This time last year, Penn State was preparing to host SMU in the first round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, and doing it without backup quarterback Beau Pribula. Following the news that Drew Allar would return for his senior season in Happy Valley, Pribula entered the transfer portal, which opened prior to the start of the CFP, and departed the team.
The 2022 3-star from York, PA, ultimately transferred to Missouri and won the starting job for Eli Drinkwitz’s Tigers. After one season, though, he’s back in the portal with one season of eligibility remaining.
BREAKING: Missouri QB Beau Pribula plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, @PeteNakos confirms. https://t.co/5bs9T0sWHX pic.twitter.com/BIh3HtgD8E
— On3 (@On3sports) December 18, 2025
Beau Pribula enters the transfer portal, won’t play in Missouri’s bowl game
Through his first season as a collegiate starting QB, Pribula posted 1,941 passing yards with a 67.4 percent completion rate and 11 touchdowns to nine interceptions. He also rushed for 297 yards and three scores.
Pribula missed two games with a gruesome ankle injury, which he suffered in a loss to Vanderbilt, and that appeared as though it was going to keep him out for the rest of the season. Missouri finished the regular season 8-4, with a 4-4 record in SEC play, and was 7-3 with Pribula on the field.
Across his three years at Penn State, Pribula was primarily used as a gadget quarterback, spelling Allar for a package of plays that featured his athleticism. In 2024, he went 26-for-35 passing for 275 yards and five touchdowns with one interception. He ran for 242 yards and four touchdowns, and in 2023, he rushed for six TDs and threw for four.
Throughout this past season, after Penn State had moved on from James Franklin, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz was rumored to be a candidate in Happy Valley, which sparked dreams of Pribula’s return to Penn State. Drinkwitz ultimately signed a contract extension to remain in Columbia, but with Pribula back in the portal, a reunion is now possible.
New Penn State head coach Matt Campbell will have a difficult decision to make at the quarterback position. Rocco Becht, a three-year starter at Iowa State, has one year of eligibility remaining, but he has yet to announce his intent to enter the transfer portal. Penn State’s incumbent starter, Ethan Grunkemeyer, who replaced Allar after he suffered a season-ending injury, has three seasons of eligibility remaining, but had an up-and-down redshirt freshman season. Now, Pribula has emerged as a potential option to complicate the situation further.