Ahmad Hardy is one of the most talented running backs in college football.
The Missouri Tigers haven’t had a chance to play him yet this season, though, and it’s not clear when he might be able to come back yet from his offseason injury due to a gunshot wound.
Mizzou has a huge game on Saturday, Oct. 17 — they’re taking on Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss. It’s a game full of past faces — Austin Simmons now at Missouri from Mississippi, and the flip side true for Rebels RB Kewan Lacy, formerly of the Tigers.
But the game would be even more intriguing if Hardy was available.
Unfortunately for Missouri, though, there’s still no Hardy on the field.
When is Ahmad Hardy Coming Back?
There’s still no confirmed return timeline for the star RB Hardy.
Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz did share an update in the lead-up to the Ole Miss game, but it wasn’t an informative one.
“There’s no update,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said Tuesday. “He hasn’t began a 2-week ramp-up. If he practices, I promise I’ll tweet it out. I won’t even get it to Pete (Thamel, ESPN insider). We’ll just do it ourselves.”
Drinkwitz had given a longer update a week before.
“The whole situation is we’re trying to get to a two-week ramp-up period where he could be at least what he was last year, right,” Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz said last week on The Paul Finebaum Show. “So there’s a certain set of metrics that you’re going to have to be able to do in order to do that. And right now, just with the significance of the injury, it’s just taking a while for his body to get back into a place where he can run and move the way he needs to in order to play the game at the highest level, which is to be the best running back in college football.”
Drinkwitz also summed up the whole Mizzou fanbase’s feeling on this when he spoke to Finebaum last week.
“We haven’t given up hope, but you know, it’s just taking a little bit longer than what the hope of our team would be,” Drinkwitz told Finebaum.
What Happened to Ahmad Hardy?
Hardy was shot in his upper leg while attending a concert in Laurel, Mississippi in May.
He needed surgery afterward. Reports indicated that the bullet had struck a bone, which meant that he required emergency surgery.
Ahmad Hardy Stats
Hardy put together an All-American season at Mizzou in 2025. He ran 256 times for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns.
He had transferred to Missouri for the 2025 season. Hardy first starred at Louisiana-Monroe as a true freshman in 2024 — with 237 runs for 1,351 yards and 13 TDs.
Hardy hasn’t been much of a receiver in his college career, with just 14 catches through two seasons.
Missouri would simply like him back at some point to hand him the ball and let him go to work. Hardy would surely like that, too, but the waiting game persists for now.
When is Ahmad Hardy Coming Back? Injury News Remains Uncertain After Mizzou RB Gunshot Wound