Missouri running back Morgan Steward on his hip injury and recovery

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Morgan Steward hurt his hip trying to cut after catching a pass from Maty Mauk in camp last August. He had surgery November 12. "It was serious. They told me some people do come back, some people don't. That's just the reality of it."

So what actually happened? "My hip joint popped out of place, tore things around, pulled off some of the bone. Quite a few things."

On how close he feels to being back to the running back he was a few years ago, Steward smiled and said, "I'm really close. I'm really close, and I'm excited. It takes getting used to it, doing the same cuts like I did before, get back the power and the drive, fine tune the play stuff. But it's coming really quickly. I'm really excited."

(Bill Carter)

Morgan Steward last saw game action in 2013 when he rushed 21 times for 84 yards, 4.0 avg 1 TD over the course of the season. In three games he averaged more than 5 yards a carry. IN Mizzou's 31-3 route of Tennessee he had 6 rushes for 32 yards, mostly in clean up duty. He has five straight carries at the 17:03 mark in the video below.

Is he concerned about re-injuring his hip? "No. There's no worry. That's one thing I learned through this whole thing, is be anxious for nothing."

Morgan Steward was the #28 running back recruit in the country coming out of high school, ahead of the infamous Tevin Coleman of Indiana. He's listed at 6'0 210 lbs and coaches have reported he ran at 4.35 40 last spring. I was able to catch a bit of Morgan Steward catching passes during Day 2 of Mizzou's Fall Camp, and he looked fluid and explosive but remained in a red non-contact shirt. The junior running back is currently listed third on Mizzou's depth chart behind senior Russell Hansbrough and sophomore Ish WItter.