Ahmad Hardy still doesn’t have a firm timeline for getting back on the field for Missouri, but the Tigers running back made one thing clear Sunday: he’s moving forward and he expects to be ready when his chance comes.
Hardy spoke publicly for the first time since being injured in a May shooting in Mississippi during a Sunday NIL event. Asked about the support he’s received and about head coach Eli Drinkwitz saying Hardy had been medically cleared, the MU back called the update meaningful.
“I think it was a great feeling,” Hardy said when asked about Drinkwitz’s update. “You know, I’ve been waiting on that feeling, so, you know, it’s just another obstacle… so just steady going through things, trying my best to get back on the field.”
Drinkwitz had offered a more detailed look at the situation at SEC Media Days on July 20, making clear that Missouri is still working through a recovery process unlike the usual football injury.
“We anticipate that he will make a recovery,” Drinkwitz said on July 20. “What that recovery will look like after having a bullet strike you is still to be determined.
We do not know exactly what the return-to-play progression is because there’s not a lot of literature on this. We are utilizing our medical team, along with our athletic performance team and nutrition, to approach this at a very good pace.
“We do anticipate that this return-to-play protocol could take anywhere between five to eight weeks. At the end of the eight weeks, we still don’t know what his recovery will be from ‘Is he the same Ahmad Hardy that was last year?’
My anticipation, what I’ve seen, the way he’s attacked his rehab, he’s going to be a better Ahmad Hardy than he was before. I’m very proud of the way he’s approached his recovery.”
Hardy said Sunday that the rehab process has been different from the kind of recovery players usually face.
“It’s a little harder than, you know, when you’re hurt,” Hardy told reporters Sunday. “There’s a lot of obstacles that you go through, so I think I’m handling them pretty well, and I’m trying my best to get back on the field.”
He also said the messages and encouragement have meant a lot to him.
“I appreciate everybody’s support, you know, wishing me to get back on the field and things like that, so I just thank them for that,” Hardy said.
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That opens the door for a handful of options, and junior transfer Luke Work looks like the safest one because of his SEC background and familiarity with the level of competition Missouri is facing. Work has experience the staff can trust, even if his history at right tackle has not always been smooth, and the Tigers now have to sort through how best to stabilize one of the most important spots on the line while Atkins keeps working his way back. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzous Offseason Chemistry Has A New Twist Under Eli Drinkwitz
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Eli Drinkwitz, meanwhile, found a different way to keep the mood loose by leaning into the teams recent pickleball habit. The sport has become an offseason pastime for Missouri players, and the coachs joking take on it added another layer to a summer that has been as much about bonding as it has been about football, even if the real test of that chemistry is still waiting in the weeks ahead. [Read more 🡒]