Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz does not have a concrete update on the availability of his starting quarterback, Brady Cook.

During his Tuesday press conference, Drinkwitz said Cook will be in attendance the Tigers’ practice later in the day. But, Drinkwitz said he does not know if the quarterback will be an active participant. Missouri plays Alabama on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

And he isn’t offering up many clues, either.

“I don't know if I'd say participate,” Drinkwitz said. “I anticipate that he will be out at practice, but that's why I'm not letting the media at practice, so that y'all can’t worry about what he's doing or not doing in practice.”

Mizzou is closing its Tuesday practice to the media, which will be the first instance of that this season. Typically, approximately the opening five or six periods, lasting about 30 minutes, are available to watch while the team runs mostly through positional drills.

That means Cook's status is currently an unknown, and will become more clear when the first SEC-mandated availability report of the week is released at approximately 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“I know everyone's going to want a health update with our guys. I don't have much of one, just because we haven't practiced,” Drinkwitz said. “We practice this afternoon, so I don't know for sure either way. We'll follow SEC protocols, and we'll get that information out tomorrow night. … We'll follow the new SEC protocol before I issue any updates on the health of our team.”

Cook was part of one of the more memorable and widely covered stories of the past college football weekend. He picked up an ankle injury on a tackle from Auburn defensive end Jalen McLeod on the first drive of the game, before running a few more plays, clearly in pain, and then heading to the locker room.

The quarterback spent some time in University Hospital, adjacent to Memorial Stadium, and had an MRI on his injured ankle. He spent time in the team’s indoor facility testing his mobility out, before making an unexpected return late in the third quarter that ultimately turned the tide in the game. Cook led Mizzou on two touchdown drives to overturn an 11-point deficit and defeat Auburn.

More: Missouri football QB Brady Cook: From hospital to win over Auburn in one crazy afternoon

In a speech delivered to the team after the game, Drinkwitz can be heard saying that Cook suffered a high-ankle sprain. Those types of injuries can, in some instances, take multiple weeks to recover from.

Mizzou faces the Crimson Tide at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in what could ultimately prove to be a College Football Playoff decider. The game will air on ABC.

Win, and the Tigers have a clear path to the 12-team tournament. Lose, and the door doesn’t quite shut but Missouri would be reliant on multiple results to fall in its favor for the remainder of the season.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Brady Cook injury update: What is Missouri football QB's status for Alabama?