Mizzou's Nate Noel goes from three-star recruit to breakout performer

Missouri running back Nate Noel (8) scrambles for yardage during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Boston College, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Columbia, Mo.

AP Photo/L.G. Patterson

COLUMBIA – Missouri running back Nate Noel was not a hot commodity during the transfer portal cycle this past offseason.

Despite earning first-team All-Sun Belt honors and having quality production at a Group of Five program (3,074 rushing yards in three seasons), Noel, an Appalachian State transfer, was rated as just a three-star transfer recruit and the No. 34 overall transfer running back in the nation according to 247 Sports.

A bit overlooked and undervalued, one coaching staff in particular saw something in the Miami, Florida native that few Power Four ones did.

“When I got to speak with Coach Drinkwitz and Coach (Curtis) Luper, I was bought in,” Noel said. “I was bought into him and Coach Kirby Moore. Everybody was just genuine.”

Despite the lineage at App State, where Eli Drinkwitz coached in 2019 before accepting the Mizzou job in 2020 and Noel was a true freshman in 2020, the two never spoke until this past offseason.

“We actually didn’t talk when he was at App State,” Noel said. “Obviously I knew about him because of the class before talked about him all the time, especially all my four years. I always heard about Drinkwitz, but I never really met him until I got in the portal.”

The rest is history.

Through three weeks, the Mizzou backfield is best described as a committee approach: Nate Noel, Marcus Carroll, and promising freshman Kewan Lacy have had bright spots. However, a true No. 1 bell-cow might have emerged on Saturday afternoon in Mizzou’s 27-21 win.

Noel was the catalyst of the ground game as the senior gashed the Boston College defensive front after hitting the century mark behind 121 rushing yards on 22 carries (5.5 AVG).

“He got really hot on the outside zone and he’s got so much experience carrying that play,” Drinkwitz said. “We thought it was going to be an outside zone game.”

Indeed it was and Noel thrived.

“I just smile at the moment,” he said. “I knew it was going to be a big game. I knew that they were going to depend on me just like everybody else. I just know I got to do my part and get the job done on my end as well.”

Noel says that his jump to the Power Four level has provided him with greater football IQ and a better understanding of the fundamentals of the game.

“Just being around the coaches I just became a smarter football player,” he said. “They were able to help me with a lot more situations and I was able to learn the game a little bit more, even if I thought I knew a lot about it.”