Brady Cook Reflects on Legacy Ahead of Senior Day

The three-year starter for the Missouri Tigers will play in his final regular season game with the team Saturday.

Oct 19, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Brady Cook (12) celebrates after his team scored a touchdown against the Auburn Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Matt Guzman-Missouri Tigers On SI

Snow is in the forecast for Columbia, Missouri Saturday, and tears might be for Missouri Tigers quarterback Brady Cook.

The St. Louis native has experienced about every step on the ladder of glory a player could in their collegiate career. Through his three years as a starter, Cook has gone from being resented by the fanbase on more than one occasion, to a hero in others.

He wants to make sure he walks out from Faurot Field as the latter.

"The main thing is ending a winner," Cook said in a press conference Tuesday. "When I committed here, it was a lot of uncertainty around the program, [the] coaching staff [change], just a lot of uncertainty. And I had a vision. I believed it. I could see it."

Cook committed to Missouri when he was a sophomore at Chaminade College Preparatory School in 2018. More than a commitment to then-head coach Barry Odom, Cook was committed to represent his home state and the school he cheered for since he was a child.

"It's my life," Cook said of what the program has come to mean for him. "It's truly my home, my family. I feel like I belong here. It's where I grew up. It's where I really learned the game of football. It's where I got to live out my dream."

Cook couldn't have predicted the twists and turns his career would take, or the bruises he would suffer. But, ultimately, his vision turned to a reality possibly even greater than his original vision.

Cook has been one of the leading forces in a resurgence for the program. He lived through the years when the team was stuck in a hole, fighting in the final weeks to simply earn bowl eligibility in 2022, his first year as the team's starters. But he also helped the team dig themselves out of that hole.

"In my first two, three years here, I didn't feel like that belief was there," Cook said. "Whether it was offseason, fall camp into the season, I don't think anyone in the building really believed whether we had the talent or the 'Brotherhood' or the team all together. There wasn't a lot of belief."

There wasn't much belief outside the program that Missouri could have a season like it did in 2023. But inside the program, a shift in belief started when five-star wide receiver Luther Burden III committed to the program ahead of the 2022 season.

When Burden committed, he was the second-highest rated commit in program history, only behind wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham. Cook remembers watching a game from Burden's senior year of high school where the wide receiver returned a punt for a touchdown, putting his elite athleticism on full display.

When Cook watched that game alongside then-wide receiver Barrett Bannister, the quarterback began to have a vision for what he and Burden could become together.

"Could this be my guy?" Cook remembers thinking while watching Burden shine. "Sure enough, he was. Just so proud of him. When we first got here, when we all first get here, we're just kids. Don't know a ton about life, football, whatever it is. And just to see him mature, grow. ... it's just been a real pleasure."

Cook grew up watching the iconic quarterback-receiver duo of Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin. Now, he and Burden have a spot right near his idols in the annals of Missouri's program history.

"Watching all those different connections throughout the years, the great quarterbacks, the great receivers, that was a vision I had," Cook said.

Dec 29, 2023; Arlington, TX, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Brady Cook (12) celebrates with Missouri Tigers wide receiver Luther Burden III (3) after the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

In the team's win over Mississippi State, Cook and Burden became only the third duo in Missouri history with 20 touchdown passes, alongside Daniel's connection with Maclin and tight end Chase Coffman.

"They're pretty special young men for what they've done for this university and what they've done for me," Drinkwitz said of the duo. "But what they've also done for the program and uplifting the brand of the University of Missouri football."

Saturday's game against Arkansas will be another uncertain moment for Cook, not exactly sure of how he'll react. But, when the first whistle blows, it will be a routine Saturday for one final time.

"Walking out with my family, people that have been been there for me through every step of this journey since the first time I ever strapped it up in kindergarten, it's going to be emotional," Cook said. "But, when we run out of the tunnel and the ball is set, I'll be ready to play."

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