Andrew Olson| 4 days ago
Mizzou landed a splash commitment for its 2025 recruiting class on Thursday. Matt Zollers is taking his talents to CoMo.
Out of Royersford, Pennsylvania, Zollers is a highly touted quarterback prospect. Listed at over 6-3 and 205 pounds, Zollers is rated 4-stars, the No. 2 player in the state of Pennsylvania, No. 8 quarterback and No. 78 recruit overall in the Class of 2025 on the 247Sports Composite.
After picking up 21 scholarship offers, Zollers narrowed it down to a final 4 of Mizzou, Georgia, Penn State and Pittsburgh. He was also showing interest in Alabama before decision day.
Zollers announced his pledge to Eli Drinkwitz’s program during a live commitment ceremony at Spring-Ford High School.
New #Mizzou 4⭐️QB Matt Zollers puts on the Missouri hoodie.
He told those in-person that he made his final decision this morning. pic.twitter.com/Y2StmdLT0J— Ben Arnet (@BenArnetKOMU) April 4, 2024
View this post on Instagram
Fans can get a preview of what Zollers brings to the Tigers by checking out his highlights below, via Hudl:
Impact of Zollers’ commitment
Drinkwitz has a lot to celebrate landing Zollers. Mizzou beating out Georgia for a quarterback certainly turns some heads in the college football world. It’s also significant to land a Pennsylvania kid that Penn State was recruiting.
Zollers is not the first prospect to commit to Mizzou for 2025, but with Juju Marks reopening his recruitment, Zollers is currently the only member of the Tigers’ 2025 class.
For Drinkwitz and Co., Zollers is an ideal building block. Quarterbacks tend to be the most active recruiters for their future programs.
Offensive players are drawn to play alongside top quarterbacks for obvious reasons. If Zollers can help convince top receivers and linemen to head to the Zou, it could help with defensive recruiting, too.
Talent attracts talent. Expect Zollers to spend a lot of time on campus this summer when Mizzou targets take their visits.
Most importantly, Zollers – assuming he follows through with signing – sets Mizzou up well at quarterback for the post-Brady Cook era.
Last month, Mizzou landed a pledge from Drew Pyne. A transfer quarterback with multiple years of eligibility, Pyne is expected to serve as Cook’s backup in 2024 and compete for the starting job in 2025.
The Tigers could have another talented option on the 2025 roster to go along with Pyne and Zollers. Sam Horn, a 4-star QB prospect from the Class of 2022, is sidelined for the next few months after having Tommy John surgery. Horn will miss the 2024 football season and is a highly regarded prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft, making his football future unclear.
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Andrew Olson
Andrew is a News Manager for XLMedia's Saturday Football brands. Follow on Twitter.
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23 COMMENTS
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fuzzyvol014 days ago
Nice pick up tigers! beating out the home state lions and uga is a cherry on top.
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TDOWTheGreat4 days ago
Not so sure the UGA was really “beat out” for Zollers, UGA is all in for JuJu this cycle and we have a verbal for the 226 #1 QB, and, still have 3 years left for Stockton and 5 years for Puglisi
Great get for Mizzou, I look forward to Mizzou kicking some hillbilly tail!
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TDOWTheGreat4 days ago
we have a verbal for the 2026 #1 QB
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fuzzyvol014 days ago
The sun coming up in the morning and tdub claiming uga didn’t really want every recruit they dont get a commit from. Bank on both
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TDOWTheGreat3 days ago
That you read my comment then you made the comment “UGA didn’t really want every recruit” just demonstrates what a moronic dumbaass you are; either you are innately, terminally dumb with no reading comprehension ability or you are a moronic dummy thinking you can spin what I stated.
No where in my comment did I even remotely indicate Kirby and UGA didn’t want Zollers; it’s blatantly obvious the opposite is true, UGA offered the kid a scholarship and UGA hosted the kid on visits. UGA wanted Zollers. Possibly Zollers UGA scholarship was contingent on whether UGA signs Lewis or not; I doubt that was the case but it’s not outside the spectrum of reality.
It’s a fact the Julian JuJu Lewis was and is a higher priority for UGA than Zoeller, the kid is the #1 QB in the Nation for 2025 and a Georgia kid. UGA’s efforts to sign Lewis are well documented. UGA’s already well staffed QB room with the 2026 #1 QB verbally committed are also undeniable facts.
IMO opinion Zollers made a good decision to sign with Mizzou over UGA. Drink is a great offensive coach who is running a very good program and building some momentum in recruiting. At Mizzou Zollers will be surrounded by talent and developed by an excellent coaching staff.
Excluding consideration and speculation on which UGA QB’s transfer over the next couple of seasons, Zollers would have been in a very crowded and talented QB room. No denying that Zollers chances to see the field and more importantly get developed would have been tougher at UGA. Case in point, 5-Star Brock Vandagriff transferring to UK this year.
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JTF3 days ago
Yeah, bad swing and miss by ole fuzzy on that one. Sometimes one reads into something what one wants to read.
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D-Line-U4 days ago
This is a big pickup. I too figured he would sign with PSU. Like most new QBs to the CFB game he will need to be an apprentice for the first year & adjust to the size/speed disparity compared to HS.
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TDOWTheGreat4 days ago
Great get for Mizzou, Drinkwitz is killing it. If Drink keeps this recruiting tempo up Mizzou will be a serious contender for the CFP in the seasons to come.
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glad2bsec4 days ago
Someone in Missouri opened the check book.
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TDOWTheGreat4 days ago
Drink is a great coach and runs a good program, Mizzou is a great school and CoMo is an awesome town.
I don’t think Mizzou is having to pay a premium to get kids to come there.
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PTheRicker4 days ago
hold the horses on that, ‘drink is a great coach’ speak. heading into last year he was a sub .500 coach, of which was worse than the guy he had replaced at mizz. he made two great hires in moore and baker for the 2023 season. baker is gone, while moore will likely follow after this year.
he was also widely regarded as a buffoon…maybe not widely, but he had a lot of buffoonery antics.
people forget how many bad calls he even had to start the year last year. almost railroaded his own team right out of the gate.
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stucoe574 days ago
Drink was on the hotseat at the beginning of 2023, no doubt. He is a fun coach and always has some smart ass comments, but he is no buffoon. He has the eighth ranked team in the nation and we are not going away this time. Sorry that the Dawgs have to resort to disparaging comments when they lose a recruiting battle to such an “inferior” school. Get used to it.
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FireHazard4 days ago
Honestly, even with the sub .500 record it was pretty apparent he was an upgrade at HC. 5-5 record against all SEC competition his first year. 2021 was disappointing. 2022 was the ‘almost’ year with a bunch of close losses. And then last year. Recruiting better than ever. All good hires except one. Really like the guys he brought in to replace Baker and Peoples.
You can be a buffoon as long as your players love you and you win games…
Bad calls were offset by really good calls. Onside kick to start the Memphis game. Fake punt TD at Kentucky. 2 point conversion against LSU.
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FireHazard4 days ago
Everything that had Drink on the hot seat, including my own complaints, he’s addressed. Can’t ask for much more than that.
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PTheRicker3 days ago
@stuce, yeah, those were disparaging remarks, but they were in no way directed at mizz. i have my doubts with drinkwitz….and i believe those doubts are justified. it’s good news though that you’re behind him.
@firehazard, glad you have more of an optimistic take. appreciate that you were able to acknowledge his shortcomings. as bad as his handling at the end of the ksu game was, i’ll concede that his fake punt against uk was a game-changer.
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TDOWTheGreat3 days ago
PTheRicker
You kind of make my case – Drink did have a .500 team then he ended the 2023 season ranked in the top 10 with an epic bowl win over Ohio St. Mizzou was only a hand full of plays away from being undefeated in the 2023 regular season; a couple of plays here and there and Mizzou beats UGA and LSU and plays Bama in the SECCG. For 2022 and 2023 Mizzou has been UGA’s toughest regular season foe, almost beating us both times.
Drink has recently beat UGA head-to-head in a couple of key recruiting battles – Luther Burden and the 5-Star D-Lineman (forgot his name.) I don’t think getting the commitment from Zollers is a true head-to-head win, Mizzou was far the best opportunity for Zollers.
Does Drink have a great overall record like Smart or Swaney, no. In the future will Drink be considered a great college coach based on his current body of work, no. Is Drink currently doing a great job coaching Mizzou, resounding yes. The Mizzou program was gutted by the BLM and racial issues then Odom couldn’t cut it as a HC. Drink took over a steaming pile of Uncle Joe brains. Drink is recruiting well and winning big games. Compare the job Drink has done to date to some other recent SEC coaching hires – Jimbo, Harsin, Mullen, Napier – all those coaches stepped into better situations than Drink did. Image Drink with the resources that were given to Jimbo.
The next 2-3 seasons will be key from Drink’s long-term success. Can Drink keep the momentum up in recruiting and on the field, will he be able to replace Burden and Cook when they move on etc.
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TDOWTheGreat3 days ago
stucoe57
“Sorry that the Dawgs have to resort to disparaging comments when they lose a recruiting battle to such an “inferior” school. Get used to it.”
You got PTheRicker’s comments all wrong. I think I can speak for 99.9% of Dawg fans and say no Dawg fans are hating on Mizzou and Drink.
Drink has a couple of very nice recruiting wins over Kirby for Missouri kids but you are definitely venturing out on limb by saying “Get used to it.” Kirby has been top-3 or better in recruiting since 2017 and that’s not going to change anytime soon. The main reason why UGA misses on elite recruits is because of the elite talent Kirby already has on the roster.
Kudos to Drink and Mizzou for putting together a fine program and 2023 season, I hope they continue doing so for a long time.
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MIZ-Bob4 days ago
Mizzou signs a 4 star, and “Someone in Missouri opened the check book.” If he signed with Bama under Saben b4 NIL, someone opened the checkbook, but the check was slid under the table while Saint Nick made millions with a contract sating he must be the highest paid coach.
Whether the “checkbook” was opened or not, Saben was biotching about players being paid ABOVE the table.
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Dawggie Style4 days ago
I’m glad Penn State didn’t get him.
Fri ck those m o f o’s.Log in to Reply
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TrueLefty1 hour ago
This is good for the SEC. Mizzou and Drinkwitz beating OSU and Day in the bowl game is a nice way to show that there are more SEC teams that can compete with the top team from other conferences.
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mizzoufan20114 days ago
Great job Drink & Co.!
Excited to watch him play in a couple of years!
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Abaker123454 days ago
I’m excited after watching those highlight throws. Kid’s arm reminds me of Drew Lock. Big times ahead for Mizzou.
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