According to multiple reports Wednesday, Missouri football quarterback and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sam Horn will miss the remainder of the 2025 season after undergoing successful surgery Wednesday. The news was first reported by ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Horn had surgery on a fractured tibia in his right leg, Thamel reported. He is expected to make a full recovery but will not see the field again this season. A Missouri team spokesperson deferred comment on Horn's injury status to his agent and the Dodgers organization.
The injury report is confirmation of what seemed like the likeliest result for Horn in 2025, after the quarterback was spotted in a full leg brace and on crutches. Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz had previously said Horn would miss "an extended period of time."
Horn competed with now-starting Mizzou quarterback Beau Pribula for the QB1 job over the offseason in Columbia.
Drinkwitz said on multiple occasions that there had been no separation between the two players in fall camp, and allowed the competition to run into the Tigers ' season-opening game against Central Arkansas.
Horn's outing — and now his season — only lasted one snap.
With the ball spotted on the Tigers' 30-yard line during the first quarter of MU's win over UCA, Horn entered the game and Pribula lined up on the outside near the right sideline as an eligible receiver. With both QBs on the field, Horn, on his first play, took a designed run up the middle for a six-yard gain but took a big hit.
Horn remained on the field for about a minute before team trainers helped him off the field and into the injury tent.
He later exited the tent and, still unable to put weight on his leg, was helped down the tunnel in the south end zone and into Mizzou's locker room.
The quarterback out of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was later pictured on crutches and wearing a full-leg cast on his right leg. After the game, Drinkwitz had no official update, but his phrasing about Horn's status indicated concern.
Since joining the Tigers as four-star, dual-sport athlete in 2022, Horn played sparingly behind Brady Cook , appearing in four total games and throwing eight total passes.
He was involved in a QB competition that ran into Week 1 in 2023, eventually losing out to Cook. Horn had Tommy John surgery after that year and missed the full 2024 football season.
The quarterback is also a highly-touted right-handed pitcher who can touch 98 mph with his fastball. Horn was a 17th-round MLB Draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in July, and he later signed a near-$500,000 signing bonus for the franchise.
That means Horn's season-ending injury also appears likely to end his MU career. He has one year of eligibility remaining, meaning he could — if he wanted — return for the Tigers in 2026. Under current NCAA medical-waiver regulations, he also likely would be approved for an additional season under an injury hardship ruling.
But, he is expected to join the Dodgers after this football season ends, which would end his career as a college QB.
True freshman Matt Zollers will now be MU's backup for the remainder of the year.
"From an injury standpoint, you love the game of football and you hate it," Drinkwitz said Sept. 2. "You absolutely hate injuries and wish there was a way that they were not part of it, but they are."
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If Horn does move on after this season, he will likely go down as a major "what-if" in recent Missouri history. He was a marquee recruit when he arrived in 2022, and his immensely talented arm never truly got a chance to shine on either the gridiron or the mound.
If he does not return, he will have thrown just 15 innings as a Mizzou baseball player and eight passes for Drinkwitz's team.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Sam Horn injury update: Missouri football QB out for season ⎸ Reports
