How Brett Norfleet is Battling Mental Block from Injuries

Seeing Missouri Tigers tight end Brett Norfleet run downfield, ball in hand and hurdle an opponent wasn't an uncommon sight the past couple seasons. But Norfleet wasn't doing it just to look cool.

"I think that just kind of happened because every time I caught the ball, I was always worried that I was going to hit it." Norfleet said at a press conference on Tuesday. "The thing that I had, it was very easily reinjured. So I think at some point I just kind of thou ght, 'hey, I'm just going to jump over every single guy.'"

While the injuries didn't keep him out of many games, Norfleet's collegiate career has been plagued by these lingering hits that affected his playing time. Last season, he sustained a shoulder injury in Week 1 against Buffalo and had shoulder surgery at the end of his 2024 campaign, which kept him out of the Music City Bowl game against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

While hurdling his opponent may be a good way for Norfleet to add to his highlight reel and avoid injury, the mental block leading to the hurdling is not exactly something he wants to have.

"It's been weird because last year's camp I had to miss due to the foot deal that I thought I had, and then I started the year off with a shoulder injury," Norfleet said. "So I feel like, for me, this year is just kin d of gaining confidence, and then getting back to myself."

The first step to Norfleet breaking free of his cautious mindset is putting his shoulder in front of some friendly fire. Fall camp is the first official action Norfleet has seen since before his surgery, but his coaches were confident that he was ready to go.

"It's been tough," Norfleet said. "I think there's no better place to test where you're at than against your teammates. I'm super happy with where I am. I do got to take some more steps. But, I'm just real comfortable with where I'm at."

Norfleet worked on more than just his mindset in the offseason to get ready for the 2025 campaign. That effort started in the offseason and with how he treated his recovery from his shoulder surgery.

"He did a hell of a job this offseason, attacking rehab, attacking what he needed to get better at and everything that he could do, and put himself in a really good posit ion going into camp," tight ends coach Derham Cato said.

A lot of work has been done to get Norfleet back into shape and ready for the upcoming season. Despite the attention that his hurdles receive, a goal that Norfleet made for himself this camp was to find other ways to prevent the hard hits from opponents.

"It's kind of learning not to always lower my shoulder, maybe use my off hand as a stiff arm, maybe stick a foot in the ground," Norfleet said.

Even though he is coming off a recent surgery, Norfleet is expected to make a major impact with the team and return to form. He was named to the Mackey Award watch list for the upcoming season, which recognized the best tight end in college football.

"Those guys have got to be weapons for us," head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "We got to utilize them. They're just too good in the run game that we got to be able to utilize them down the field. But they did a nice job today."