Missouri Football was not immune to losing players in the College Football Transfer Portal. They lost plenty of players, including quarterback Beau Pribula, to Virginia.
They did not lose star running back Ahmad Hardy to the portal, and he is speaking out about that, according to Chris Low of On3.
“I won't spread any names out there or anything, but it was a lot of schools from a lot of different conferences,” Hardy said about teams trying to poach him from Missouri. “The head coaches aren't the ones calling, but the first thing that happens is somebody from that school starts following you on Instagram. Then you hear from somebody on their staff or a position coach. You're not going to talk to the head coach until you get in the portal. But it didn't matter because I was never going to get into the portal.”
Hardy gave a behind the scenes of the recruiting that happens to get kids into the portal, and with hopes to bring in new talent from other programs.
“Didn't need an agent,” Hardy added. ” I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be a Tiger until I turn pro. Missouri has taken care of me. I wanted to keep building my legacy here.”
Hardy began his career at ULM, rushing for 1,351 yards. He then transferred to Missouri, rushing for 1,560 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2025.
Still, the poaching of players via the use of NIL has been common in the transfer portal era. Especially from smaller schools or schools that do not have the same NIL budget.
This poaching issue was just discussed by Queens' head coach Grant Leonard on the basketball side.
Regardless, Missouri fans should be excited that Ahmad Hardy will be on the field when they open the season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on September 5.
