Eli Drinkwitz 'wasn't alarmed' by injuries to Brett Norfleet, Theo Wease

Missouri lost a couple of talented pass catchers to injuries on Thursday as starting tight end Brett Norfleet and starting receiver Theo Wease were banged up in the 51-0 win over Murray State.

Norfleet and Wease both exited the game in the first half, went to the locker room and did not return to action.

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While on the surface that may seem concerning, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said after the win that the Tigers were simply being cautious.

“Yea, we were just going to be smart with them in the second half. So I think they’ll be fine,” Drinkwitz said. “Wasn’t alarmed by anything afterwards.”

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Brett Norfleet caught one pass for 4 yards prior to the injury, while Theo Wease had three catches for 30 yards before leaving the game.

Both players are coming off of excellent years for Missouri and should be a big part of the Tigers passing attack this season, assuming they can stay healthy.

As a true freshman last year, Norfleet appeared in 12 games and made three starts. He had 18 catches for 197 yards and three touchdowns on the season. As for Wease, he started all 13 games in 2023, finishing the year with 49 catches for 682 yards and six touchdowns.

Brady Cook on Missouri’s Week 1 win vs. Murray State: ‘We showed we’re a good football team’

On Thursday, Missouri burst out of the starting gates with a 51-0 season-opening win over Murray State. After the game, Tigers quarterback Brady Cook reflected on his performance.

“I thought I was alright. I thought I made some plays,” Cook said. “I distributed the ball to a lot of different receivers. And like I said, we’re going to clean up the execution.

“I got a lot of work to do on timing and just getting the game speed with these deep balls down the field. But we’ll work on it. We’ll get back to it.”

In the Missouri win, Cook completed 19-of-his-30 pass attempts for 218 yards and a touchdown. He also recorded four rushing attempts for 22 yards and a score.

Brady Cook came out red-hot, helping Missouri to score 28 unanswered points in the first quarter. However, the Tigers slowed down in the second frame, only notching 58 passing yards and putting seven an additional seven points on the scoreboard.

Part of Missouri’s sudden stagnancy was due to its turn toward the deep ball. The team began to look down the field after the first quarter but rarely connected. Cook believes the Tigers’ miscues were simply Week 1 mishaps and are fixable.

“The deep ball, obviously, we didn’t connect how we wanted to, but the looks were there,” Cook said. “The timing was almost there. We’ll work on it this week. We’ll be able to connect.

“I think we showed people that we’re going to start fast. We have an explosive offense. A defense that gives up zero points in Week 1 — that’s huge. That’s big for the offense. So I think we showed we’re a good football team, and we have a lot of ball left.”