Missouri opens its 2026 season tonight against Arkansas-Pine Bluff with two of its best players standing on the sideline. Ahmad Hardy, the running back who led the entire SEC in rushing last season with 1,649 yards, still isn't ready to go. Left tackle Cayden Green, a preseason All-SEC pick and one of the Tigers' six team captains, is out too.
Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy continues to progress back from his gunshot wound and won't be available tonight. The Tigers will also be without left tackle Cayden Green against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, as Eli Drinkwitz announced earlier this week. t.co/Iz2SBRVeAx
The Hardy situation has been hanging over Mizzou's fall camp for months. Hardy was shot in the leg back in May while at an outdoor concert in Laurel, Mississippi, and needed emergency surgery after the bullet struck bone. He was reportedly medically cleared back in July, but clearance and game-ready aren't the same thing — return-to-play protocol after a wound like that can run 5 to 8 weeks once he actually gets back to practicing, and by all accounts he hasn't gotten there yet.
It's a brutal twist for a guy who was the best pure runner in the country's toughest conference just a few months ago. Missouri fans were circling Hardy as a breakout star heading into this year, and instead he's watching Week 1 from the sideline while his teammates take the field against a Golden Lions team that shouldn't otherwise threaten the Tigers.
Green's absence is a different kind of mystery. Eli Drinkwitz confirmed he'll miss the opener but wouldn't get into specifics, reportedly telling reporters he wasn't going to hand out a medical report on it. Whatever it is, it's enough to sit down a first-team All-SEC lineman who started 11 games up front last season. Sophomore Jack Lange and junior Whit Hafer are expected to split reps at left tackle in his place.
None of this should be enough to actually cost Missouri the game — Arkansas-Pine Bluff is an FCS opponent, and the Tigers are heavily favored regardless of who's suiting up. But it's a shaky note to open a season that Mizzou fans hoped would be defined by Hardy's legs and Green's blocking up front. The real story now is the trajectory: when does Hardy actually get back to practice, and when does Green's mystery injury clear up enough for him to retake his spot on the line.