from the media for the first time since landing Pribula, Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz declined to talk about the transfer portal move that likely will define his offseason.
“I want to focus on the bowl game,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ll talk about that when those guys get on campus.”
It’s already a telling sign of the college football times that Mizzou has picked up the likely successor to starting quarterback Brady Cook before Cook has even played the final game of his MU career.
“Yeah, that’s the calendar in college football,” MU offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said. “Building for next season while finishing this season with the bowl game.”
Speaking of Cook, Drinkwitz offered new insight into one of the injuries that sidelined Missouri’s starting QB for a brief time earlier in the season.
The injury that Cook suffered in the Tigers’ Oct. 26 defeat to Alabama was in fact a right wrist fracture, Drinkwitz said. The manner in which the fifth-year quarterback was hurt and the fact that the injury showed up on an X-ray had suggested he had a break in his hand or wrist, but the team had not previously confirmed exactly what was wrong.
Cook missed Mizzou’s next game, a home win over Oklahoma. Even with the week off, X-rays still showed a fracture in his wrist. Heading into the Nov. 16 game against South Carolina, Drinkwitz and the MU staff gave Cook the option not to play with a wrist that still was broken.
He played, and even made one the best throws of his career in the defeat — a fourth-down dime down the sideline to wide receiver Luther Burden III.
Add that to the lore of Cook’s Missouri tenure, which already includes him playing through a torn labrum in 2022 and a high ankle sprain earlier this season.
“He’s a young man who from Day 1 wanted to be here and has had to endure,” Drinkwitz said.
Among the potential candidates to replace Cook next season — even if Pribula is the heavy favorite — is Sam Horn, who missed the entire 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Horn will attempt to play baseball and still participate in Mizzou’s spring football practices, Drinkwitz said previously. Horn’s injury recovery seems to be coming along well.
Drinkwitz had said that Horn was beginning to throw again in practice, and the very brief periods of Saturday and Sunday’s practices that were open to media showed exactly that. The Tigers went through just a couple of drills before directing reporters to leave the indoor facility, but Horn was dressed for practice and throwing well.
Horn has not been cleared for contact, though, so he won’t be playing against Iowa in the Music City Bowl — that will be Cook’s send-off game.
Newson could be back after JUCO rule change
Mizzou outside linebacker Triston Newson could be sticking around for another season after the NCAA modified eligibility rules for former junior college players.
He’d been expected to play his final game in the Music City Bowl but could play another year — if he wants — because of the NCAA’s decision last week following a courtroom defeat in a lawsuit brought by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.
“It’s up to him,” Drinkwitz said. “We would love to have him back. We’d welcome him back with open arms.”
Newson played at Northeast Missouri Community College before transferring to Missouri ahead of the 2023 season. His time in the JUCO ranks had previously counted toward his eligibility, but he now can have another year, the NCAA said.
If Newson decides to return, he would change the makeup of a linebacker room that was preparing to lose Newson and two other veterans.
The Tigers have signed two linebackers out of the transfer portal: former Nebraska player Mikai Gbayor and former West Virginia player Josiah Trotter. MU also has Khalil Jacobs, Nicholas Rodriguez and Jeremiah Beasley returning next season.
“Obviously, (the chance that Newson could return) affects a lot of different people,” Drinkwitz said. “It affects our roster count. To do that after the portal has been open and after people have signed and all that is a little bit tricky, but he’s one of us.”
