Missouri’s Cody Schrader goes from D-II star to folk hero in leading Tigers to the Cotton Bowl

COLUMBIA, Mo. — There were very few people willing to wager that Missouri would be playing in a New Year’s Six bowl game this season.

Still fewer probably bet that Cody Schrader would someday be an All-American running back.

He received precisely zero Division I scholarship offers coming out of Lutheran South High School in St. Louis, and wound up at Truman State. The Division II school about a three-hour drive from home is known just as much for its accounting school and renowned women’s swimming and diving program as it is for the Bulldogs football team.

Schrader never stopped believing in his ability, though. After leading Division II with 2,074 yards rushing two years ago, he bet on himself by entering the transfer portal, and ultimately agreeing to an invitation to walk on at Missouri.

Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz never met Schrader until he stepped on campus.

Two years later, Schrader not only has taken over the starting job but etched his name in Missouri lore. He ran for 1,625 yards and 13 touchdowns, highlighted by a record-setting day against Tennessee. He led the Tigers to a 10-2 record and a spot opposite perennial heavyweight Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Friday.

“It’s a dream come true for me and this team,” Schrader admitted.

The 5-foot-8 bowling ball of a running back is exactly the kind of dream — the kind of lightning-in-a-bottle success story — that programs such as Missouri rely upon to compete against college football’s powerhouses.

Sure, the Tigers have recruited better under Drinkwitz than they have in years, landing five-star prospects such as Luther Burden III, who was among the nation’s leading receivers this season. They still lag far behind programs such as Alabama, Georgia and, yes, Ohio State, when it comes to…