Missouri will have QB with SEC experience versus Arkansas

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When Arkansas football faces Missouri this SEC season, the Razorbacks will go against a quarterback who knows the SEC very well. The Columbia Daily Tribune has more on Austin Simmons, who will be Mizzou's signal-caller against the Razorbacks this fall:

"Austin Simmons is Missouri football’s QB1 for the 2026 season. The Tigers made the call immediately after wrapping up their spring camp practices that the left-handed transfer from Ole Miss will lead the offense onto the field this upcoming September. That choice? Well, it’s on a slightly different timeline than in previous years under (Eli) Drinkwitz in Columbia. When there has been a decision to make — a legitimate battle for the starting job — Missouri more often than not has let the festivities run into the fall.

"Think of just last year, when Beau Pribula and Sam Horn rolled all the way into the opening week of the season with the battle still in the balance. Until Brady Cook’s third and final year as the iron-clad returning starter, he had to win the job in fall camp one year and then Week 1 the next. Not this season, when Simmons was competing with rookie returner Matt Zollers and UConn transfer and college veteran Nick Evers.  Mizzou, which also is bringing in a new offensive coordinator in Chip Lindsey and a new quarterbacks coach in Garrett Riley, has made its choice. That appears to be a decision made based on an adjustment or shortcoming Drinkwitz spotted last season.

"I think one of the things that I went back and looked at where last year didn't go the way we wanted it to was the error in not naming a starting quarterback soon enough and allowing leadership to take hold within our team," Drinkwitz said. “I think Austin has the game experience. He was better in managing the team in two-minute drills and end-of-game situations, which I think has been a real positive, so to allow him to develop relationships with our wide receivers, timing with the wide receivers and tight ends, and allow him to really establish himself as a leader, I thought was more beneficial than waiting to be 100% for sure.”

The Daily Tribune added:

"Simmons was tabbed as Ole Miss’s starter before the 2025 season by then-head coach Lane Kiffin. He started the Rebels’ first two games of the season before sustaining an ankle injury in their win over Kentucky in Week 2, which saw Simmons limited in September. Trinidad Chambliss, who joined Mississippi from Division-II Ferris State, took over the starting gig and emerged as one of the most remarkable stories of the season, leading Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff semifinals."

It's not as though Austin Simmons wasn't good. He was simply eclipsed by a better, more electric player. Now he has relocated to Missouri. He isn't a can't-miss portal prospect, but he is more likely to be good than not, a true challenge for the Arkansas defense.

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