Missouri football signed one of the top running backs out of the portal this offseason. Is Cody Schrader’s rushing record in sight for Ahmad Hardy?
One of the consistent truths of the Eli Drinkwitz era at Missouri football: The Tigers’ run game has been in good hands.
At least in preseason, there’s good reason to believe that may be the case again in Columbia in 2025.
Missouri loses more than 1,400 combined yards and 15 touchdowns after Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll graduated last season, but that shouldn’t be too much of a cause for concern.
One of the best Group of Five and freshman running backs from the 2024 college football season is now with Mizzou.
Mizzou’s season-opener for the 2025 campaign against Central Arkansas on Aug. 28 on Faurot Field is 40 days away as of Saturday, July 19. Fall camp is right around the corner, as the Tigers typically have players report to campus in Columbia over the final weekend of July.
Here is how Missouri’s running backs shape up heading into fall camp, including a projected (but not finalized) depth chart, the upside and possible questions for the room and some snippets of what the coaches said during the spring:
Missouri football projected depth chart at running back
Starters:Free: Ahmad Hardy, so.
Primary rotation: Jamal Roberts, jr.; Marquise Davis, fr.
Reserves: Tavorus Jones, r-jr.; Brendon Haygood, fr.; Anthony Favrow, sr.
We expect Mizzou to primarily use three running backs throughout the 2025 season, with Hardy taking the bulk of the reps.
Hardy, a UL-Monroe transfer, was one of four running backs in the FBS last season to register more than 1,000 yards after contact. The other three: No. 6-overall 2025 NFL Draft pick Ashton Jeanty at Boise State; No. 22-overall selection Omarion Hampton at North Carolina; and third-round pick Kaleb Johnson at Iowa. That’s pretty good company.
While at ULM as a rookie, Hardy rushed for 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns.
No one breaks more tackles than Ahmad Hardy 💪
— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) June 1, 2025
pic.twitter.com/qv9KTl0lGh
Roberts, who head coach Eli Drinkwitz called “Mr. Dependable” in the spring, should resume his role as the Tigers’ change-of-pace back. He could operate similarly to the role Carroll played last season, taking on short-yardage and red-zone carries.
If and when the Tigers turn to a third running back, the top candidate appears to be Davis — a true freshman who Mizzou flipped from Kentucky shortly before the national signing period last December.
The upside
How high should expectations be for Hardy?
The fit is about all you can ask for. He has experience running the outside zone. He’s one of the top returning tailbacks in the nation at bouncing off tackles. The lone self-assessed hole in his game is that he’s trying to make tacklers miss and not “just run through people.”
Even down to recent history, the signs are good. Mizzou has consistently churned out excellent running backs under Eli Drinkwitz and position coach Curtis Luper, from Larry Rountree III to Tyler Badie to Cody Schrader, and even to Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll last season. The Tigers’ scheme lends to big numbers in the run game. We could see the 2025 edition of MU being a heavily run-oriented offense.
Schrader set the Tigers’ single-season rushing record with 1,627 yards in 2023. That’s a tall order, but there’s enough evidence to suggest Hardy could flirt with the 100-yard mark on a game-by-game basis.
It’s on Hardy’s mind, too, if you were wondering.
“I heard (Schrader) was a walk-on and he set records here,” Hardy said April 8. … “I saw he had 1,600 yards, so I'm looking to try to beat that record.”
Questions, concerns to answer
It’s not often that we can say this, but we don’t really see any reason for concern in this room.
We like just about every angle you can look at this crop of tailbacks from.
Roberts, while he may not be an every-down back, is extremely reliable as a third-down and change-of-pace option. If you look at a picture of Davis, your first guess wouldn’t be that you’re looking at a true freshman.
— Marquise Davis (@rlyquise) July 12, 2025
If we’re going to really dig for a question, and this truly requires breaking out the shovel: Will the potential of a high-volume running quarterback take some carries away from the running backs?
Beau Pribula, if he does go on to win the starting quarterback competition, is elite at pulling the ball down and going. You could squint and envision a setting where that costs the running backs some yards.
As far as the talent level and upside of this running back room is concerned, though, it's mostly good news.
Breakout candidate
It’s unclear what the snap share is going to look like between Missouri’s running backs. Davis, for now, looks like he’ll be the third option on the depth chart and could see some significant time as a freshman.
“Excellent runner,” Drinkwitz said April 8. “A guy who is going to have an impact as a true freshman. We feel like he's going to be able to provide us with some added depth and explosiveness at the running back position.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Is Missouri football rushing record achievable for Ahmad Hardy?
Category: General Sports
