Missouri Tigers nominate Brady Cook to start against South Dakota in Week 1: Reports

Missouri's Brady Cook has been named the starting quarterback for Thursday night's game versus South Dakota, according to numerous reports.

Sources told On3 that Cook has beat out former four-star recruit Sam Horn and Miami transfer Jake Garcia. But Cook is far from a newbie on the field, as many Mizzou fans should remember.

Last season, Cook started all 13 games at QB. And for Thursday's opener against the Coyotes, coach Eli Drinkwitz has said he plans to play multiple signal-callers. This comes after Drinkwitz said the race for the Tigers' QB1 position will continue throughout the season.

“I was really pleased with the level of competition that we had throughout the spring, throughout the summer, through fall camp," Drinkwitz said. "I felt like we really had three guys that really stood above the rest. … Jake Garcia, Sam Horn, Brady Cook, all three of those guys did an outstanding job of doing what we asked them to do."

Brady Cook tallied 2,739 passing yards last season for Mizzou, including 14 TDs and seven interceptions. He also completed 64.8% of his passes and helped lead the Tigers to win two games, against New Mexico State (45-14) and Arkansas (29-27), to close the regular season before falling 27-17 to Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Tale of the tape against South Dakota

Mizzou's game against the Coyotes could spell good things for the team heading deeper into the season.

Among the major storylines for the game involves the Tigers being the only team to play back-to-back champs Georgia within a single score in their regular season loss. Furthermore, Mizzou also managed to qualify for three consecutive bowl games and won four of its last six regular season games in 2022. That indicates something good is happening in Columbia.

Many analysts believe that Missouri will beat South Dakota, considering it's bringing back 16 starters (eight each on offense and defense). So, they never had to deal with any major lineup adjustments and should be raring to go again this season. Plus, Mizzou has a stellar 85-42-5 record in season openers, meaning history is on its side as well.

After this game, the Tigers will face Middle Tennessee and then Kansas State, which will be its first Power Five opponent for the season (scheduled for Week 3).