Mizzou football has named its six captains for the 2023 season.
Quarterback Brady Cook; running back Cody Schrader; left tackle Javon Foster; linebackers Chad Bailey and Ty'Ron Hopper; and defensive lineman Darius Robinson.
Cook, Foster, Bailey and Robinson will repeat as captains from the 2022 team, when the Tigers named eight team leaders. Four captains from the 2022 team have since graduated or left the program. Defensive end Isaiah McGuire was a third-round pick by the Cleveland Browns, safety Martez Manuel and wide receiver Barrett Banister are currently unsigned free agents and wideout Tauskie Dove grad transferred to Memphis.
The sextet led the Tigers in stretches in training camp during Thursday morning’s open period of practice. The team announced the decision later in the day.
Here’s more on who Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz has chosen as his team leaders this year:
Brady Cook
This raises one all-important question:
Does this mean Cook is QB1?
Although the team has made no official announcement, there is no information and no observations that would indicate otherwise.
He’s taken an overwhelming majority — if not all — of the first-team reps in camp. He’s the incumbent starter and healed from his offseason shoulder surgery.
When the Tigers take the field against South Dakota on Aug. 31 at Memorial Stadium, the junior out of Chaminade High School in St. Louis will be wearing a capital C on his jersey, and there’s a good chance to assume he’ll be under center for the first snap.
He was named Missouri’s starting QB a week into camp in the 2022 season, and went on to 2,724 yards (209.5 per game), 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 13 starts. He added 585 yards (45 per game) and six touchdowns on the ground as the Tigers went 6-7 with a bowl loss to Wake Forest. He has a career passing accuracy of 67% (299 of 447)
Javon Foster
Foster was in attendance at SEC media days in Atlanta in late June, and he was named to the preseason All-Southeastern Conference first team.
The Detroit product is the undisputed starter at left tackle in his final year of eligibility. He has started every game in each of Tigers’ past two seasons, currently amounting to a 26-game starting streak.
Cody Schrader
This is the role Schrader was gunning for this year.
“Coming into this year, now I’m more of a leader on the team,” he said at the beginning of training camp. “And that’s something I pride myself in — in a leadership role on offense and on the team.”
Schrader, who player for Lutheran South High School in St. Louis, was the Tigers’ top performing running back in 2022, appearing in all 13 games. He rushed for 744 yards (57.2 per game) and nine touchdowns, and added 10.5 yards per game in the air.
The Truman State transfer arrived in Columbia in January 2022 as a walk-on. He’ll finish his career as a team captain.
Chad Bailey
Last year’s team captain endured a difficult offseason after being arrested in the spring for driving under the influence. He was suspended for one week in line with Missouri’s student-athlete handbook policy for a first-time arrest.
He was absent from multiple portions of fall training camp. A Missouri team spokesperson told the Tribune that was unrelated to Bailey’s arrest.
The linebacker out of Missouri City, Texas, has played 43 games over the past five seasons for the Tigers. In 11 starts last season, he placed third on the team with 57 total tackles, which included 8.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. He also forced and recovered a fumble and deflected three passes.
Ty’Ron Hopper
The soft-spoken, hard-hitting linebacker might be the best example of a leader by example among the six captains.
The preseason All-Southeastern Conference second-team selection is in line to go one notch better by season’s end.
Former Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel tweeted after his visit to Columbia during training camp that he sees Hopper as a potential first-round draft pick.
Hopper’s 14 tackles for loss last season led the team, and his 78 total tackles ranked second, and has shown no signs of slowing down through training camp.
Darius Robinson
He could have gone, but he didn’t. He's putting that choice to good use.
Robinson, who chose to forgo the 2023 NFL Draft and return to Missouri for a sixth and final season, recently held a back-to-school drive at Second Missionary Baptist Church in Columbia, where he purchased and gave away 100 backpacks.
The leader in the community will be a leader across the defensive line this season, as he’s set to split his reps between tackle and end in his final year of eligibility.
Robinson, from the Southfield suburb of Detroit, has the measurables to be an enticing prospect for next year’s NFL Draft. The 6-foot-5, 296-pound lineman had 3.5 sacks as part of 5.5 tackles for loss in 2022. Now working the edge, that number is in line for a leap.
