How Cody Schrader wrote fairytale ending to his storied run with the Missouri Tigers
This fairytale’s hero got his storybook ending.
Cody Schrader, the Division-II transfer turned Missouri Tigers walk-on turned starter turned eighth-place finisher in this year’s Heisman Trophy balloting — did it all.
He hustled, bustled, crashed and careened his way through the stout Ohio State Buckeyes defense and into the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter in Friday night’s Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium.
The Tigers were down three points; down three points without even sniffing the scoreboard.
Mizzou offensive coordinator Kirby Moore had wanted to call a draw in the red zone — 7 yards from the goal line — for the first time in Friday’s game, MU head coach Eli Drinkwitz recalled afterward.
But Drinkwitz had disagreed.
“You just knew,” Drinkwitz said, “he wasn’t going to be denied.”
Innovative? Maybe not. Schrader’s sensational story ends with him breaking the Tigers’ single-season rushing record, with 1,627 yards. It’s rarely a bad time to put the ball in his hands.
Effective? Absolutely
Schrader scored, and the No. 9-ranked Tigers flipped the script, dominating the fourth quarter en route to a 14-3 victory over No. 7 Ohio State.
Yes, that’s your New Year’s Six Bowl champion, 11-2, cemented-and-then-some top-10 Missouri Tigers.
How about that for Schrader’s sendoff?
“I couldn’t have drawn it up any more perfect,” said Cook, who was selected as the offensive MVP of the Cotton Bowl. “Yeah, he deserves it.
“He embodies what our team is and what our values are and how we operate. And man, he’s just — he did it. He did it. He deserves this. He deserves the credit. I mean, I can’t say enough about him. I mean, I’m just so proud of that guy. And you know, I hope he’s got a smile on his face right now.”
Schrader embodies a lot about this Missouri team — the rag-tag crew that some prognosticators had scraping their way into a bowl game rather than finishing the year in Jerry’s World upsetting a college football behemoth.
Drinkwitz calls it a “Wilderness Brotherhood,” a term he said the team chaplain coined the night before Friday’s game, when he compared the Tigers to a “blueblood brotherhood.”
The touchdown-scoring run, and the two carries that led to Luther Burden III’s victory-sealing TD about 10 minutes later, were too much for the Buckeyes to overcome.
“Kirby dialed up that inside zone; he (Schrader) hit it perfectly,” Drinkwitz said. “It was his moment, it was his game.”
In a game without much offense, in other words, Schrader was the spark.
The Tigers had punted eight times before Schrader bulled his way into the end zone. The lone MU drive that did not end in a punt was a busted Hail Mary attempt to close out the first half. Much of Missouri’s 208 total yards to that point came via a 49-yard pass play to true freshman Marquis Johnson, which put the Tigers inside the Buckeyes’ 20-yard line for the first time all game.
If the Tigers were going to put it all together on Friday, it seemed inevitable that Schrader would be involved.
Burden said he watched some of Schrader’s highlights the night before the Cotton Bowl. Maybe he saw snippets of Schrader torturing Tennessee with 321 all-purpose yards, or rushing for 217 against Arkansas.
Perhaps he watched a compilation of the Lutheran South High grad’s eight previous 100-yard games from this season.
Said Burden late Friday night: “I’m like, that dude is a straight freak.”
Schrader finished the Cotton Bowl with 128 rushing yards and the tide-turning touchdown. That was more than Ohio State’s quarterbacks gained through the air, and it matched Cook’s production as a passer.
Schrader will surely declare for the NFL Draft in the coming weeks.
But this is a story that no Missouri fan will forget anytime soon. Talk about a happy ending.
“I’m living in an answered prayer, man,” Schrader said.
The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.
This story was originally published December 30, 2023 at 11:55 AM with the headline "How Cody Schrader wrote fairytale ending to his storied run with the Missouri Tigers."