It’s not always with his play, he has his issues as a quarterback, but Brady Cook hasn’t stopped impressing me with the way he fights and fights and fights.

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz nearly began to cry in the press conference talking about Cook putting his body on the line for the team in spite of the criticism he has faced for years.

“He’s not a regular crier, I’ll say that. I think I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen him cry,” Cook said.

“It means a lot,” He added, beginning to hold back tears of his own. “It means a lot to me and he means a lot to me. We’ve been through a time, we’ve been through a time. … We came in at the same exact time here at Mizzou and the ups and downs and roller coasters we’ve been through together has been incredible. It really has. And this is just one of those moments, you know, just added to what we’ve been through together, what we’ve done together.”

You could hear in the way Drinkwitz spoke about him, Cook is important to him and important to the team.

Cook has heard people calling for his job each of the past three seasons, but he’s just gone out and gotten the job done far more often than not.

He played with a torn labrum for most of 2022. Was that the best idea for the team? Maybe not. Maybe the team would have been better than 6-7 and maybe it would have won the close games against Auburn, Georgia, Florida and Kentucky with someone else leading the huddle.

Or maybe it wouldn’t have been because Jack Abraham and Sam Horn weren’t ready to lead the team. We just saw what the Missouri offense looked like without Cook and if Abraham or Horn looked anything like Drew Pyne through that season, maybe instead the wins against Vanderbilt, South Carolina or Arkansas go the other way and that team doesn't make a bowl game.

There’s no way to know what would have happened. What we know is Brady Cook fought through a torn labrum for nearly a full season while fans were calling for his job and he led his team to a bowl game.

“I always have faith in Mizzou fans,” Cook said. “You know, whether they’re high on me or low on me. You know that comes, that comes with the territory of playing quarterback here. I never take it personal, I really don’t. And, you know, I have faith in them.”

He came back healthy for his second year as the starter and fans continued calling for his job. They booed him at the stadium he grew up wanting to play in.

And he continued getting the job done.

It wasn’t pretty early on, the win against Middle Tennessee was closer than it should have been. Then something changed with the wins against Kansas State and Memphis.

“It’s kind of a similar deal, huh?” Cook said. “You know, it’s cool. … I think this win is gonna take us far. I think this is one of those moments for our team that we hadn’t had yet. We really haven’t had one of these moments yet where we band together, we fight and we go win an SEC Football game like we need to. We go make plays to do it. I think our team needed that.”

Fans started chanting his name as he took advantage of Kirby Moore’s new offense to regularly pass for more than 300 yards. He led the team to dominant wins through the year and an 11-2 record with a Cotton Bowl win.

He came back for a graduate season to lead the team again, wanting only to play more as a Missouri Tiger and represent the college he grew up dreaming of playing for.

And people started calling for his job again just a couple of weeks into the season. This time it was a loud minority of fans instead of a stadium booing him, but still the calls remained. And still he went out and more often than not, got the job done.

He has the team sitting at 6-1, and I know the one loss was a horrible one and the wins haven’t been pretty, I get it, but it’s still a 6-1 record!

Your favorite college team is bowl eligible just seven weeks into the season! You can try to argue that it’s in spite of Cook and not because of him, but we just watched what happens without him on the field and it didn’t look like a team that would win six games in a season, let alone in seven chances.

I understand the difference in expectations from year to year and believe me, as a Seattle Mariners fan I get having a baseline level of disappointment in the team I root for. I understand assuming the worst and seeing the bad parts even in the good moments. Because those are what end up hurting most when you do finally let the hope in.

But Cook has led the Tigers to a top-20 ranking and Saturday he proved exactly how much he is willing to give to this team and this school.

He rode in a truck over to the hospital making eye contact with tailgating fans along the way, to get an MRI where he had to sit for 30 minutes and stare at the ceiling as his team continued on without him.

“I was just sitting in silence for about 30 minutes looking at the ceiling, as you guys can imagine, that’s not a whole lot of fun,” Cook said. “Homecoming, Auburn’s coming to town and in the second quarter, you’re staring at the ceiling for 30 minutes with no idea about what’s going on in the game.”

He sat there and had to think to himself about how his time at Faurot Field is coming to an end and how he wanted to spend the rest of it.

And even though he was almost certain he wouldn’t be able to return, he kept trying.

“I did not think I was going to come back to play in the game. My stuff was off, my pads were off and we worked for about an hour and a half,” Cook said. “...Ultimately I realized I had two and a half games left to play in Faurot in front of that crowd and in front of the ZOU. And you know, we were going to find a way. I knew we were down, I knew we needed to come back and find a way to win this game.”

Finally, something worked and he was able to jog out of the tunnel back onto the sidelines.

And he heard the ovation he’s earned for how hard he has fought for Missouri as he led a two-score comeback in the final 16 minutes. But even when asked to reflect on the best moment of the comeback, he still found his way to talking about his teammates.

“There were so many cool moments in that fourth quarter,” Cook said. “I think, I think it was just really looking around, seeing the crowd, seeing the ‘W’ on the scoreboard and just seeing the guys celebrate. It was a really cool moment.”

I understand criticizing his play, he has flaws as a quarterback. He’s not among the best in the SEC as a passer, he has struggled a lot in intermediate and deep passing this season. He has at times looked slower this year than last, though he came out of the tunnel and looked like he was running faster than he had all season.

Whatever he got done to his body to come back, he should do before every game.

He has his issues, but he’s also 17-3 since the start of last year and seems like he might actually be willing to die on the field like Drinkwitz keeps saying.

He’s going to end up as one of the best quarterbacks in Missouri history statistically. With at least five games left, he’s fourth in team history in passing yards and fifth in touchdown passes. He’s just the fourth Missouri quarterback to gain 8,000 total career yards and he’s third in 200-yard games through the air with 23.

I don’t think I’ve seen a quarterback as dedicated to his team and as willing to do whatever necessary and risk whatever necessary to win for his teammates.

And with that comes one ask from me. Please appreciate it.

I’ve watched a lot of football and I’ve seen players who are more talented or physically gifted than Brady Cook, but if I were asking for one key to building the quarterback I want in charge of my team, it’s heart. He clearly loves Missouri, he clearly loves being a Tiger and is willing to do anything he can to bring success to the school.

So for anyone still thinking he’s not the best option the Tigers have, stop it. Missouri goes as he goes for the rest of this year and he’ll do anything he can to keep the direction trending the right way.

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