COLUMBIA, Mo. — ’Tis the season to be ranked.
Not in the AP Poll, mind you, nor the College Football Playoff Selection Committee’s rankings. Not even in a preseason poll of coaches or media members.
Rather, it’s the time of year when a snappy numerical graphic and enough confidence to convey presumed authority make for quality rankings — of players, prospects, playoff chances and everything in between. College football preview magazines dedicate full spreads to it. Some accounts on X dedicate their full existence to it.
It’s like that Benjamin Franklin quote: “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
This waning stage of the offseason has a ranking of everything and everything gets ranked, including Missouri’s quarterback.
Brady Cook is entering his final season of college football and does so in a unique position compared to his first handful of years at Mizzou. He’s the undisputed starter and a face of the franchise — he, along with wide receiver Luther Burden III and defensive tackle Kristian Williams, will represent the Tigers at the Southeastern Conference’s media days next week.
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That’s a promotional shift from a year ago at this time, when coach Eli Drinkwitz was adamant he had a quarterback competition.
“No different than the edge position or the wide receiver position or the safety position,” he said at last year’s media days, “whoever plays the best in fall camp is going to start.”
Cook climbing to No. 1 in the MU quarterback hierarchy became a moot point early in the 2023 season. But where he falls among the SEC’s 16 starting signal-callers is far more contentious heading into 2024.
The consensus seems to be that Georgia’s Carson Beck and Texas’ Quinn Ewers are atop the conference in passing prowess. They’re first and second in betting odds to win the Heisman Trophy, as things stand now, and they’re both known quantities.
Beck threw for the most passing yards last year of any returning quarterback, with 3,941 and a 72.4% completion percentage. Ewers, meanwhile, threw for 3,479 yards and a 69% completion percentage.
Part of Beck’s appeal is that he’s extremely accurate and distributes the ball quickly. Per Pro Football Focus, the 2.39 seconds he averaged from snap to release was the fifth-fastest in the country.
Ewers, who even as a returning starter sometimes struggles to command the same attention as his big-name backup, Arch Manning, has an interesting relationship with the Longhorns’ scheme: He led the Power Five in play-action dropbacks and was far less effective without those play designs. That question is perhaps the differentiating factor between Ewers and Beck at the top of the conference.
At No. 3 in most rankings is Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who stayed put in Tuscaloosa during the transition from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer at the helm. At his best, Milroe is a dynamic creator with a big arm — he trailed only Heisman winner Jayden Daniels in PFF’s deep throw grade — and the legs to make things happen. But he is prone to holding onto the ball too long, and there’s the broader question of what the Tide will look like this year, too.
Next, most of the time, comes Jaxson Dart. Like Cook, the Mississippi quarterback took a big step forward from his sophomore to junior year, with Dart finishing third in the SEC in passing yards last season. (If you want to include Ewers’ Big 12 numbers from last year, Dart sits fourth.)
The plethora of weapons that coach Lane Kiffin has assembled at Ole Miss gives Dart the arsenal to push the upper end of the conference when it comes to passing statistics. Wideouts Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins, who finished sixth and 16th in the SEC in receiving yards last year, are both back. Juice Wells, a transfer with a 1,250-yard season on his resume, also joined the war chest in Oxford.
Dart gets some of the skepticism as Ewers when it comes to reliance on a scheme, but his standing in the conference is likely the most on par with Cook, who sits fifth in most rankings of SEC quarterbacks.
It’s an extension of the broader parallels between Mizzou and Ole Miss. The CFP Selection Committee ranked the Tigers ninth and the Rebels 11th at the end of the 2023 regular season after both posted the same overall record. Both schools have loaded wide receiver rooms. There are similarities in how their coaches recruit high school players and the transfer portal.
Dart and Cook seem to be especially neck-and-neck. Last year, Dart threw for 3,364 yards. Cook threw for 3,317. Dart ran for 391; Cook ran for 319.
That’s a mere 119 total yards of statistical separation.
The talent Cook can find downfield, like Burden and Theo Wease Jr., will elevate his passing game prowess. While Missouri will perhaps ask Cook to be prudent when choosing to run, he’ll continue to pick up yardage with his legs on a regular basis.
The key to Cook moving upward in the perception of the SEC might come down to turnovers. And that might be a matter of how he targets a star like Burden.
Last year, forcing the ball to Burden led to some quarterbacking miscues. Of Cook’s six interceptions, four were intended for Burden, per SEC StatCat. His rate of interceptable passes was 3.93% for targets not wearing No. 3 and 8.4% when he was throwing to Burden.
Remaining composed while accomplishing the goal of getting the ball to Mizzou’s playmakers could push Cook farther ahead of other SEC quarterbacks.