Superstar Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy will make his 2026 debut against Arkansas on Saturday, per Pete Thamel. According to Thamel, Hardy will not start but is expected to get a "handful of carries."

Hardy returned to practice Monday for the first time since suffering a gunshot wound to his leg May 10. Hardy had been recovering since. He'd previously been listed as out on Missouri's injury reports all season long but was not listed on Wednesday's SEC Student-Athlete Availability report.

For most of the season, Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz mentioned that the expectation for Hardy's return was that the running back would go through a "two-week ramp-up" before returning to game action. Should he play against Arkansas, that two-week ramp-up seems to have gone out the window.

“We've always felt like that he would need two weeks of being back into football practices and shape to figure everything out,” Drinkwitz said at Tuesday's media availability. “I really don't have a timeline. There's never been anybody that we've experienced have to go through this, so for me to put an artificial timeline on that creates an expectation and then disappointment to you and the fans and everybody else because he can't meet something that he has no control over or I have no control over. 

“So, like I said, we're really just going based off, he practiced yesterday, everything went good, but it's really going to be about how does he feel today? Because we don't know if he can do a back-to-back practice, and then how does that translate until tomorrow? So there's no timeline on if this, then this, then this. It's hey, we'll see how today goes, and then we'll figure out what tomorrow looks like and go from there. So I don't know if he'll be back for Arkansas. I don't know if he'll be back for Texas. I don't know if he'll be back for the bowl game. Nobody knows.” 

Drinkwitz also said the team was looking for Hardy's "ability to sustain competitive success over the course of time," if he can "protect himself," and if he can "get to full speed" now that he was practicing again.

It's possible Hardy hit those benchmarks given the fact he's reportedly playing against Arkansas.

Hardy set Missouri's single-season rushing yards record with 1,649 yards in 2025, becoming a Doak Walker Award finalist in the process. Hardy also punched in 16 touchdowns.

Senior tailback Jamal Roberts, who served as Hardy's backup in 2025, has stepped up as the full-time starter in 2026. Roberts has already surpassed his 2025 rushing yards and touchdowns totals, rushing for 867 yards and eight touchdowns through seven games in 2026. Roberts is expected to start again against Arkansas.

Missouri (5-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) and Arkansas (3-4, 1-3) will kickoff at 6:45 p.m. Saturday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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