Once again, Brady Cook has won the Missouri starting quarterback job.

On Tuesday, head coach Eli Drinkwitz announced the decision, citing Cook’s play in Week 1 as what put him over the top.

“After watching the tape, I thought Brady (Cook) played efficiently,” Drinkwitz said. “I thought he had good command (and) was especially good in the two-minute drill which was a point of emphasis for us. … We will be moving forward with Brady Cook as our quarterback, and our quarterback No. 1.”

However, it took much more than one good outing versus an inferior FCS opponent for him to win the starting job.

Cook winning the position battle over Sam Horn and Miami transfer Jake Garcia has been a work in progress for months, dating back to when he had surgery in the winter to repair his torn labrum in his right shoulder.

It almost certainly seemed like he would have to make up ground by the time fall camp rolled around after he missed all of spring ball rehabbing the injury, but Drinkwitz announced at SEC Media Days that Cook had already reclaimed the edge heading into fall camp.

From there, he seemed to take most of the first-team reps during camp and that was capped off by being named one of six team captains. It was an honor he earned last year as well.

After completing 17-of-21 passes for 172 yards and two total touchdowns (one passing and one rushing) last Thursday versus South Dakota, Drinkwitz gave Cook his flowers in the postgame presser.

“He's been voted captain of the team twice. He shows up every single day and puts the team first,” Drinkwitz said. "He wants the Missouri Tigers to win and if that means he gets to play quarterback and we win, great. If that means Sam Horn plays quarterback, great. I think we could put anybody out there and play quarterback.

“At the end of the day, Brady just wants us to win, and if he can help us do that by playing, man, he's going to be excited and I'm sure there would be some personal disappointment if he wasn't, but I guarantee he'd never show up. That guy has got so much character, so much grit, so much determination. He put his butt on the line for everybody in this organization, every fan in every single game last year with a torn whatever he had in his shoulder and he never flinched.”

However, just because Cook won the position battle doesn’t mean we've seen the last of Horn.

Horn got to play the whole second half versus South Dakota and completed 3-of-5 passes for 54 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

“I thought Sam (Horn) in his first extended period of college football was solid also,” Drinkwitz said. … “We’re committed to letting him grow and he’s got to be prepared when his number is called and when he’s in there we need to let it rip. Let it go. Just like he’s the guy and getting the full account of the playbook.”

Cook has clearly gotten better.

This quarterback competition wasn't like last season’s when it seemed like Cook defeated Horn, Jack Abraham and Tyler Macon almost by default because Horn wasn’t ready and the latter two appeared to be over their skis.

He actually earned it, and he did so after suffering an injury to the most important part of a quarterback's body.

Based on his play from last week and to a further extent last season, it appears Cook will reprise the role of game manager. You can generally trust him with the ball.

In fact, Cook’s last turnover was in week eight versus Vanderbilt last season when he threw an interception and got strip-sacked. Since then, he’s completed 67% of his passes for 1,483 passing yards and nine touchdowns. He also added 440 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground.

Also, most of those numbers came when the Tigers' offensive line was abysmal, and the receiving depth was inconsistent and not as deep as it is now.

The offensive line seems to have taken a major step forward. South Dakota may not be the biggest indicator of progress, but it was still a welcomed sight for Mizzou to see left tackle Javon Foster (90.8/fifth) and Connor Tollison (92.1/third) grade out as two of the top 5 offensive linemen in the nation for Week 1, according to PFF College.

Left guard Xavier Delgado was Mizzou’s offensive lineman of the game after he had a total offense grade of 80.4.

Prior to Thursday, only twice before had he had a grade above 67, and he never had a grade above 72.

The wide receiver group has at least six players who played last week and probably another two or three who didn’t get to play.

So, overall, there’s a lot more talent or consistent play surrounding Cook this year compared to last.

Another positive about how Cook being the starter and Horn being the backup is Cook is who the team feels is the best guy, but Drinkwitz is on record saying he feels like there isn’t a position group on the team where the backup couldn’t be the starter and that includes Horn.

“Yeah, I think there’s a lot of really good competitive depth. I mean, you could ask me about a single position and I’m not sure that I wouldn’t say that the backup is not a quality player that probably at some point would deserve the opportunity to start,” Drinkwitz said on Media Day entering Week 1.

So if Cook, who has joked about his tendency to not slide, gets hurt or is unavailable for any reason, the Tigers have someone they believe can do the job.

Lastly, Cook isn't hurt anymore. A lot of people seem to throw his injury out the window, but it certainly had an impact on him last season.

"During the season, I definitely had to change my mechanics a little bit. I was doing a little bit of some funky stuff just to take some of the pressure off of my shoulder,” Cook told Powermizzou.com right before fall camp. "I probably created some bad habits during the season. But since getting cleared, I've kind of evolved, and gone back to my normal mechanics."

Whether that means he has extra zip on the ball or not is to be determined, but that obviously played some factor in how he played last season. Also, if you factor in him playing the whole season and gaining experience with him being 100%, one has to figure he’s in line for a better season this year.

On Thursday, there seemed to be an elevated level of pocket presence, a better understanding of going through his progressions and manipulating the defense. One has to assume a year of experience helped him with that.

The opposite end of the game manager spectrum is the ceiling is theoretically lower. Missouri can't and probably shouldn't expect Cook to have many, if any, 300-yard passing games. He got close with a 297-yard and three-touchdown performance versus Abilene Christian in Week 3 last season.

Besides that, he's never eclipsed 252 yards or more in a game again.

The big thing with game managers is they tend to have a more safe than sorry approach. New offensive coordinator Kirby Moore's offense has been described as explosive all offseason, but there weren't many fireworks in Week 1. Nor does that mean Cook will always be able and or willing to take the shots downfield.

Also, it appears of the three quarterbacks who had legit shots at the starting gig, Cook may have the weakest arm. He doesn't have a weak arm to be clear, but the weakest.

After Horn threw a 31-yard laser to Mekhi Miller in the middle of the field on his first drive, Drinkwitz called it an "elite" throw.

Could Cook make that same throw? Could he make that throw consistently? Both of those questions are to be determined.

Game managers are tasked with not losing the game, but also, because of how risk-averse they can be, they may not be able to put the team on their back and win many games either.

Cook demonstrated he's capable of both last season.

Against Florida in Week 6, Cook threw two interceptions with the first being returned for a touchdown and the last one coming inside the red zone late in the third quarter down 10-17. Florida would score on the ensuing possession and go up 24-10 and the 14-point margin proved to be too much of a deficit to come back from at that point.

In the regular season finale versus Arkansas with bowl eligibility on the line, Cook completed 61.5% of his passes for 242 yards and a touchdown. He also added 138 rushing yards and a touchdown in a 29-27 win.

All of this to say, Cook still has a lot to prove, particularly to a fanbase that has been vocal in its wish to see his backup. But he's won the starting job and Missouri 一 and Drinkwitz一is putting the future in his hands.

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