After joining the Missouri Tigers’ running back rotation as a depth piece who worked into the full rotation as Nate Noel missed time with injuries, Jamal Roberts is ready to take a step forward as he enters his redshirt sophomore season.
Roberts’ played his best as a pass-protecting back, especially on third downs through his redshirt freshman year.
“It’s very important,” Roberts said of the third-down back role. “Third downs keep the drive going and it’s very important. I take pride in that.”
Roberts, who appeared in just two games and had one attempt for -1 yard in his redshirt season of 2023, burst out for 216 yards and three touchdowns, including a game-winning score in the comeback against Auburn, on 53 carries, mostly coming in the three-game stretch of Auburn, Alabama and Oklahoma with Noel hampered. In those three games, Roberts amassed 145 of his yards while working in rotation with Marcus Carroll.
But with both Noel and Caroll out of eligibility, Roberts, along with redshirt junior Tavorus Jones, has taken on a leadership role in the running back room, helping lead a group that will include true sophomore Ahmad Hardy who the Tigers brought in in the transfer portal, redshirt freshman Austyn Dendy and two true freshmen in Marquise Davis and Brendon Haygood.
“I always tried to take pride in that leadership role growing up,” Roberts said. “It’s nothing new to me. So I was just, you know, helping them as much as I got helped when I got here.”
Through spring camp, Roberts got his first glimpse of Hardy and Davis as they joined the team.
Roberts said, unlike new Tiger receiver Kevin Coleman who was Roberts’ teammate at St. Mary’s High School in St. Louis, he is yet to join Hardy on his horse Coco.
“I gotta get out there,” Hardy said. “I’m honestly scared to get out there.”
But he said otherwise, getting to know Hardy and Davis has gone well and he expects the entire running back room to be full of competition going into the season.
“We’re mixing up the groups,” Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore said of the running backs. “Ahmad and Marquise, their physicality between the tackles has shown up. Really good with ball security.”
“(Roberts) is definitely in the mix with all those guys,” Moore added. “Really embraced that third-down back, two-minute back, blitz pickup. You look at the Auburn game, he had some huge pickups within the last drive there and then punched in the inside zone there on the touchdown. So he’s, he’s just an unbelievable teammate, embracing his role and we’ll figure out those roles as we progress into fall camp.”
As he’s finished up his second spring camp with the Tigers, he said he feels more comfortable and relaxed as a sure member of the team and the running back room ready to contribute whenever his number is called.
“I was just, very much more, you know, confident,” Roberts said. “It’s more, I would say, more relaxing for me. … I know what I’m doing, you know, just being precise.”
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