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COLUMBIA, Mo. — For what’ll likely be the last time during fall camp, Missouri football practiced live: pads on, hits allowed.

The Tigers held their second scrimmage of the preseason Saturday and invited a select group of media, including the Post-Dispatch, to observe. The more than two-hour scrimmage is still a small sample size, but it’s the best window yet into key position battles, how the Mizzou offense and defense look and which players could be primed for a breakout.

The scrimmage wasn’t set up as a true game. Rather, the first-, second- and third-team offense and defenses went against each other in situational drills. First, the offense was backed up against its own goal line and needed to find some breathing room. Then the offense started on the 20 to rep the red zone. Then the offense started at its own 25-yard line, like after a touchback. The scrimmage closed with a late-game tempo drill where the offense had 70 seconds to cover as much ground as they could to set up a score.

Here are MU beat writer Eli Hoff’s five biggest takeaways:

Still no QB separation

The good news, for Missouri’s quarterback battle: Neither Sam Horn or Beau Pribula turned the ball over.

The uncertain news: Neither pulled away from the other, either.

“(I) was really looking to see if we had some separation today and honestly, just didn’t see it,� coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “They’re both playing really good football right now, so we’ll go into next week and keep the battle going.�

Horn started out with the first-team offense while Pribula started with the backups, but halfway through the scrimmage, they switched.

Twice while Horn was leading the offense in the backed-up-against-their-own-end-zone drill, the defense earned a safety. Horn was “sacked� — the QBs were not live, so defensive end Nate Johnson got to Horn and the play was blown dead — on one and defensive tackle Justin Bodford blew up a run play for the other safety.

On fourth and goal during the red zone situation, Horn improvised, rolling out to his right, and found wideout Marquis Johnson, who also seemed to be ad-libbing a route, in the back of the end zone. Johnson made an acrobatic grab to come down with the catch.

Horn also led a 75-yard scoring drive that included more than a dozen plays during the “open field� section, capping it off with a one-yard rushing touchdown that came on a keeper. That drive benefited heavily from an odd pass interference call — referees weren’t exactly announcing their calls because it was a scrimmage, and it wasn’t clear what happened on an incompletion to warrant the flag — but Horn’s mobility was impressive.

During the tempo drill, Horn’s offense — a mix of projected starters and backups at that point — got into field goal range with two seconds left. Kicker Blake Craig doinked a roughly 42-yard field goal attempt off the upright and no good, though.

The Pribula-led offense picked up a couple of red zone touchdowns via running back Marquise Davis. Once Pribula was working with the starters, he found wideout Kevin Coleman Jr. wide open in the end zone for a nicely read TD. That made him 3-for-3 in getting points on the board in the red zone.

Pribula looked especially effective during the tempo drill, consistently funneling the ball into the right places for consistent gains. His offense had no problem getting close to the goal line and even had enough time there to stall for a bit. On fourth-and-goal from the 13, Pribula placed a throw nicely for receiver James Madison II to make a contested snag along the sideline, closing out the scrimmage with a touchdown.

Who was better? It really is hard to say.

Horn led a long TD drive but struggled while backed up, while Pribula had the best sequence of the day during the tempo drill. Pribula, in an abstract and purely aesthetic way, looked more comfortable and more like what Mizzou wants out of its quarterback. He seemed to throw on the run as often or even more often than he did from the pocket. Though QB runs were difficult to evaluate because defenders couldn’t hit them, he looked agile after tucking the ball.

At the same time, though, Horn’s arm opened up a deeper part of the field than Pribula’s did.

So the question of which becomes the starter continues to feel like one about MU’s offensive philosophy: Do the Tigers prioritize Pribula’s legs or Horn’s arm?

Given how smooth Pribula looked and how much value Mizzou has placed on having a mobile quarterback, the Penn State transfer has a definite edge. Let’s call it 70-30, Pribula.

An edge, however, is not separation. And with no more live scrimmages between now and the opener, this quarterback competition continues to look more likely to play out in the first game of the season.

Lots of slot WR and TE targets

As both checkdowns and first reads, Missouri’s tight ends and slot wide receivers were the most common targets for both quarterbacks.

The tight ends — Brett Norfleet with the first offense and Jude James with the second unit, mostly — were often targeted on play-action roll-outs or leak-outs, some of the most effective patterns in offensive coordinator Kirby Moore’s playbook.

“Those guys have got to be weapons for us,� Drinkwitz said. “We got to utilize them. They’re just too good in the run game, that we’ve got to be able to utilize them down the field.�

The slot receivers — Kevin Coleman Jr. with the starters, Daniel Blood with the reserves — also received plenty of work, both working inside with a well-rounded route tree and on the perimeter via screens. It seemed like Blood led all receivers in targets, popping up quite consistently for both quarterbacks.

Yet Drinkwitz challenged the third-year backup to do more than he did on Saturday.

“Today, I didn’t see the consistent Daniel Blood,� he said. “…We need him to perform at a higher level than he did today. Too many drops. He’s got to be more explosive with the ball in his hands. He’s capable of being a dynamic player in this league. Today felt like last season, where it was up and down.�

Maybe more slot and tight end targets are a byproduct of two less experienced quarterbacks in the game, but coaches have liked the possibility of more targets for those roles.

Freshman wide receiver Donovan Olugbode, who’s been talked about as a piece of significant potential, made an impact in a few moments. He caught one pass up the seam out of the slot for a nice gain, ran an end-around in one goal-line situation and made Pribula’s tempo drive work beautifully with an explosive catch-and-run.

Defense ahead in the trenches

The surprise package of the scrimmage? MU’s defensive tackles. Ohio transfer Bralen Henderson showed quite a bit of mobility and disruption, while Bodford’s safety was a statement play.

In general, there wasn’t much ground to be gained up the middle for the Tigers’ running backs, mostly because the D-tackles held their own better than expected.

“That group’s really stepped up,� Drinkwitz said.

Among the defensive ends, Johnson and true freshman Daeden Hopkins stood out. Hopkins was arguably the most noticeable defensive player on the day, producing more than the more experienced pass rushers ahead of him.

“The way he played today,� Drinkwitz said, “he’s gonna play himself into a role real quick.�

It’s worth noting that Mizzou’s offensive line was not at full strength with center Connor Tollison held out of the scrimmage as a precaution. That meant Tristan Wilson and Dominick Giudice split center reps, requiring third-stringer Curtis Peagler to play right guard.

“With Connor out, that kind of throws in a whole ‘nother lineup,� Drinkwitz said. “Hopefully, we’ll get a little more stability for that next week.�

Precautionary absences

That leads to the list of players who did not participate in the scrimmage: Tollison, running back Ahmad Hardy, defensive end Damon Wilson II, linebacker Josiah Trotter and safety Jalen Catalon.

Their absences were all precautionary, Drinkwitz said. Those five players are all considered known quantities and not the type the coaching staff needs to see in live action to feel confident about. Tollison, in particular, is coming off a torn ACL, which adds to the case for limiting his live action.

And as for keeping Hardy out: “He proved to us in the last scrimmage that we don’t have to tackle him live again,� Drinkwitz joked.

Other standouts

Davis, still rocking No. 77 as a running back, “stole the show,� Drinkwitz said. He was more consistent than both Jamal Roberts and Tavorus Jones, though that duo had their moments in the scrimmage.

Davis, despite being a true freshman, showed the ideal trait of any big-bodied running back: Even when he plowed into a pile, he still seemed to come up with a few yards. He’s likely to earn some touches early in the season with a chance at a bigger role on the back end of the campaign.

Linebacker Khalil Jacobs, playing more on first and second downs with Trotter out, played well, especially when the offense was backed up against its own end zone.

Neither Jayven Richardson nor Johnny Williams IV was noticeable at left tackle, which is a good thing. Richardson played with the first-team O-line, as he has consistently during camp.

Drinkwitz was happy with punter Connor Weselman’s in-scrimmage work.