Will Missouri football running backs go by committee? Coach compares transfers to former duo

Missouri football running backs coach Curtis Luper has seen something like this before.

In a meeting with coaches during spring camp, he told the media, he said that the Tigers’ new transfer-portal additions at running back, Marcus Carroll and Nate Noel, stirred a memory of a duo he’d coached before.

“(They) remind me of Tyler Badie and Larry Rountree in 2020,” Luper said of the Tigers' backfield that season. “When Larry played, and Larry was 218 pounds and Tyler was 195-ish, and they were a good compliment. So physically, (Carroll and Noel) would remind you of those two.”

The Tigers would surely take that.

Rountree rushed for 972 yards and 14 touchdowns his senior season. Badie had 575 yards from scrimmage and six scores before taking over as starter in Rountree’s absence in 2021 and amassing 1,934 yards from scrimmage.

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Missouri also wouldn’t turn up its nose at one of its running backs taking the backfield by the horns, like the player they’re tasked with replacing.

Cody Schrader, the storied running back who set the Tigers’ single-season rushing record last season en route to a 11-2 campaign, is off to the NFL. Luper has been fielding calls, and is sure a team or two will be sniffing come April.

Back in Columbia, as the Tigers approach the end of spring camp, which will wrap up with their open-to-the-public spring game on Saturday on Faurot Field, Luper needs to figure out how to replace the lost production.

Carroll, a Georgia State transfer and an All-Sun Belt first-team selection last season, checks into the Tigers’ camp at 5-foot-10, 210 pounds and on the back of a 1,300 rushing-yard, 13-touchdown 2023 campaign.

Noel is listed at 5-10, 190, and has more than 3,300 career all-purpose yards after joining MU from Appalachian State, where he once was recruited by former Mountaineers coach Eli Drinkwitz.

After Missouri held its first scrimmage Saturday, MU offensive coordinator Kirby Moore shared what the potential thunder-and-lightning combo looked like on the field.

“Today, right away, Nate (was) making a few plays out in space, making guys miss, catches the ball in the open field, you think he's gonna get tackled, right? No. Puts the juke move on,” Moore said. “And then from Marcus Carroll, just physical, downhill, inside zone. Made several nice runs throughout the day.”

The Tigers’ second-year offensive play-caller said they’ll head into the fall figuring out if they’ll take a by-committee approach or run with one. That’s a similar situation as this time last year, when Luper said he had “no idea that the year would turn out the way it did.”

A quick refresher: The Tigers went into the spring of 2023 with Schrader and Nate Peat competing for reps. By the time MU hoisted the Cotton Bowl trophy, Schrader had long since taken over, breaking the team’s single-season rushing record and reaching the end zone 14 times, including a run of 10 straight games with a touchdown. He finished eighth in Heisman Trophy voting.

You wouldn’t find many complaints if someone managed to mimic that. For now, however, quarterback Brady Cook wants the would-be-starters to bring their own identity to the table.

“Honestly, one thing I'm going to stress to the running backs is, you know, it's not a comparison game,” Cook said. “I don't need you to be Cody Schrader, we don't need you to be Cody Schrader. Just be yourself.”

But a little bit of inspiration from the former walk-on wouldn’t be bad.

Schrader has been in Columbia and attended at least one Missouri practice. He’ll be running in MU’s Pro Day on March 22.

In Luper’s eyes, Schrader was the standard.

“Cody was the example. I mean, he was the first one in the building, the last one out of the building,” Luper said. “And then he'd oftentimes come back late at night in the building and work out. I mean, we had to actually protect him from himself.”

He’s pleased to see some of that rubbing off on Jamal Roberts, a redshirt freshman out of St. Louis, and Tavorus Jones, who is set to enter his third season with the program.

“(Schrader) sat next to them in meetings every day, so through osmosis or something,” Luper said, “you would have to incorporate some of Cody Schrader in you.”

Whether Missouri goes by committee or with a one-man show, Luper pointed toward the Tigers’ recent history.

Rountree, Badie, Schrader.

The Tigers have options to sift through, but come Aug. 31, when MU opens its new season, he’s going to send the best available player, or players, onto the field.

“I think it's abundantly clear to everyone that we'll play the best,” Luper said. “Cody came and obviously he was the seventh tailback when he got here, and he ended up starting the first game about eight months later. So any notion that we’ll do anything different than that is out the window.

“ … You just have to be the best. If you're the best, you’re gonna play. It's a production-based business.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football debates running backs by committee at spring practice