Cody Schrader reveals when his Mizzou teammates learned the former walk-on belonged

Running back Cody Schrader has had one of the most interesting journeys to the NFL, starting with Truman State before walking on at Missouri and becoming one of the best running backs in the country.

Of course, being a walk-on, most of his teammates at Missouri didn’t initially expect much out of Schrader. He made them pay attention to him, though, as he explained during the Senior Bowl.

“I think it was early in the Spring game in ’22,” Cody Schrader said. “I started off 8th on the depth chart working my way up as a walk-on and I was still a walk-on at the time. But we had a Spring game. I think I had eight carries for 90 yards and a touchdown, and I think after that, that’s when they started to be like, this guy can play. Then, it just carried on in the summer workouts.”

Cody Schrader went on to have a phenomenal career at Missouri. In two seasons, he rushed for 2,372 yards at 5.3 yards per carry and 23 touchdowns. In 2023 he was a Consensus All-American and an All-SEC selection. During that time, he was importantly able to endear himself to his teammates.

“Of course, you get more comfortable with the guys, with the team, and start kind of going into a leadership role and building those relationships.”

Now, trying to compete for a spot in the NFL, Cody Schrader says that he loves his story and hopes that he’s able to be an inspiration to people.

“That’s something that hopefully I’ve proven to people by now. I love my story. I love my journey that I’ve been on,” Schrader said. “And I love how it’s impacting kids and certain people as well. But hopefully like you said, I’ve proven I can play this game at a high level. Hopefully, I can prove that I’m a great football player as well, and that’s my goal this week is to just continue to show people that I’m good. That I can play at this level, and I can compete with the best.”

Cody Schrader dishes about ‘getting revenge’ vs. Tennessee in 2023

Cody Schrader had a massive game against Tennessee, rushing for more than 200 yards and receiving more than 100 more yards. As he explained, it was a matter of getting revenge for the team’s 2020 loss.

“Not only what I did in that game but our team, what felt great was getting revenge on what we had to go through that previous year. For us to go in and stand on business like Coach Drink [Eli Drinkwitz] says and handle Tennessee like we did, it just felt good as a team. We needed that from last year, getting 60 put on top of us. So, just felt good as a team,” Schrader said.

“But when you can get one of those games and it’s one of those games you get once in your career, where it’s one of those flow state type of games where everything is going the right way, but unbelievable team win.”