Past or present: Comparing Missouri's 2023 & 2024 running back rooms

Spring ball and the spring transfer portal are long behind us, which means Missouri's roster is taking more of a definitive shape. So now is as good as time as ever to compare the 2023 team to this year's team.

PowerMizzou will do a position-by-position comparison. Next up, are the running backs. We'll do just the top three scholarship players on the depth chart for this group.

Cody Schrader had a season for the books 一 the record books that is 一 after setting the Mizzou single-season rushing record with 1,627 yards to go along with 14 touchdowns on 5.9 yards per carry.

Schrader would become an undrafted free agent signee by the San Francisco 49ers following this year's draft and the Tigers will be looking towards a couple of players to make up his production.

Former Georgia State rusher Marcus Carroll and Appalachian State's eighth all-time leading rusher Nate Noel are the ones head coach Eli Drinkwitz and offensive coordinator Kirby Moore will be looking to stabilize the run game.

Carroll is no slouch, having been the 10th-leading rusher in the FBS last season with 1,350 yards to go along with 13 touchdowns on 4.9 yards per carry. He also added 23 catches for 234 yards.

Missouri would've been hard-pressed to find someone who comes as close to Schrader as Carroll does in production, run style and stature.

Noel is replacing another Nate in Nate Peat, who signed a UDFA deal with the Cowboys after the draft. Peat was firmly cemented as RB2 the last two seasons and had just 76 carries for 317 yards and three touchdowns in 317. Noel and Peat are change-of-pace backs which is what Mizzou desires to go with a bruising back like Schrader and Carroll.

A season ago, Noel rushed for 834 yards and five touchdowns on 4.8 yards per carry in 11 games (five starts).

Carroll and Noel each had solid spring camps meaning the position battle for the starting spot will last through the summer. Regardless, Mizzou is expected to try a running back by committee approach. However, if another player performs the way Schrader did,, the Tigers will throw out the by-committee approach.

Jamal Roberts was the only Mizzou running back not named Schrader or Peat to receive a carry in 2023, receiving just one carry in the regular season finale against Arkansas for minus one yard. So, it can only go up from there. He’s a promising back who the team likes so you may see more from him in 2025 but even a couple of reps this year would be a positive.

Other scholarship backs: Tavorus Jones (R-So.), Kewan Lacy (Fr.)

Overall advantage: 2023 running back room

Collectively, the running back duo of Carroll and Noel may be better as a duo than Schrader and Peat, but Schrader was a one-man band last year. Not many duos can do what Schrader did by himself. Until we see Carroll and Noel become a great tag team in the backfield, the nod has to go to Schrader and the 2023 running back room.

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