Building Brady: How Brady Cook rose from young Mizzou fan to starting quarterback

Every year, thousands of children line up for the Tiger Walk outside Faurot Field.

They gaze up at the giants in gold and black, dreaming that someday, somehow, they might grow up to be like those Tigers.

Brady Cook was one of those kids.

A Wentzville native, Cook loved the University of Missouri more than anything else. He spent his fall Saturdays playing catch in Faurot Field parking lots, eagerly waiting to watch the likes of Chase Daniel and James Franklin work their magic.

Entering this fall, Cook has earned the right to be one of the giants. The redshirt sophomore enters 2022 as the Tigers’ starting quarterback, validating a dream he’s had since childhood and paying off the years of hard work that got him here.

'We didn't realize he was that good'

Cook was covered in blood as he walked toward Matt Biermann after the defeat. He had paper towels in both nostrils to try and stop the bleeding, which had already covered his shirt after he had taken various blows running for hard yardage.

Chaminade had just dropped a heartbreaker to De Smet after it was unable to convert a 2-point conversion.

“He was drained,” said Biermann, a quarterback trainer in the St. Louis area. “But you could tell he had fought the fight. He was disappointed about losing, but he was in his element.”

Biermann would know. With his Elite Football Academy, the former MU wide receiver has worked with Cook since around second grade, near when the young quarterback was winning a championship with his pee-wee football team, the O’Fallon Renegades.

When high school rolled around, Cook headed to Chaminade, where he filled out a questionnaire his senior year with his overarching goal: be a Tiger.

“He’d show me pictures of himself as a kid where he had the Mizzou jersey on, it might have been Chase Daniel,” Chaminade offensive coordinator Christian Suntrup said. “He’s just always loved Mizzou.”

More: Kwiecinski: Why Brady Cook at quarterback gives Mizzou and Eli Drinkwitz the best chance to win

Cook impressed from early on, taking over as a sophomore for incumbent quarterback Michael McGovern, who coaches credited for teaching Cook how to command a locker room.

Cook took the field for his senior year with an MU offer in hand. He still took his game to another level.

“He was just lights out,” Suntrup said. “I think that was the biggest transition I saw — got to coach him four years — was that jump he made from junior to senior year and how impressive he was.”

Cook finished the year with 3,194 passing yards and 33 touchdowns, and cut his interceptions down from 12 as a junior to seven as a senior.

Despite his early success, Chaminade had no chance against De Smet on paper. The Red Devils were 4-1 entering the contest, but the Spartans were the eventual undefeated state champions.

Once the game started at De Smet, it was Cook’s show. The Red Devils weren’t outclassed and their quarterback was a major part of it.

“This kid was special,” Chaminade head coach Antoine Torrey said. “He was always extremely athletic, but more than anything, he was just really driven. His motivation, his drive was just so different.”

Cook threw for 342 yards. He ran for 127.

It came down to a 2-point conversion. On the sideline, Cook said he saw lanes developing and he thought the Red Devils could run it in.

Future Missouri and LSU defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo made the stop and De Smet came away the winner.

“He was torn apart,” Torrey said of Cook. “He knew he needed to win that one.”

In defeat, Cook demonstrated the emotional maturity that his supporters say is one of his best traits. He took it hard but kept going, focusing on the next game and leading Chaminade to a district championship.

Afterward, Biermann spoke with the De Smet coaching staff.

“Oh my God, we didn’t realize he was that good,” Biermann recalled them saying.

“I think that was a defining moment in his development, I really do.”

'We just stayed the course’

It was always going to be Missouri. From his sophomore year, when he and the Red Devils won a seven-on-seven tournament at Faurot Field, Cook and the Tigers were connected.

Even when Missouri made a coaching change after the 2019 season, he was undeterred despite some anxiety. New head coach Eli Drinkwitz made sure Cook knew the offer was still on the table.

“Everything still felt good,” Brady's mother, Amy Cook, said. “We just stayed the course.”

Cook became Chaminade’s first football player to complete high school a semester early to attend spring practice at MU. According to Drinkwitz, Cook had to get his G.E.D. before the school retroactively graduated him with the rest of the Class of 2019.

Brady didn’t play much early on. He redshirted his freshman season in 2020, but saw the field in three games, finishing the year with six completions for 72 yards and a touchdown.

In 2021, Cook backed up Connor Bazelak. When Bazelak got injured against Vanderbilt, Cook prepared for the next week’s game against Georgia as if he’d start. That didn’t happen. The night before the game, Drinkwitz informed the team Tyler Macon would get the nod.

“That was a low point,” Amy Cook said.

Brady bit back his disappointment and supported the team. It wasn’t easy. The eventual national champion Bulldogs had their way with the Tigers, leading Drinkwitz to begin rotating quarterbacks.

Cook entered in relief and played as well as anyone could against Georgia and ended up with 14 completions on 19 attempts for 78 yards, along with 46 yards rushing. Missouri lost 43-6.

More: Brady Cook revels in earning Mizzou’s starting quarterback job: ‘It means everything to me’

It was imperfect, but family and friends were happy with the effort.

“He got a shot and he came out and played a damn good team, (looking) down the barrel of some pretty impressive defense, and made some good plays,” Biermann said.

His effort and attitude also impressed his head coach.

“At that moment, I knew he was a special young man,” Drinkwitz said. “Because he could have been mad at me, could have been mad at the world, could have pouted. He waited for his moment, came in there and played with some big heart.”

Cook finally earned his chance to start in the Armed Forces Bowl. He made good on the opportunity, throwing for a touchdown and rushing for another on the way to 291 total yards. Cook threw a go-head touchdown to receiver Keke Chism to give the Tigers a lead in the final minutes.

Missouri lost on a last-second field goal, but Cook made his mark.

“He earned that,” Amy Cook said. “He just kept fighting for it. The bowl game was a great moment for our family. That was really fun.”

'We'll fight for it'

The starting quarterback spot was never going to be gifted to Cook in 2022.

Macon remains on the roster, and four-star prospect Sam Horn is in the picture. Wanting more experience, Drinkwitz even dipped into the portal, missing on multiple prospects before bringing in former Southern Miss and Mississippi State quarterback Jack Abraham to fight for the job.

Despite the portal shopping, Cook himself didn’t get discouraged.

“My plan was to be here for the 2022 season and compete my butt off regardless of who they brought in,” he said. “So my plan never really changed, never really wavered.”

He and Biermann spoke about the situation during the offseason, and Cook expressed confidence that he could beat out any new challengers. Cook met with Drinkwitz about the coming competition and echoed the same message.

“He just said, ‘Coach, it means nothing more to me than to be the starting quarterback at the University of Missouri, so I’m here and we’ll fight for it,'" Drinkwitz recalled.

On Aug. 10, Cook got it.

After Drinkwitz told him he had earned the job, Cook sent his parents a text message that prompted a celebration, including his uncle putting “QueB1 Nachos” on the menu at the family’s Sugarfire Smokehouse Wentzville location for a day.

“Official,” the text read. “QB1.”

Cook built himself in the image of the Missouri quarterback he wanted to see during his childhood. During spring break last season, he went back to his old elementary school, taking the stage in his Tigers jersey and speaking to current students.

The kids loved him.

“I think he remembers appreciating if a player, whatever it is, would pay attention to him as a little kid,” Amy Cook said. “How much that, when you’re really into sports, how much that means to you. I think he does try to carry himself like a role model.”

Cook has kept his life in order away from the football field. He’ll graduate early from MU in December after coming into school with college credits from Chaminade.

He also hasn’t let success go to his head. To his family and friends, he remains the same Brady Cook who used to cry when Missouri basketball lost, rates burgers when out at dinner, loves cheesecake, reads books about personal growth and works on his golf game in his spare time.

His teammates noticed a change in his demeanor for 2022.

“Whenever he got here it was kind of still like he was in this dream that he had always thought of, and that’s probably the case,” wide receiver Barrett Banister said. “But I’ve kind of seen him take that role of, ‘OK, this is reality, this is my turn now.’ And I’ve seen that in his personality and the way he’s acted, taking more leadership roles.”

There’s some caution. Nothing comes easy in the SEC, and Cook roomed with Bazelak last year, getting a firsthand view of how fans can turn on a quarterback.

Cook is more prepared now. As the most experienced quarterback in Drinkwitz’s system, he knows what needs to be done.

“It means everything to me,” Cook said. “I’m in a position right now that I used to dream of. I’ve really worked my whole football career for this moment, so it means so much. Just growing up and watching the Tigers, being from St. Louis, it means even more.”

When Cook heads to Faurot Field for the first game Sept. 1, he will take the Tiger Walk as the starting quarterback.

That will be worth celebrating for the family of the child who used to watch the traditional pep rally before going inside to his seat in the stands.

“It’ll be extra fun this year,” Amy Cook said. “Seeing him get off that bus, knowing he’s the guy to start. Should be fun.”

Matt Stahl is the Missouri athletics beat reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @mattstahl97.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How lifelong Missouri football fan Brady Cook became the starting QB