Now that we've reached the conclusion of the 2023 regular season it is time to hand out a position-by-position report card for Missouri's offense.

Quarterbacks: It's been an interesting 12 months for Brady Cook.

This time a year ago, he was playing some of his best ball to end the regular season to help propel Missouri to six wins and a Gasparilla Bowl berth, still dealing with a torn right labrum (unbeknownst to the public) and it seemed very evident that he was going to be entrenched in a position battle when spring ball rolled around despite all of that.

Well, there was a position battle for his job but he was still rehabbing from his shoulder surgery, so he missed all of spring ball when the competition was going on.

It didn't seem to matter too much, though. He was named the starter heading into fall camp and never lost the job.

He had a good game versus South Dakota when he and Sam Horn split the reps in the first and second half. He had an alright game versus Middle Tennessee State in Week 2 and then he had his break out game in the 30-27 win over Kansas State.

He completed 23-of-35 passes for a then-career-high 356 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a rushing touchdown in that game and played the second half with a hyperextended knee.

It was his first of four straight 300-yard passing games.

In Week 5 against Vandy, Cook broke the SEC record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception, a streak that started in Week 8 of last season versus Vandy.

Cook also led the "fourth and 17" drive versus Florida that saw him lead a 12-play, 62-yard drive to set up a game-winning field goal as the Tigers looked to keep their New Year's Six hopes alive. He was named the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his performance that week.

At times, Cook has been average but that was when he was at his worst. He didn't have any games where his play really lost them the game outside of the Georgia game, and even in that contest, he was decent until he threw his first interception midway through the fourth quarter.

Overall, he finished the regular season completing 233 of 351 (66.4%) of his passes for 3,189 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions while adding 253 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.

Considering he was in a quarterback battle and viewed as a polarizing player by many, and now he's a strong contender to be an All-SEC quarterback and is a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Award given to the nation’s top quarterback, that should let you know how well his season went. GRADE: A-

Running backs: Cody Schrader has gone from starting-level SEC back to begin the season to being someone who legitimately should be considered as someone who goes to New York City for the Heisman ceremony.

At the very least, he should be a Doak Walker Award finalist for the nation's best running back and probably a shoo-in to win the Burlsworth Award given to the nation's best former walk-on.

Schrader had eight 100-yard rushing games, including five straight in the team's last five games. In three of those five, he had over 100 rushing yards by halftime.

Lastly, he also finished the regular season with a streak of eight straight games with a rushing touchdown.

Schrader had a sensational record-setting day in Week 11 when he became the first player to record over 200 rushing yards and 100 receiving yards in the same game.

He rushed for 1,489 yards, 13 touchdowns and one fumble on 247 carries (six yards per carry). He also added 22 receptions for 191 yards.

Nathaniel Peat had a decrease in playing time compared to a year ago, but even with that, his numbers are comparable to a season ago.

He had 79 rushes for 317 yards and three touchdowns. He also had six receptions for 81 yards and a touchdown.

A year ago, he had 100 rushes for 438 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 10 receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Schrader's emergence phased Peat out, but Peat did alright and most importantly he didn't fumble. GRADE: A+

Wide receivers: Coming out of fall camp, the feeling was that the Tigers had a deep wide receiver room and that appeared to be true.

First, Luther Burden III became the superstar the team hoped he'd be. He started the season with six games of at least seven receptions and 96 yards (five over 100 yards receiving). He had six games in total 110 yards or more receiving.

In the second half of the season, he started to see more double and triple teams, so he only had one of those six 110-yard receiving games once in the last six games.

However, even in some of his quieter games versus Georgia and Tennessee, he found a way to find the end zone.

He ended the regular season with 83 receptions for 1,197 yards and eight touchdowns. He is credited with four drops, a team-high among receivers, but with his volume, it's a blip on the radar.

He's currently a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award given to the nation's best receiver and a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award given to the nation's most outstanding player.

Theo Wease emerged as the team's No. 2 wide receiver and the voice in the wide receiver room. He racked up 45 receptions for 639 yards and six touchdowns. He was the team's best jump ball threat, especially in the red zone. Five of his six touchdowns came in the red zone, and he's a great complement to the offense as the team's X-receiver.

Mookie Cooper finally showed up as the threat the team hoped he'd be when he transferred from Ohio State prior to the 2021 season.

He recorded career highs in receptions (34) and yards (429). The only thing is he's looking for his first touchdown since 2021.

True freshman Marquis "Speedy" Johnson emerged as the team's No. 4 receiver statistically with 12 receptions for 333 yards and three touchdowns.

He gave Missouri an explosive downfield threat that could not only make plays designed for him but also be a great decoy that led to big plays for other players.

Mekhi Miller missed a couple of games this season and didn't necessarily have a lot of production, but he's still a valuable piece of this receiving core, especially on third down.

He came up big during the final drive versus Florida with a pair of catches for 24 yards.

Miller had 11 receptions for 138 yards in 10 games.

Besides the 11 drops (which isn't many), the most significant problem for this group was gaining separation. That lack of separation made it hard to move the ball through the air, and that led to lulls in the offense at times.

Another issue was sometimes there were times when it seemed like only Burden was making plays and the other receivers didn’t have much going on (think MTSU and Arkansas games). The unit did well when coverages started keying in on him with double and triple teams but sometimes Burden was the only one making things shake. But for the most part this group was really good. GRADE: B+

Tight ends: It wasn't going to be hard to beat last year's D- grade after the group had recorded just 10 receptions for 102 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games.

This year, the Tigers have found their tight end of the future in true freshman Brett Norfleet, who recorded 17 receptions for 195 yards and three touchdowns.

He's not only proven to be a viable option in the receiving game but a very physical blocker, which is massive considering this is his first season in the league.

He replaced Tyler Stephens, who played in 11 games and started the first six games. He recorded five receptions for 49 yards, five yards and a touchdown shy of his receiving totals from a year ago. He also led the team in drops with five. GRADE: B

Offensive line: Across the board, the line improved vastly from a season ago. It started with hiring Brandon Jones to be the new offensive line coach after spring football. He's been able to get the most out of the starting five and it shows.

Center Connor Tollison is the line's most improved player. The team actually brought in starting right guard Cam'Ron Johnson to vie for the starting center spot. It took Tollison the first week of camp to re-solidify himself as the team's center going forward. He's become more of a vocal leader and has played with a lot more confidence this season.

Tollison’s big struggle has been snapping the ball. He's had a couple of costly snap infraction penalties and or bad snaps.

Like his snap infraction versus LSU as the team was driving downfield with under four minutes to go to tie or take the lead on second down, which was followed by a bad snap on the next play that resulted in a big loss of yardage that removed Missouri from field goal range.

Johnson, a 2022 American Athletic Conference first-team selection, played well in his first season in Columbia when he wasn't committing penalties. He was t-seventh in the nation in the category with 11. He was briefly replaced in the lineup by Marcellus Johnson early in the season, but regained his spot back soon after and never looked back.

The same could be said for star left tackle Javon Foster, one of the nation's better offensive linemen, who committed a career-high nine penalties has been stellar outside of the penalties.

Xavier Delgado was in a similar boat as Tollison in the offseason. He was in a position battle during fall camp, but it wasn't much of a battle. He ended up retaining the position and playing well this season. Well enough that head coach Eli Drinkwitz believes he's made himself a draftable player in the upcoming draft.

He also was named the SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week for Week 12.

Armand Membou has been developing at a rate the team is happy with. He's a physical and nasty blocker and is one of the team's foundational pieces for at least one more season.

The line is leaps and bounds better than it was a year ago. The Tigers are currently 46th in sacks allowed at 1.67 and 67th in tackles for loss per game at 5.58. However, the unit was a little worse with penalties this year.

Last season, the offensive line amassed 32 of Mizzou's 54 offensive penalties (59%). This season, the line was responsible for 35 of the 50 offensive penalties (70%) with Johnson leading the way with 11.

Foster was next with nine, Tollison had six, Delgado had three and Marcellus Johnson had one. That's good for 2.91 penalties per game, up from 2.67 penalties per game through 12 games last season.

Missouri as a team finished the regular season with 86 penalties and 115th in penalties per game.

Regardless, the line is a big reason why the offense was the 24th-best offense in the FBS at 442.9 yards per game, with the 30th-ranked passing attack at 273.5 yards per game.

There's a reason this unit is a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award given to the best offensive line in the nation. GRADE: A-

Coaching: Drinkwitz took a step back by hiring Kirby Moore to be the offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and play caller and it’s gone well.

Moore has revamped the offense and found a way to utilize each position groups strengths.

The offensive line has done well in both pass protection and in the run game.

The expected move of Burden to the slot has worked wonders. Wease as the red zone or jump ball guy, has been great and something the team didn't really have last year. The use of Speedy Johnson was unexpected but has opened up another dimension in the offense.

Cooper and Miller have roles in the offense and are both viewed as reliable guys, especially in third downs and big moments.

Schrader has emerged as one of the best backs in the nation, and his use as a receiver has been a plus.

He’s found a way to make the tight end position a viable option in the passing game and all of the tight ends are better blockers than last year’s group.

Then, Cook’s development from a player some fans wanted bench to an All-SEC level player has been the catalyst behind this revamped offense.

Cook, Schrader, Burden and the offensive line are all at least semifinalists for national awards, and because of Drinkwitz, Moore and the entire offensive coaching staff.

The offense has only had three games with under 400 total yards. It has had five games with 500 yards or more.

The Tigers average ableist nine more points per game than they did a year ago at 34.1, which is best for 26th in the FBS. They scored less than 30 twice this year compared to scoring 30 or more just three times all of last year.

Also, this was the fourth time in school history that someone passed for 3,000 yards or more, rushed for 1,000 yards or more and had 1,000 or more receiving yards. GRADE: A-

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