Report: Missouri TE Brett Norfleet out vs. Buffalo, week-to-week with shoulder injury

Missouri will be without one of its top options in the passing game on Saturday against Buffalo as tight end Brett Norfleet will miss the contest, according to Pete Thamel.

The ESPN insider posted the news on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

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“Sources: Missouri will be without star sophomore tight end Brett Norfleet against Buffalo on Saturday,” Thamel tweeted. “He suffered a shoulder injury against Murray State, which is not a long-term injury. He’s considered week-to-week. Norfleet was an All-SEC freshman in 2023.”

Norfleet left Missouri’s opener against Murray State during the first half and did not return.

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However, at the time, head coach Eli Drinkwitz said he didn’t think the injuries to Brett Norfleet or receiver Theo Wease were worth being concerned about. Wease also left the opener in the first half and did not return.

“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.”

Brett Norfleet caught one pass for 4 yards prior to the injury. 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.

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.”