Missouri QB Brady Cook returns from injury, shocks Auburn

Missouri starting quarterback Brady Cook exited in the first quarter of Saturday’s game vs. Auburn with an ankle injury only to unexpectedly return to lead the No. 19 Tigers to a come-from-behind 21-17 victory.

Cook was injured on Missouri’s opening drive of the game and spent much of the next two quarters in the locker room. In his place, sophomore Drew Pyne struggled, completing just 10-of-21 passes for 78 yards.

At halftime, Missouri announced that Cook was “unexpected to return.” However, Cook re-entered the game late in the third quarter with Missouri trailing 17-6 and immediately completed a 78-yard pass to Mookie Cooper. The play set up a  Marcus Carroll 2-yard touchdown run to cut Auburn’s lead to 17-14 after a 2-point conversion.

Cook then engineered a 17-play, 95-yard drive to put Missouri ahead 21-17 on a  Jamal Roberts 4-yard run with 46 seconds left.

“When I came back, I just knew we weren’t going to lose,” Cook told ESPN after the game.

Cook, a senior, entered Saturday sixth in the SEC with 1,351 passing yards and seven touchdowns to just one interception.

Starting running back Nate Noel also exited in the first half with a foot injury but returned in the third quarter.

Noel was sixth in the SEC with 471 rushing yards and also has two rushing touchdowns.