FootballScoop is proud to announce that Curtis Luper (Missouri) is the 2023 FootballScoop Running Backs Coach of the Year, presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.
Missouri running back Cody Schrader accomplished what many dream of, but a precious few actually accomplish.
An overlooked prospect out of St. Louis's Lutheran South High School, Schrader enrolled at Truman State, where he excelled over four straight seasons.
Having accomplished all he could at the Division II level, Schrader walked on at Missouri ahead of the 2022 season. In Year 1 as a Tiger, he led the team in rushing. In Year 2, he led the entire country.
Heading into a date with Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, Schrader leads the nation in yards per game at 124.92 yards per game. Assuming he rushes for the 110 yards necessary to fend off Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon for the national lead, Schrader will accomplish the rare (unprecedented?) feat of leading two separate divisions in rushing, having won the Division II rushing title in 2021.
Schrader's best performances were nearly too numerous to count. He totaled 114 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 carries in a shootout loss to LSU. Schrader bludgeoned South Carolina to the tune of 159 yards and two scores on 26 carries. Tennessee saw him run 35 times for 205 yards and a score, and Arkansas allowed 217 yards and a touchdown on 27 totes.
In all, Schrader topped the 100-yard mark eight times, hit the 200-yard barrier twice, scored in 10 games, and surpassed eight yards a carry four times.
In addition to Schrader, senior Nathanael Peat rushed 76 times for 317 yards and three touchdowns.
As a unit, Missouri is 15th nationally in yards per play, 24th in the nation in scoring at 34.1 points per game, and sits at 10-2 and No. 9 in the country as of this writing.
Schraeder was a Doak Walker Award finalist, won the Burlsworth Trophy as the nation's best former walk-on, was a consensus All-American, and earned unanimous First Team All-SEC accolades.
Luper played running back at Oklahoma State from 1984-87, then spent the next five years as an air traffic controller in the U.S. Army. He returned to college football at Stephen F. Austin in 1993, and promptly led the Lumberjacks in rushing while earning All-Southland Conference honors. After signing a contract with the Houston Oilers after graduation, he returned to SFA in 1995 to begin his coaching career. He has coached previously at Texas A&M-Commerce, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, Auburn and TCU before joining Eliah Drinkwitz's original Missouri staff in 2020.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by AstroTurf are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Alonzo Carter [San Jose State], Tashard Choice [Texas], Carlos Locklin [Oregon], Deland McCullough [Notre Dame] and Luper) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Previous winners of the Running Backs Coach of the Year award are Burton Burns (Alabama, 2008), Willie Taggart (Stanford, 2009), Jim Mastro (Nevada, 2010), Frank Wilson (LSU, 2011), Calvin Magee (Arizona, 2012), Jeff Lebby (Baylor, 2013), Bryan McClendon (Georgia, 2014), Lance Taylor (Stanford, 2015), Jeff Horton (San Diego State, 2016), Tony Elliott (Clemson, 2017), Tim Albin (Ohio, 2018), Jabbar Juluke (Louisiana, 2019), Robert Gillespie (North Carolina, 2020), William Peagler (Michigan State, 2021), and Mike Hart (Michigan, 2022).
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