Mizzou QB Brady Cook hosts his first youth football camp at Rock Bridge
COLUMBIA 一 Approximately 170 kids, aged 6-16, sat in the visitor bleachers section at Rock Bridge High School as the Brady Cook Youth Football Camp was set to begin on Sunday afternoon. All campers were decked out in white t-shirts featuring a picture of the Missouri quarterback and let out a massive cheer right before he addressed them to start the camp.
It wasn't necessarily the roar of a sellout crowd at Faurot Field. Nonetheless, you couldn't tell by the massive smile Cook had on his face for what appeared to last the entire four-hour camp.
"Oh, it's crazy (hearing the kids cheer for me). I've said it before, you guys have heard me 一 this is truly a dream for me," Cook said. "It doesn't feel like work. It doesn't feel like I'm taking any of my own time out of the day because this is what I love. It's going to be an awesome day. I'm just so excited so many kids came out.
"It's always been something I wanted to do. And I felt like this is the first year I truly had the platform to do it. So really, right after the season, it was something I thought about."
One of the reasons why Cook was so happy to host the camp was because he wanted to do for his campers what Jeremy Maclin did for him over 15 years ago when he attended his camp.
"I actually went to the Jeremy Maclin football camp in St. Louis and I just remember clear as day like, the t-shirt at the camp and just being so mesmerized by Jeremy Maclin," Cook said. "And you know, he's the star receiver and I believed it was at Kirkwood High School or somewhere in St Louis. And I mean, I had a blast. Me and my buddies would talk about it months leading up to it, and I hope I can give them that same experience.
"I remember me and my boys leaving that camp thinking we run this and we were feeling good and confident. I think it just gave me a little bit of hope. Seeing someone so great, so close up, and just kind of seeing the real person he is 一 that's what I'm trying to do here today."
Campers got an autographed picture of Cook during registration with the t-shirt as mentioned earlier.
Following Cook's opening remarks to the campers, they lined up one-by-one to take photos with the Tigers' star quarterback.
Once that was out of the way, the campers broke off into 10 different groups and they all rotated the 10 different drills like the 40-yard dash, shuttle, one-on-one, and more.
"Playing the game I was playing with those kids was so fun. I could just see it in their eyes how much fun they were having," Cook said. "I tried to dish the ball to as many as I could, you know, to make it even and make everybody happy, but I could just see it in their eyes, see it in their face that they were pumped."
Cook had coaches from all over the state volunteer for the camp in addition to former Missouri football player Jerrell Jackson (2008-11).
Jackson, who also played in the NFL for three seasons, owns the Athletes Performance Institute gym in Columbia alongside former Mizzou tight end and 2010 All-American Michael Egnew. The former heard that Cook needed some people to help with the camp and it was a no-brainer for him to help citing, 'I bleed black and gold.'
"It's good for the community Mizzou fan. You'd be surprised how many youths grow up in Columbia telling you they're Alabama fans or something ridiculous," Jackson said. "That's kind of been one of my missions here in Columbia is to make sure these kids grow up supporting Mizzou not just because the school is amazing. But you get the opportunity to have first-hand experience with the university and some elite players who'll hopefully play at the next level. You don't want to block your blessings by not being a fan of Mizzou and then deciding not to go to these camps."
Clint Cox was one of many parents in attendance at the camp. He found out about the camp via Facebook and signed up Elliot, his seven-year-old son, for it.
Both are Missouri fans and Clint loved having Elliot's first football experience come from their favorite team's QB1.
"I said 'Brady Cook is the Missouri quarterback,' and he said, 'Oh wow!' This is kind of his first real exposure (to football)," Clint said. "We watch it and play it at home in the backyard but this is his first real exposure.
"It's just awesome, honestly. This is a good opportunity for those kids to get out here and just run around a little bit."
The camp concluded with a handful of one-on-one drills and a race from the 40 and 45-yard lines to the end zone for each age group, with the winners from those races competing for a final time to determine the fastest camper.
At the end of the camp, Cook hosted a quick Q&A and addressed the campers again, telling them that school comes first and that if they continue to work hard, they will be successful at whatever they want to do.
After that, the campers thanked him in unison, and as the camp concluded and Cook left the field, many campers followed him in small groups trying to ask him more questions.
They were mesmerized by him as much as he was by Maclin when he was a camper.
It was still all smiles from Cook, who continued to answer a handful of the questions. It was just as good of a day for him as it was for the campers. He just wanted the kids to have fun and come away from the camp having learned something new.
"I play the sport in front of thousands and thousands, every single week. And naturally, that gives me a platform to do stuff like this," Cook said. "I I wasn't going to do stuff like this, wasn't going to hold camps and give back, I feel like it'd be a waste. It'd be a waste of what I've built and what I've been able to accomplish. So, I'm really just trying to give back as much as possible."
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