Report: Brady Cook will start vs. Memphis despite knee injury

There’s been plenty of uncertainty this week surrounding Missouri star quarterback Brady Cook. He suffered a knee injury during his team’s 30-27 upset victory last weekend against the Kansas State Wildcats. But the Tigers got some good news on Friday night. According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Cook will start against Memphis on Saturday in St. Louis. He was a full participant in practice on Friday after being limited earlier in the week.

He put together a great performance against the 15th-ranked Wildcats, when he completed 23 of his 35 passes for 356 passing yards, while tossing two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also tacked on rushing touchdown, in what was the best performance of his career thus far.

Cook suffered the knee injury in the second quarter of the Kansas State game. He left the game momentarily, before eventually coming back in.

He put up very good numbers last year in his first full season as the starting quarterback for Missouri. He completed 64.8 percent of his throws for 2,739 passing yards, while tossing in 14 touchdowns with seven interceptions. As a runner, he also ran for 585 yards and six touchdowns. In 2021, Cook saw a limited amount of work, completing 79.3 percent of his passes for 345 yards, while tossing in two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Greg McElroy was not happy with the fans’ treatment of Cook

Plenty of people took issue with the fan behavior aimed at Mizzou QB Brady Cook last Saturday against Kansas State. Now, earlier this week, Greg McElroy joined that group that’s standing behind the Tigers’ QB1.

McElroy spoke about the fans in Columbia booing Cook at times last weekend during ‘Always College Football’ on Wednesday. Simply put, he has a hatred for actions like that, especially since his play to that point hadn’t justified that kind of reaction.

“I hate the thought of booing a player during a pre-game introduction,” McElroy said. “I absolutely hate it and I’m not the only one.

“The thing is it’s not like Brady Cook played poorly in the first couple games of the year. I mean he’d had three touchdown passes, he’d thrown for nearly 400 yards against both South Dakota and Middle Tennessee.”

McElroy understands that having a highly-ranked young backup can sometimes make a fanbase act a certain way. Still, it doesn’t excuse the booing to him and he’s glad that, in the end, Cook showed them up in a sense by going out and having a career game against K-State.

“For whatever reason, the fans are always smitten with the young, highly-touted recruit. In this case, it’s Sam Horn. I’m not trying to sit there and say they shouldn’t be excited about what Sam Horn will ultimately do. I want you to love all your players,” explained McElroy. “But I think, sometimes, we have a tendency toward leaning our opinion towards a player that has yet to disappoint you. Sam Horn has never had the chance to disappoint you. Brady Cook has.

“What made it even sweeter, though, is the fact that he maybe had the best game of his career,” McElroy continued. “A career-high 356 yards passing, 60 more yards than he’d ever thrown for. A couple touchdowns, used his legs, obviously, to score another one. He was near perfect in a lot of ways.”

Missouri and Memphis will face off on Saturday, Sept. 23rd. Kick for that one is set for 7:30 PM EST. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater also contributed to this article.