'Best Moment in My Entire Life': Cody Schrader's Tennessee Performance Latest Chapter to Inspiring Story
Cody Schrader's story is one made for Hollywood. Besides the first two letters of his first name and the yellow and black stitching of the Tigers' jerseys, the scene at Faurot Field after Mizzou's 36-7 win over Tennessee on Saturday wasn't all that different to the closing scene of Rudy. A mob of Schrader's teammates lifted him above their shoulders as he let out a purging scream into the night sky.
"That's definitely the number one moment in my entire life," Schrader said afterwards.
Missouri fans have been witness to many showings of the talent of Cody Schrader. Most will be able to tell you that the St. Louis native played at Division II Truman State for three years, had the most rushing yards for any D-II player in 2021, and walked onto Missouri in 2022. A 745-yard and nine-touchdown season in 2022 earned him a scholarship in January of 2023. These notes are in the script for almost every broadcast of a 2023 Mizzou football game.
But Schrader continues to add to his story.
He's rushed for over 100 yards in all but two of the last seven games. Heading into Saturday's game, Tennessee allowed the fewest rushing yards per game in the SEC with 97.3. Schrader not only rushed for 205 yards, but also added 116 receiving yards. He became the first player in SEC history to have 200 rushing yards and 100 receiving yards in a single game.
"He's a testament to hard work, determination, plus talent," Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said after the game. "He's a very special, talented player, and we're not just handing it out to him. He's worked really hard."
Schrader's 2023 season has required plenty of determination. He suffered a quad injury in the days leading up to Missouri's week 6 battle against LSU. Drinkwitz was expecting Schrader to miss the game. But Schrader not only played, he also rushed for 114 yards and scored 3 touchdowns.
"He impresses me everyday with his relentlessness, toughness and his fight," Drinkwitz said after the LSU game.
Schrader spent countless hours to rehab the injury during the weeks, but never showed any sign of struggle during games.
"(Cody is) the ultimate competitor," offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said earlier in the season. "Getting himself healthy throughout the week, taking mental reps when he's not able to take the physical reps during the week and his execution is at a really high level right now."
Schrader's competitive personality in addition to his physical running style makes him a difficult player for defenders to go up against.
'He's just so gritty," Drinkwitz said. "He's got a stubborn refusal to quit in anything he does ... There was one tackle he got smoked on, (but he) got up talking trash. The dude's got the biggest chip on his shoulder."
Following Schrader's record-breaking performance, defensive end Darius Robinson wanted to be sure that his teammate had his moment to celebrate.
"He deserves that," Robinson said. "For somebody to go Division II football and then end up the SEC leading rusher, what are the odds of that? And to actually do it here ... he needs to enjoy that moment."
Schrader's performance against Tennessee is only the latest in a complex, moving story. For Schrader though, he never expected or planned to write a story as inspiring as his has become.
"It wasn't my goal to have a story where people can look up to me and stuff like that," Schrader said. "It just kind of worked out that way."
Schrader shared that after the game, he had a conversation with defensive linemen Ben Straatmann, a fellow former Division II player.
"We were just kind of talking about hopefully we're inspiring kids to take chances on themselves," Schrader said. "The whole recipe of this thing is work. And I think everybody thinks you got to be the fastest, you got to be this and that. No, you got to, especially in my position, what I've bought into is that you got to be able to hit a person in the mouth for four quarters and either they're gonna fold or I'm gonna fold. I'm determined to never fold."
