ST. LOUIS — Part of the reason I got into this business in the first place, is for the simple fact that there's nothing people love more, than a good story.
There are millions of them out there to tell. Pick an avenue of life. Everyone has a story.
Sports bring out some of the best stories because sports are a microcosm of life itself. The triumphs, the tragedies, the journey, the heartbreak... it's all there.
Every once in a while a sports story comes along that has everything. And it makes you remember why you love sports in the first place.
Cody Schrader is one of those stories.
Schrader's success, simply shouldn't have happened. He's a 5-foot-9, 214-pound running back who was quite literally unheralded out of high school at Lutheran South. Go ahead and check his recruiting profile. You won't find any "stars" there.
But like any good protagonist of a sports story, he refused to give up.
Schrader rushed for 2,000 yards at Truman State in the Great Lakes Valley Conference at the Division II level. It was his dream to wear the black and gold of Mizzou. In 2021, he transfers to become a Tiger... as a walk-on, likely to never see the field in game action.
But that's not good enough.
Schrader made himself impossible to ignore. And before anyone knew it, he had become Mizzou's starting running back, a team captain, the leading rusher in the SEC, Mizzou's single-season rushing leader all-time, a top-10 Heisman Trophy finisher, a Burlsworth Trophy recipient and finally a Cotton Bowl champion.
There have been a lot of great stories of players overcoming the odds in Missouri Tiger history. I don't know if any of them top Schrader's.
"This is the icing on top. I can end my football career at ease, and at peace knowing I gave it everything I had. And I'm just so happy to be here right now," Schrader said after the Cotton Bowl win.
It really is everything we love about sports. The forgotten man persisting, and then rising to levels nobody ever thought was possible.
The word, "inspiring" gets thrown out an awful lot when it comes to sports. Honestly, it's probably too much. But how can you not call Cody Schrader's story "inspiring"? That's really the only word that does it justice.
Schrader's place in the pantheon of Mizzou history is more than secure. His determination and belief in himself made his story legend. And it even had a fairytale ending.