Guzman: Brady Cook Cemented Mizzou Legacy with 1 Happy Homecoming

Before Brady Cook ran out of the tunnel to mark his return for the Missouri Tigers, he was a senior quarterback with just a few games remaining. After he won homecoming for the Black & Gold? He was a living legend.

Oct 20, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Brady Cook (12) and running back Jamal Roberts (20) celebrate after a two-point conversion against the Auburn Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Matt Guzman-Missouri Tigers On SI

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Brady Cook might as well have worn a Batman mask.

That was the discourse among beat reporters, photographers and an elevator operator on the way up to the press box following a Missouri Tigers press conference where Eli Drinkwitz got choked up, Cook kept private how he'd managed to go from the hospital to the middle of Faurot Field and the Tigers celebrated a come-from-behind homecoming victory.

Long sentence. But it summed up the hullabaloo that made up Missouri's sixth win of the season.

"Sometimes that's college football," Cook said. "It doesn't always go the way you wish it would or how you thought it would, (but) at the end of the day, it was a Mizzou 'dub' over Auburn."

The quarterback's assessment came in the middle of a 10-minute meeting with the media, and while most of it was focused on the logistics of his game status, he was happy to oblige.

But how it reach that point? Even that's a little tough to discern.

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In the middle of the second quarter of the Tigers' bout with Auburn, Cook sat, in a hospital room, staring at a ceiling.

At 11:15 a.m. — 15 minutes after kickoff — he limped to the sideline after his ankle got caught in a hip-drop tackle. He visited the medical tent briefly before heading to the locker room with a few trainers at his side, and seven minutes later, Drew Pyne was practicing snaps with Tigers center Connor Tollison prior to taking the field for his first drive of the game.

Oct 19, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Drew Pyne (6) and offensive lineman Cam'Ron Johnson (74) watch the sideline for a play call against the Auburn Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Matt Guzman-Missouri Tigers On SI

Pyne went for seven drives. The result? Two missed field goals, two punts, a fumble, a made field goal and an incomplete drive that ended the first half (Pyne was sacked with 42 seconds to play).

During all of it, Cook was wrestling with the world.

"It was a long hour and a half for sure," he said. "I did not think I was going to come back to play in the game. My stuff was off. My pads were off. We worked on (my ankle) for an hour and a half."

What exactly happened in the locker room — and the subsequent trip in a team staffer's truck to the next-door University Hospital — remains unknown. Cook said he felt no pain on the field, so something was done, but he kept that information private. His intentions, however, he did not.

"I realized I had two and a half games left to play at Faurot. In front of that crowd; in front of Mizzou. And we were going to find a way (for me to return). I knew we were down. I knew we needed to come back and find a way to win the game."

Oct 19, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Brady Cook (12) returns to the game during the second half against the Auburn Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

So, he found a way. Instead of spending his third-to-last home game in a hospital room, Cook made his way back to Memorial Stadium. he put his pads back on, taped his ankle, strapped on his helmet and began his jog from the locker room to Faurot Field.

Coming out of halftime, the official word on Cook's status was "doubtful," or in my case, a smile from the team's Sports Information Director accompanied by "you'll have to see."

When the starting quarterback reached the team punching bag just outside the training room, he hit a full sprint — straight out of a cannon, as it was duly noted. He'd defied any and all reports, words or speculations.

Brady Cook was back, and the crowd erupted.

"It was so, so special," Cook said. "Going out the first drive back and listening to the crowd, that gave everybody on the team juice. That makes a huge difference."

Cook went out and led Missouri to its first touchdown of the game. On first and second down, he shook off the rust, missing passes to both Luther Burden III and Mookie Cooper before connecting with the latter for a 78-yard gain to put the Tigers within striking distance of the end zone.

As the long-lost quarterback jogged down the field to run the next play, his arms were outstretched. Two players later — the first being Jamal Roberts' two-yard score and the second Cook's successful two-point conversion rush — he hit the same pose.

His Tigers were back in it. He was back in it. And it was a sentimental moment for the entire fanbase.

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

At one point, perhaps before Cook was the legend he had just become, the quarterback had been booed when announced as the team's starter against the Kansas State Wildcats.

Saturday afternoon, he was a sight for sore eyes. A welcome surprise. And a hero.

"It was a good moment," Roberts explained, simply. "One of our team captains came back."

"For all the criticism that young man takes," Drinkwitz added. "12 sure would die on that field for everybody ... In this building, nobody doubts that guy, and hopefully nobody else will.

"Hopefully we'll get over that bull crap."

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Drinkwitz couldn't help but get emotional discussing how much Cook's return meant for the team.

A few minutes prior, Cook was the same way, talking about the win with a TV reporter as fans began to disperse from the stadium to go enjoy a happy Homecoming. When asked about the performance, he acknowledged his own flaws.

"It wasn’t pretty," he said. "I know it wasn’t pretty.”

Oct 19, 2024; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz looks at the field prior to a kickoff against the Auburn Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. / Matt Guzman-Missouri Tigers On SI

It wasn't, but the Tigers got the win. And more importantly, they stuck together. It didn't matter who their quarterback was or what had to be done to secure a win on the afternoon — they were willing.

"Those guys just want to win," Drinkwitz said. "They really don't care."

Cook didn't either. On a personal level, sitting in the hospital room waiting for the MRI machine to fire up, he might've. But as far as the team outcome?

He'd have been just as happy if Pyne led the Tigers to a victory.

"Since Drew came in, we've gotten really close," Cook said back when Missouri was fresh off a beatdown of Buffalo. "I've learned a lot from him, and he's learned a lot from me. It's important to me that he gets time, too."

That game, Cook was watching his counterpart from the sideline, listening in and coaching him up. This time, he didn't even know what the score of the game was.

Not until he suited up once again and began jogging onto the field to take matters into his own hands.

The cheers that followed were expected — coming when the Tigers scored their first touchdown of the game, when Cook hit a knee in victory formation and when the players gathered in front of the student section for Missouri's alma mater.

But the ones before? When it was just Cook flying out of the tunnel with nothing but himself and a little hope? Turns out, those were expected, too.

And all it took was a little faith.

"Honestly, I did," Cook said when I asked if he expected cheers to accompany his return. "I did. I always have faith in Mizzou fans. Whether, they're high on me or low on me, that comes with the territory of playing quarterback here.

"I never take it personally. I really don't. I just had faith in 'em."