Jamal Roberts Went from Missouri Backup to SEC Rushing Leader

Jamal Roberts has been running the ball the same way since high school in St. Louis, and the only thing that has changed this fall is the size of the crowd watching him do it. The Missouri running back leads the SEC in rushing after six games, and all the attention has caught him a little off guard.

In a 2022 interview with the Columbia Daily Tribune, Roberts sounded much like the player fans see today. “I just try to set the tone as soon as I touch the ball; like if I could set the tone on kickoff, I’ll set the tone on kickoff,” he said. “I’m always ready to go.”

The rest of the SEC had a good excuse for being late to the party, because back in August, Roberts was still expected to back up Ahmad Hardy.

Jamal Roberts Waited a Long Time for His Turn

Roberts ran for 1,899 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior at St. Mary’s High School in 2022 and was named the Class 4 offensive player of the year. He stayed in state and signed with Missouri, then carried the ball once as a freshman in 2023 and lost a yard.

The next two seasons were a slow climb. Roberts ran for 216 yards in 2024 and 753 yards in 2025, while Hardy took the starring role with 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns last fall. Those numbers made Hardy the expected centerpiece of Missouri’s backfield entering 2026, with Roberts seen as his proven backup.

Hardy has not played this season while he recovers from a gunshot wound to his upper leg suffered in May. Eli Drinkwitz has refused to put a date on his return.

“When he’s ready, he’s ready, and our job as a team is to do the very best we can until he’s ready to go,” Drinkwitz said during his Oct. 6 availability, per Columbia Daily Tribune.

With Hardy sidelined, Roberts has taken that job description further than anybody in Columbia could have expected.

Two Saturdays Turned a Backup Into a Headliner

Florida came to Columbia with Jadan Baugh, the nation’s second-leading rusher at the time, and left having watched the wrong running back steal the show. Roberts ran for 211 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-17 rout, including an 80-yard touchdown late, while Missouri held Baugh to 13 yards on 12 carries, KY3 reported. Florida learned the hard way how much Missouri trusts its run game, and Texas A&M was next in line.

Texas A&M fared no better, as Roberts carried 34 times for 222 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-6 win, and his 54-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter put the game away. Pro Football Focus credited him with 208 of those yards after contact, according to Missouri, which means the Aggies usually had a hand on him and simply could not bring him down.

Roberts became the first Missouri player with back-to-back 200-yard rushing games, and Derrick Henry and Leonard Fournette are the only other SEC backs to do it in the last 20 seasons. Drinkwitz sounded like a man running out of ways to describe it.

“When I think he can’t do any more, he just does more,” Drinkwitz said after the Texas A&M game. “I think Jamal wants to be a leader. I think he wants to be an elite player. He has a belief in himself that he knew he was ready for it.”

Roberts explained his approach in plain terms that defensive coordinators will not enjoy reading.

“Once you just keep running the ball at them and just hitting them consistently, they’re gonna give up,” Roberts said after the Texas A&M game. By the time he reached his 34th carry, the Aggies had heard his argument enough times.

Ole Miss Gets the Next Shot at Him

Jamal Roberts heads to Oxford for Saturday’s Oct. 17 game with 828 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, along with a nation-leading 673 yards after contact. He leads the SEC by 150 yards and sits seven yards off the national lead, according to Heavy.

No. 13 Missouri will face a No. 9 Ole Miss defense that has allowed 176.4 rushing yards per game, which ranks 104th in the country. For a back who gets stronger as the carries pile up, that is about as welcoming as an SEC road trip gets.

Tyler Badie, Cody Schrader and Hardy all led the SEC in rushing at Missouri, and Jamal Roberts is on pace to join them. He made it clear after the Texas A&M game that he knows whose footsteps he is following.

“Mizzou is RB U, man, and I’m glad to be a part of it,” Roberts said.