Eli Drinkwitz said he called Sam Horn to make sure he was having a draft party.
The Missouri football coach called the quarterback again after he was selected in the MLB Draft to say he was proud of him — and to make sure he'd see him at Mizzou's 6:30 a.m. workouts the next morning.
Yes, the short, local nightmare is over.
Drinkwitz, while speaking at SEC Media Days on Thursday, July 17, in Atlanta, confirmed Horn will compete for Missouri football's starting quarterback job and remain with the team this fall, despite being selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 17th Round of the 2025 MLB Draft on Monday.
Horn has widely been expected to be part of a two-horse race to succeed Brady Cook at QB, along with Penn State transfer Beau Pribula this fall. The Tigers ' head coach, in the spring, said the race had narrowed down to just those two players.
That is still the case.
"Sam has been adamant this whole time that his goal is to compete, to try to win the job in the SEC and play quarterback at the highest level," Drinkwitz said Thursday on the SEC Media Days stage. "I've had conversations with his representatives, whether that was last year as he was going through his Tommy John's surgery, or the rehab process going through spring, and that really hasn't changed. We had discussed it.
"Sam had relayed the message, his agent had relayed the message to all the baseball organizations that he was going to play football this fall, and, so, nothing's changed."
Nothing, indeed, has changed from where the situation was in the spring.
But, that was at least thrown into somewhat of a question as the two-sport athlete — Horn also is a right-handed pitcher who can touch 98 mph with his fastball for Kerrick Jackson's Missouri baseball team — when Horn heard his name called by the Dodgers.
The 6-foot-4 QB/RHP dropped more than 400 spots from where he was projected to land in the MLB Draft. Several outlets had Horn as a top-100-overall prospect this year. The Dodgers picked him at No. 525, which means a significantly lower expected signing bonus.
Horn has until 4 p.m. on July 28 to either sign or not sign with an MLB organization.
Signing wouldn't necessarily impact his ability to play football this upcoming season, as he could theoretically play for Drinkwitz's team and then head to join a team's farm system in the spring. Whether an MLB organization would agree to that is unclear.
Horn could also turn down a professional contract, play football this fall and college baseball this spring, and then try his luck in the MLB Draft again next year.
He has two remaining years of college eligibility, should he choose to use them.
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Horn will be using at least one of those years, Drinkwitz confirmed, meaning a true quarterback competition will indeed be held in Columbia this fall.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Drinkwitz: Sam Horn will compete for Missouri football despite MLB Draft pick
