Ahmad Hardy to make final case for Doak Walker Award against Arkansas

In a court of law, when the decision of the case is in doubt, a lawyer’s closing argument can have a major impact.

This allows them to make a final appeal before the judge or jury – and a strong closing argument can change the outcome.

Ahmaud Hardy has the same opportunity Saturday in Fayetteville when Mizzou plays in its regular season finale against Arkansas. The second-year student will represent his or her own Doc Walker Award candidacy, with his or her performance serving as the closing argument to the Board of Directors selecting the winner of the award.

Hardy was named Tuesday as one of three finalists for the honor given to the nation’s top collegiate each season, along with Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Love and former Tiger Kevan Lacy, now at Ole Miss.

The award will be announced during the Home Depot College Football Awards ceremony on December 12, meaning postseason performance will have no impact on the outcome of the vote. Barring the Rebels making an appearance in the SEC Championship Game, Saturday will be the last chance for all three candidates to influence who receives one of the highest honors in college football.

Three Mizzou running backs – Hardy along with Tyler Badie in 2021 and Cody Schrader in 2023 – have made the final round of the selection process in the past five years. Both of Hardy’s predecessors failed, and no MU has won the award since 1990.

Hardy enters the final week of the regular season ahead of his two competitors in rushing yards with 1,403, which is second in the country overall. Lacy and Love both have the edge in rushing touchdowns, with 19 and 17 compared to Hardy’s 15, and Love’s 274 receiving yards this season put him ahead in total yardage.

All things considered, Hardy will likely enter the weekend’s Love’s award race as an underdog, facing 4-7 Stanford.

But the Tigers’ running backs also face favorable competition against the Razorbacks’ 101st-ranked defense, according to Bill Conley’s SP+. And Arkansas is the only team to play all three Doc Walker finalists this season.

However, facing the Razorback is no guarantee of success. Love and Lacey both recorded their second-lowest rushing totals of the season against Arkansas, recording 57 and 44 yards respectively. The team’s defense has also allowed 100-yard rushing yards only four times this season – two of them in the same game against Memphis.

Given the relative struggles of the other top candidates running the ball against the Razorbacks, an exceptional day in Fayetteville would be a notable data point in Hardy’s favor.

And another performance in the close of their games against Louisiana and Mississippi State could also put his name at the top of the Mizzou single-season record book.

Hardy entered Saturday 225 yards short of breaking Cody Schrader’s single-season rushing record and 202 yards short of breaking the unofficial regular season record held by Tyler Badie (128 of Schrader’s 1,627 yards in 2023 came in the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State).

It’s impossible for Hardy to surpass Schrader’s record against Arkansas, which averaged less than 128 yards per game: a mark that, when added to his current total, leaves him 97 yards short. But much less impossible for the Louisana-Monroe transfer, who already has two games of 250 or more rushing yards in 2025.

The Tigers had pulled off a comeback in Fayetteville before – in fact, only two years ago, when Schrader rushed for 217 yards and a touchdown during a 48–14 loss.

No matter what happens on Saturday, Hardy has already established his 2025 campaign as one of the greatest single-season performances in Mizzou history. Even if he rushed for 0 yards and did not record a touchdown in the final two games of the season, his 2025 rushing total would rank fifth in Tigers history, and his 15 rushing touchdowns would rank seventh.

But there remains a small chance for the Mississippi native to elevate his Doc Walker candidacy and rewrite the MU record book in one stroke. And if Hardy has shown anything this season, it’s that he can do a lot with a little head start.