Cook carries QB role well: Hard-working Morrison senior fine with handing ball off

He leans back against the white cinderblock wall, his hands in buried deep into the pockets of the red jacket.

As the football locker room empties, a group of boys clad in shorts and tank tops rush through the busy hallway, leaving a rack of orange basketballs across from him.

Soon Andrew Cook will be one of those boys dribbling, shooting and defending for the Morrison boys basketball team.

But for at least this week, Cook is still a football player as the Mustangs prepare for their Class 2A semifinal game on Saturday against Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.

More specifically, he’s a quarterback – a role he reduces in importance with a dry, yet honest wit.

“My role on this team?” Cook said with a smile. “You mean handing the ball off to Josh Vos.

“It’s fine with me as long as we’re winning games. I’ll hand the ball off every play.”

Cook has completed 37 of 80 pass attempts this season for 691 yards and seven touchdowns.

“We’re to the point where I am going to have to throw it more often,” Cook said. “We’re facing teams that are very quick on defense and might be able to stop our run better.”

Cook is a realist. It’s a trait learned from years of working on his family’s farm.

“He’s the kind of kid every team needs,” Morrison coach Cory Bielema said. “He definitely has that work ethic from growing up on the farm.

“I’ve seen the way he and his brother talk to each other in weight room and you can tell he’s been pushed hard.”

He’s tough from the farm life – and from being the younger brother of one of the biggest, strongest hombres to come through Morrison.

Adam Cook graduated from Morrison in 2008. As a two-way starter on the line, he helped the Mustangs to a combined 22-3 record during his junior and senior seasons.

“We scrimmaged against each other a lot in the backyard,” Andrew said. “That usually didn’t turn out too well for me. Sometimes I was quick enough to get away from him, but not much.