Missouri is still waiting on Ahmad Hardy, and Eli Drinkwitz didn’t have much new to offer Saturday.
After two weeks of fall camp, the Tigers coach said the star running back remains in rehab and is moving through the recovery process, but he still isn’t ready for walkthrough work.
"He's still continuing to do rehab," Drinkwitz said Saturday afternoon. "Nothing really to note.
It was really a 5-week block. The 22nd, that'll be the first five weeks, and we'll sit down with the doctors and evaluate where he's at.
"Right now - he was out there this afternoon cheering on his teammates. He still isn't able to get in the walk-through stuff, but he's progressing in the weight room and in his speed training."
Drinkwitz had already said Hardy would miss the first week of camp, which opened earlier this month. Through the first two weeks, Hardy has not been seen taking part in the portions of practice open to the media.
He was spotted at practice on Wednesday, Aug. 12, standing with the running backs during pass protection drills in the final period available to reporters. He wasn’t in cleats, pads or his No. 29 jersey. Instead, he wore a team-issued Elite Edge dry-fit shirt, and his left leg was wrapped.
Hardy has also been involved in other parts of Missouri’s camp, sometimes showing that work on his social media accounts, mainly Instagram.
At SEC Media Days in Tampa last month, Drinkwitz said Hardy had been medically cleared from the gunshot wound he sustained in May. From there, the next step was the return-to-football portion of the process, which Drinkwitz said could last anywhere from 5-8 weeks.
That update came from Drinkwitz on Monday, July 20. Saturday’s comments were his latest on the situation, four weeks later.
Hardy is coming off a huge season in which he was a consensus All-American and Doak Walker Award finalist after running for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns. With him sidelined for now, Jamal Roberts is set to handle the RB1 job, with transfers Xai'Shaun Edwards and Malae Fonoti behind him.
Missouri opens the 2026 season on Sept. 3 against FCS Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Faurot Field in Columbia. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
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