It’s no secret senior Drew Lock will be the focal point of Missouri’s offense under center this season.
Once Lock moves on at the end of the season, though, the Tiger offense will need a new signal-caller.
The winner of the backup quarterback battle this fall will determine who would step in if Lock sustains an injury, but will also go a long way in showing who takes the starting spot next year.
The three quarterbacks fighting for that spot are redshirt sophomore Lindsey Scott Jr., redshirt junior Jack Lowary and redshirt sophomore Micah Wilson.
Scott and Lowary are both listed as co-backups on the depth chart behind Lock, but Wilson was the backup last season and is the only one of the three who has played in an actual game for the Tigers.
All three are splitting reps with the offense during camp.
Lowary is the only quarterback to have played a style similar to what new offensive coordinator Derek Dooley has brought this season with the pro-style offense Lowary played as a high schooler at Mater Dei. That familiarity and experience could help him this fall.
“Every quarterback has their own twist to what they bring to [the offense],” Lowary said. “I bring knowledge and more maturity but every other guy has their own things that they bring.”
Lowary has also worked on throwing mechanics over the summer to improve accuracy.
Scott enrolled last spring and is the newest of the quarterbacks, but despite struggling in the spring game, he has risen up the depth chart this fall after becoming a lot more comfortable with the offense.
“Learning the offense in the spring, you’re not really familiar with the offense,” Scott said. “Coming into the fall you get to watch all your reps from the spring over the summer and you get used to seeing some things within the offense and it becomes muscle memory and became more comfortable.”
Junior offensive lineman Yasir Durant was impressed with how Scott came into spring practice.
“He’s one of my favorite quarterbacks,” Durant said. “He’s been controlling his reps and he put on a show in the spring. I liked him from then on and he’s been doing the same thing in the fall.”
After scoring 61 touchdowns as a senior in high school, Scott went to Louisiana State and struggled to move up the depth chart before transferring to East Mississippi Community College where Scott won a national championship with the Lions.
Scott said that he isn’t approaching this quarterback competition differently after competing for a spot on the depth chart at LSU.
“From then to now I’ve learned more about the game of football itself, but don’t think my approach is any different,” Scott said.
He decided to transfer to Junior College to get more game experience before he tried to break in at another Division I school.
“Game reps were one of the main reasons why I wanted to go to JUCO out of LSU,” Scott said. “Just because I hadn’t played football in a year and a half there. I didn’t want to jump to another college and just practice. I got some games under my belt [at East Mississippi] and got back into the groove of things.”
Wilson saw time in five games behind Lock in mop-up duty last season. He completed 5 of 10 passes for 48 yards and an interception and ran for 89 yards and a touchdown.
“Last year I got a taste of the speed of the game,” Wilson said. “More than practice with the speed of other schools. Getting a taste of other defenses has been good for me.”
Wilson is arguably the best dual-threat quarterback of the bunch with his speed. He was a state qualifier in track and field during his senior and junior years of high school and an All-State quarterback at Lincoln Christian in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
That speed could add another dimension to the offense next year.
“Micah is more of a dynamic quarterback,” Durant said. “He can sprint for a 67-yard touchdown if he wants to. He’s more of a read option type of guy.”
_Edited by Adam Cole | acole@themaneater.com_