Brady Cook describes trajectory of Missouri program

The Missouri Tigers returned to the limelight last season, under the leadership of quarterback Brady Cook.

The SEC program enjoyed a 10-plus win season, which included a 14-3 Cotton Bowl victory over the then No. 7 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The success was invaluable for Missouri, who’s been searching for that level of play since hiring Eli Drinkwitz.

In the end, Cook was awarded the MVP of the team’s offense for the season-ending victory, but all he wanted to do what talk about the team. Cook elaborated on where Missouri is headed, and the trajectory the Tigers are on moving forward during his post-game press conference.

“I think I said this last week, this game was big for the 2023 Tigers to cap off an incredible season, for the people who chose to come back for their last year, and chose to come back instead of going to the NFL,” the Missouri quarterback said, following their Cotton Bowl victory. “You know, it’s special for them at that group, but it’s also special for our team next year.

“The guys who are coming back for one more. The coaches. The brotherhood. So this is just going to give us more momentum. It’s going to send us off on a little two-week break with some good energy. We’ll be back, ready to work in a couple of weeks.”

Alas, the Cotton Bowl performance was a microcosm of Missouri’s journey under Drinkwitz. The offense struggled at times, but in the end, the Tigers quarterback was able to lead the team to victory after figuring out what his unit needed ti do.

“I mean, as he [Drinkwitz] said, we showed grit; the offense showed grit,” said Cook. “We just kept chopping, you know. We looked up, [and] it’s the fourth quarter, and we have zero points. But what are you gonna do? We were driving, we were confident, [and] we still believed in the game plan.

“Still believed in the calls that were being sent in, and we believed in each other. So, when we put up 14 in the fourth, it [was] no surprise to us.”

Through the first three quarters of the game, it was a battle of defensive wills with just three points total scored, and that came off of a field goal from Ohio State. However, the Missouri offense sprung to life in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 unanswered points on drives 91 and 95 yards, respectively.

It secured a victory for Brady Cook and Missouri, and some positive momentum entering the future, as the Tigers look to become a perennial contender in the SEC moving forward.

On3’s Justin Rudolph contributed to this article.