Report: Brady Cook, Luther Burden will play vs. Vanderbilt

The Missouri Tigers football team got some great news on Friday evening. Missouri starting quarterback Brady Cook and star wideout Luther Burden will play against Vanderbilt on Saturday. Both were listed as questionable this week, but practiced full speed on Friday and are good to go, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.

The tandem are two of the biggest pieces of the Missouri offense, so it’s a massive boost for their passing attack on Saturday against the Commodores. Cook opened up the season with back-to-back 300-yard passing performances.

He put together one of the best games of his career in the Tigers’ 30-27 upset of the Kansas State Wildcats. Cook completed 23 of 35 passes for 356 yards, while tossing in two touchdowns and no interceptions.

For the 2023 campaign, he’s completed 72% of his passes for 1,073 yards, while tossing in seven touchdowns and no interceptions. In 2022, he posted impressive numbers, completing 64.8% of his passes for 2,739 passing yards, while tossing in 14 touchdowns with seven interceptions.

Burden was one of the most highly regarded recruits ever to sign with the Missouri football program coming out of high school. According to the On3 Industry Rankings for the 2022 cycle, he was rated as a five-star plus+ prospect and the No. 3 overall player in America. He was the highest rated receiver to join the Tigers football program since Dorial Green Beckham joined Mizzou in 2012.

Burden became just the third consensus five-star wideout to sign with the Tigers. His senior year at East St. Louis High School (St. Louis, Missouri), he led his team to the 6A state championship game. Burden hauled in 71 passes for 1,174 yards and 20 touchdowns. As a punt returner, he had 21 returns for 852 yards, while racking up eight touchdowns.

As a junior, he hauled in 35 balls for 747 receiving yards and five touchdowns, en route to earning all-state honors.

It certainly wasn’t surprising to see the electrifying wideout land on On3’s Preseason True Freshman All-American Team ahead of the 2022 campaign.

In 2022, Burden hauled in 375 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 45 catches, before missing the rest of the season after going down with a high ankle sprain. The electrifying wideout has already surpassed his receiving yardage total from last year. For 2023, he’s hauled in 504 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 32 catches.

He’s had over 100 receiving yards in three of four games this year, and in the one he didn’t clear 100 yards, he still hauled in 96 receiving yards.