Position Reset: Running back
The first Missouri football season of the Eli Drinkwitz era showed both plenty of reasons for optimism as well as room for improvement. The Tigers finished a 10-game, all-SEC schedule with a record of 5-5, including an upset of defending national champion LSU and at one point cracking the College Football Playoff rankings at No. 25. However, the team also dropped its final two games of the season and saw an average margin of defeat of 24 points in its five losses.
In this series, we will go position by position to break down Missouri's performance in 2020 and look ahead to spring football practices, which should start in March and kick off preparation for the 2021 season. Last week, we examined the quarterback situation. Today, we shift our attention to the running backs.
2020 Recap
Senior tailback Larry Rountree III finished his impressive Missouri career with perhaps his best season. Rountree rushed for 972 yards and 14 touchdowns in 10 games. He almost certainly would have reached 1,000 yards for the second time in his college career had the Tigers played a bowl game. He finished the year ranked second all-time among Missouri players in both rushing yards and touchdowns and first among Tiger running backs, trailing only Brad Smith.
The Tigers leaned on Rountree more than any other skill position player in 2020. He rushed the ball 209 times; the next-closest player, Tyler Badie, had 48 carries. His 1,072 scrimmage yards nearly doubled that of Badie, who finished second on the team with 575, and his 14 touchdowns were eight more than the next-highest finisher. Badie, as usual, showed impressive flashes as both a runner and a receiver — he had a 39-yard catch in Missouri's win over LSU and scored two touchdowns of more than 25 yards against Arkansas — but with Rountree set to depart for the NFL, it's fair to question how much of his load Badie can carry.
The one area that Badie excels, which could continue to be a bigger part of the offense under Drinkwitz, is running routes out of the backfield. Rountree and Badie combined to catch 43 passes this season. Last year, which saw Mizzou play two more games, the duo combined for 45 catches. In 2018, the trio Rountree, Badie and Damarea Crockett combined for 38. Badie turned his 28 catches in 2020 into 333 yards and two touchdowns, tied for the most on the team.
2021 Outlook
Departing: Larry Rountree III
Returning: Tyler Badie, Dawson Downing, Elijah Young, Simi Bakare
Badie has largely played the part of change-of-pace back for his first three years at Missouri, and he's played it well. Next year, he should have a chance to show what he can do in a larger role. While Badie's strength has been getting out into space and making defenders miss, at 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds, he should be plenty big enough to handle more inside carries. However, he has battled injuries in the past, so there's questions about how well he can hold up if he's regularly running between the tackles in the SEC.
Regardless, Badie can't carry the backfield load on his own. Who will split it with him remains anyone's guess. Missouri doesn't have anyone else returning who has played a consistent role in college. Downing would be the closest option. The senior, who announced he will take advantage of the NCAA's ruling that 2020 didn't count against eligibility and return for 2021, carried the ball 40 times in 2019 but just once last year. Young operated as the third back for much of his true freshman season. He flashed the speed that made him the Gatorade Player of the Year in Tennessee as a senior, averaging 7.8 yards on 10 carries, but his skillset also looks to be similar to Badie's. Bakare has mostly played on special teams during his first three years at Missouri, carrying the ball just 19 times during that span.
Incoming: Taj Butts, BJ Harris
The Tigers plan to add two new faces to the backfield equation during the offseason. Butts, a bruiser from De Smet in St. Louis, has already signed with Missouri. Butts rushed for 1,279 yards, averaging nearly 10 yards per carry, and 18 touchdowns as a junior. Harris, who put up monster numbers for McCallie School in Tennessee, didn't sign during the early period, but he remains committed to the Tigers and those around the program have expressed optimism that he will wind up at Missouri. Harris rushed for more than 1,400 yards and scored 25 touchdowns during his senior year. Both players should have the chance to compete for an immediate role.
Projected Starter: Tyler Badie
It seems a safe bet to predict Badie will lead the Missouri backfield in touches, but it's also unlikely he dominates the touches to the extent that Rountree did this past season. Look for at least one and probably two other backs to play consistent snaps. Young looks like the most likely candidate to fill one of those spots, but that would likely leave an opening for a short-yardage back as well. The backfield competition during the offseason should be spirited.
Spring Practice storyline to watch: How much will Missouri lean on Badie? Can he be an effective first- and second-down back when playing more than just a few series per game? While those questions probably won't be truly answered until Missouri lines up against an actual opponent, we should get a sense from his usage during offseason practices how Drinkwitz plans to utilize the speedster in the absence of Rountree.
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