Austin Simmons signs with Missouri out of NCAA Transfer Portal
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Former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons has signed, committing to transfer to Missouri, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. As a sophomore last season, he has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining.
After losing his starting position in Oxford two games into this past season due to injury, Simmons will start anew in Columbia under Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz. Simmons finished the 2025 season completing 45-of-75 passes for 744 yards and four touchdowns.
Simmons opened the 2025 season as Ole Miss’ starting quarterback, leading the Rebels to wins over Georgia State and Kentucky with a combined 576 passing yards and three touchdowns. But an ankle injury in the fourth quarter against the Wildcats forced him to miss multiple games, which opened the door for former Division II Ferris State transfer Trinidad Chambliss to step in and establish himself as the Rebels’ QB1 with four straight victories, relegating Simmons to a backup role once he returned from injury.
Simmons has thrown for 1,026 yards and six touchdowns in 17 total games across two seasons in Oxford. He signed with Ole Miss as a four-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting cycle after reclassifying two full years having completed the prerequisite courses to graduate. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Simmons was ranked as the No. 19 quarterback and No. 266 overall prospects in the 2023 class out of Moore Haven Junior/Senior High in Pahokee, Fla., according to the Rivals Industry Ranking.
After entering the transfer portal on Jan. 2, Simmons pledged to remain with the Rebels through their run in the College Football Playoff. While playing out the season might be atypical of transferring quarterbacks, Simmons may have already had a destination in mind given his “do-not-contact” tag in the portal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.
Missouri has been considered the favorite to land Simmons since he entered, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The Tigers are looking to replace 2025 starter Beau Pribula, who announced his intentions to enter the portal last month after just one season in Columbia.
Despite losing his starting position, Simmons never lost the faith of now-former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, who left himself to take over at LSU ahead of the Rebels’ College Football Playoff run.
“I think we have the best quarterback room in the country,” Kiffin said Nov. 11. “I think Austin (Simmons) is a great quarterback, was playing really well for a first-time starter, and I think he’d be having a great year if he was still in there. I have all the confidence in the world in him. So I think we have two that are better than a lot of people’s No. 1.”
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