COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz has learned a lot about his new starting quarterback since the end of last season, but it was during a midsummer meeting that could have gone awkwardly when he fully appreciated the competitor that is Brady Cook.
Drinkwitz's offseason hunt for a more experienced quarterback was not a secret — he called it "a public pursuit" — but he was especially impressed with Cook's response to the carousel of Power Five targets coming through campus.
Drinkwitz recalled that conversation Wednesday: "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. I'm going to fight for it. As long as you're telling me it's an open competition regardless of what happens, I'm going to be here.'"
