Pourover: Austin Simmons answers the Quarterback question

I didn’t know what to expect going into the game on Friday night. I had more nerves than usual, and a lot of it came down to the unknowns around this football team. And if I’m being completely honest, I think there are still a lot of unknowns about them.

But one thing is known at this point, and that is Missouri’s Quarterback Austin Simmons is special.

Coming into the season most people hoped Simmons would be the answer at QB, and through two games he has looked the part with no doubt. So far this year he’s 36 of 48 (75% completion), for 544 yards (15 yards per completion, 11.3 per attempt), and he’s thrown for 7 touchdowns. He hasn’t faced an elite defense yet, and those are coming, but he’s made bad and mediocre defenses look helpless against his throws.

The recent past at Missouri is filled with good quarterback play. Names like Brad Smith, Chase Daniel, Blaine Gabbert, Drew Lock, Brady Cook. So when Mizzou fans watch a QB who isn’t a stud they tend to be correct (see Pribula, Beau). Even Cook had his detractors, and to be fair some of the criticisms weren’t inaccurate. Of this group he was probably the weakest overall, but what he lacked in skill he made up for in grit and leadership.

My point is we’ve seen elite arm talent before. We’ve seen Gabbert and Lock sling it.

Simmons ability to throw the ball rivals both of those players.

Simmons ability to zip the ball across and down the field is recognizable because we’ve seen arm cannons before. It’s spins out of his fingers with the kind of pace that has NFL scouts drooling.

Cook has been the best quarterback Eli Drinkwitz has had since he started at Mizzou. It’s been a point of contention for my own State of the Program series leading into each season. We’re still waiting for him to sign and develop a QB, but Simmons is making the case that signing and developing may be less important if you can pick a great one out of the transfer portal.

Remember it was last season when Simmons was picked by Lane Kiffin to lead his Ole Miss Rebels team. He was a 4-star quarterback out of Moore Haven, Florida in the 2023 recruiting class. After a redshirt season he was the backup to Jaxson Dart, then began the 2025 season as the starter. But here’s my diatribe on QBs, it takes time to develop as a quarterback. Very few guys are blessed to be awesome from the word go. Tom Brady is considered the GOAT and even he barely threw any meaningful passes until he was 21 years old.

Perhaps no better argument can be made than the case of Arch Manning, who was anointed a Heisman favorite before he’d taken any meaningful snaps. He’s looked good in spot duty, but there’s a reason Steve Sarkisian named Quinn Ewers the starter before the season. Manning looked better as last season wore on, and then last night most had written Texas off before the experienced Manning led the Longhorns back to beat top ranked Ohio State.

Experience is an important thing in quarterbacking, and already we’ve seen Simmons make far fewer questionable throws than he did last year. At the same time, Kansas young QB Isaiah Marshall played like a young quarterback. He threw the ball into heavy coverage, missed open receivers, and even once got lucky on a pirouette toss that happened to land in a place where his tight end could make a play on the ball. Even though it worked out, the decision showed inexperience.

Missouri had the better quarterback, and it made playing offense easier. They had a QB who could make all the throws, and convert on third down, and throw his receivers open.

The Tigers were 7 of 17 on third down, which isn’t great, but they were 7 of 11 on third down passing. Six of the seven were for first downs and one went for a touchdown. Through the entire game, I think there was one time where I thought Simmons shouldn’t have attempted the pass he did. That’s a changeup from him throwing 4 interceptions in his first two games last year. That’s maturation.

I don’t know what the rest of the season holds for this team. They have a lot to clean up. They clearly need Ahmad Hardy back in the backfield (although Jamal Roberts and Xai’Shaun Edwards have done well enough), and they need more cohesion on the offensive line.

But one problem they do not have is the QB. And that alone raises the floor, and increases the ceiling on what this team can achieve.

Other SEC Scores:

• #4 Texas 24, #1 Ohio State 23
• #2 Georgia 70, Western Kentucky 20
• #8 LSU 45, Louisiana Tech 14
• #9 Ole Miss 41, Charlotte 9
• #10 Texas A&M 48, Arizona State 20
• Michigan 17, #11 Oklahoma 10
• #12 Alabama 45, Kentucky 17
• #18 Tennessee 45, Georgia Tech 24
• #20 Utah 36, Arkansas 3 (I went to bed)
• Auburn 43, Southern Miss 8
• Mississippi State 38, Minnesota 13
• Florida 52, Campbell 3
• Vanderbilt 35, Delaware 26
• South Carolina 45, Towson 9