Mizzou coach delivers fiery rebuttal to punt rule protest, updates RB Ahmad Hardy's status

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz has grown accustomed to seeing gunshot victim Ahmad Hardy at the football facility every morning but cautioned that getting the running back into action on the field might be another story.

"He's doing really good. We're a long away from knowing what the football side of it will be but from an overall health (standpoint), he'll be just fine," Drinkwitz said Tuesday at SEC spring meetings in Florida.

He said Hardy is working out daily at 9 a.m. in Columbia.

Drinkwitz celebrated progress in Hardy's recovery from gunshot wounds from a May 10 incident. Hardy led the SEC in rushing in 2025 and was hospitalized and underwent surgery when he was struck in the "upper leg" by a bullet at an outdoor concert in his home state in Mississippi. Police said he was a bystander at a concert when shooting broke out at around 2 a.m., according to the Laurel (Miss.) Police Department. Three men were arrested the next day.

Drinkwitz also offered his opinion on the new -- and some believe complicated -- punting rules the Big Ten voted against unanimously.

"Maybe they find a local judge who gives them the right to use whatever punt formation they want to use," Drinkwitz joked, a tongue-in-cheek reference to courts handing down favorable eligibility decisions to prominent SEC players.

Unless players are wearing numbers 50-79, the punting rule switch calls for 2x2 formations on either side of the snapper with uniform jersey number restrictions possible only if approved by game officials before kickoff.

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, part of the Big Ten's 18-0 vote against implementing the new rule, said there is "no compelling reason" the rule should be changed and is lobbying for switching the rule back before the 2026 regular season begins.

Hardy rushed for 1,649 yards for the Tigers as a sophomore, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. He transferred from Louisiana-Monroe, where he rushed for 1,351 yards as a freshman.

Last season, only Cam Cook (Jacksonville State) gained more rushing yards than Hardy.

--Field Level Media