Mizzou star RB Ahmad Hardy to make season debut with bullet still in upper leg, per report
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Mizzou star running back Ahmad Hardy will make his 2026 season debut on Saturday night against Arkansas with the bullet still in his upper leg from when he was shot at a concert in May, according to a report on Friday afternoon by ESPN insider Marty Smith.
According to Smith’s report, instead of trying to take out the bullet from when Hardy was shot at the concert in Mississippi, doctors “figured they would be better off leaving it inside the superstar running back.”
That means when Hardy and the 23rd-ranked Tigers visit Arkansas in a game that will kick off at 7:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network, the junior who exploded last season for 1,649 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns will attempt to play with that bullet still in his upper leg for the very first time.
Whether trying to run effectively with that bullet still in his leg affects Hardy or not remains to be seen, but Hardy will give it a go in primetime in Week 9 after missing the Tigers’ first 7 games of the season as he recovered from the offseason gunshot wound.
Hardy underwent successful surgery after the incident, and now roughly half a year afterward he will play football for the first time for a Mizzou team that has managed to stay afloat without its huge running back threat.
In Smith’s report, which came one day after it was reported by multiple outlets that Hardy was set to make his season debut on Saturday night, he wrote on his social media account:
“The bullet that shattered the tip of Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy’s left femur remains lodged in his body, Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz told me. Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz confirmed that a stabilizing rod was inserted in Hardy’s femur. Drinkwitz told me Friday it’s also not just physical rehab that has challenged Hardy, it’s mental rehab, too.”
Smith also wrote:
“Hardy has struggled, Drinkwitz said, with questions of whether he’ll be the same player he was. The pressure of performance is a mental battle. Mizzou expects Hardy to help alleviate some of the rushing load from Jamal Roberts. But their expectations are tempered.”
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
