In May, the shooting of Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy in Mississippi shocked and frightened the broader college football community. However, Hardy appears on the road to recovery.
Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz’s statements at SEC media days Monday morning marked the strongest indication yet that Hardy will resume play for Missouri this season, looking to build off an All-American 2025 campaign.
“Ahmad has been medically cleared from the bullet that struck him and is on the road to recovery. Today was his first day back towards a full recovery,” Drinkwitz said. “What that recovery will look like is still to be determined.”
A hazy return-to-play timeline for Hardy
Drinkwitz gave a timeline of five to eight weeks for Hardy’s return to action. Let’s do some math: five weeks from July 20 is Aug. 24, and eight weeks from July 20 is Sept. 14. That would put a Hardy return in play against either Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sept. 3 or rival Kansas on Sept. 11, assuming all goes according to plan.
Non-conference play is where Hardy did much of his damage in ‘25—he racked up half of his 16 rushing touchdowns against Central Arkansas, the Jayhawks, Louisiana and Massachusetts—so he’ll be needed sooner rather than later.
Hardy was shot in the upper leg in early May
The incident took place at a concert Hardy was attending in Laurel, Miss., about an hour from where he played his high school football in nearby Monticello. Almost immediately after he left the hospital, reports indicated Hardy would return to Columbia and, in ESPN’s Pete Thamel’s words, “begin rehabbing with the goal of playing this year.”
Rashodrick Harris, 20, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault in May after being apprehended in Kentucky.
Hardy was one of college football’s breakout stars a year ago
Lured from Louisiana-Monroe—where he won the Sun Belt rushing title in 2024—Hardy rushed for 1,649 yards on 256 carries, tallying 16 touchdowns. He was named to the All-America team, becoming the Tigers’ second All-American running back in three years after Cody Schrader in 2023.
Even as Missouri disappointed a bit—the Tigers finished 8–5 after climbing as high as No. 14 in early October—Hardy showed out against opponent after opponent. He topped the century mark in each of his first five games of the season, managed two touchdowns in a double-overtime win over Auburn that saw him limited to 58 yards on 24 carries, and exploded for 300 yards against Mississippi State—the most in a game by any Missouri player in 27 years.
Hardy’s feats turned into a necessity for the Tigers, who juggled three different quarterbacks in ‘25 amid injuries to Sam Horn and Beau Pribula. More stability at the quarterback position appears likely for Missouri in 2026, with transfer Austin Simmons taking over after losing his job to Trinidad Chambliss at Ole Miss last season.
Missouri is staring down one of the SEC’s toughest slates this year—Texas A&M, the Rebels, Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma all loom. As long as Hardy makes the full recovery Drinkwitz is predicting, it stands to reason that the coach will put his star to work.
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