Mizzou announces re-signing of running back Jamal Roberts
For the second time this offseason, Mizzou announced the re-signing of a running back.
This time, it was backup Jamal Roberts.
Roberts was the No. 2 running back on the Tigers in 2025. And even with limited opportunities, was still able to post 124 carries for 753 yards and six touchdowns.
That put him 10th in the SEC in yards, tied for 17th in attempts and tied for 19th in touchdowns. Besting multiple starting backs across the conference in each category.
Roberts, a St. Louis product, joined the Tigers going into 2023. His first real roll in the backfield came in 2024 when Nate Noel suffered an injury during the middle of the season. Roberts ended his redshirt freshman season with 216 yards and three touchdowns.
He remained a backup after the Tigers added Ahmad Hardy through the transfer portal last offseason. And Roberts will continue in a split backfield with Hardy in 2026.
But even in a backup roll, Roberts reached 100 rushing yards in three games. He ended the year with 894 yards from scrimmage.
Mizzou coach Eliah Drinkwitz used Roberts as an example of the difficulties of the new transfer portal and revenue sharing/NIL era of college football.
“You got a tough situation,” Drinkwitz said. “Because you got Ahmad Hardy, who is a consensus All-American. But I think Jamal Roberts is as good a back as there is in the country. And how do you, how do you beg Jamal to take less to stay here? I mean, that’s the reality of it and we’re asking him to commit to a new way and do something different. But that’s a really tough decision that is not easy. … But if anybody in St. Louis has third-party NIL that they’d like to donate or work through to get Jamal, or keep Jamal Roberts around, we’d love to talk to you about it. Because he’s a heck of a player and we’d love nothing more than to have him be a Tiger for his career.”
Whether a company in St. Louis made that decision is unknown yet. But a couple of local companies very publicly began offering deals to Roberts on X.
Either way, Roberts is back for the 2026 season. And this deal likely won’t be the same situation the following year when Hardy is likely to declare for the NFL Draft, setting up Roberts as the primary back in 2027 if he were to decide to stay once again.