With the CBS cameras all over him, Cody Schrader got the reaction that matched the day.

His teammates lifted him up on their shoulders, carrying him across the field he had just torched.

Oh, how Schrader deserved that moment; that ovation; that respect.

“That's definitely my No. 1 moment in my entire life,” Schrader said postgame.

The running back, whose magic moments this season have only added grandeur to his unlikely story, saved his best for Tennessee.

Mizzou football hammered the Volunteers 36-7 in front of a sold-out crowd Saturday in Columbia in the first top-15 matchup in 44 years on Faurot Field. The Tigers’ defense was immaculate. Quarterback Brady Cook was lights-out for most of the game.

But Schrader was supersonic.

How good?

Good enough for the second-best yards-from-scrimmage performance in MU history, and the program’s third-best all-purpose game.

Schrader carried the ball 35 times for 205 yards. He caught five passes for 116 yards. The combined 321 yards trail only Devin West’s 333 yards against Kansas in 1998 and Jeremy Maclin’s 360 yards, returns included, against Kansas State in 2007 in Missouri history.

Good enough for his coach to put his name in contention for the Heisman.

“Absolutely, if you're talking about the best player in college football who’s done more for his football team than anybody else,” Drinkwitz said. … “When’s the last time the leading rusher in the SEC on a top-10 team wasn’t considered for the Heisman? I don’t know. … The guy shows up in the biggest games and the biggest stages.”

The Division-II transfer, who arrived at Missouri in January 2022, accepting a walk-on spot that carried no guarantee of ever seeing the field in a live game, worked his way up to starter and onto scholarship in his first season.

He’s now — comfortably — the leading rusher in the SEC.

There was seemingly nothing he couldn’t do Saturday.

After MU linebacker Triston Newson forced a fumble that Chuck Hicks recovered, the first of three Missouri turnovers on the day, to give MU the ball back with 20 seconds in the half. They ran Schrader up the gut.

He broke through the blockers. He dodged tackles. He just kept going and going, 35 yards in total, until he was out of bounds and could lift his arms up to rile up the already frenzied student section. Missouri capitalized with a field goal two plays later, one more nine-yard Schrader run included.

He was the star from the first snap. On the first play of the game, Cook scrambled, and Schrader took off running.

Schrader said he has pleaded with Cook to give him more touches, and Cook’s response was always to be ready when he scrambles. That, the running back joked, is Cook’s way of “telling you you’re not getting the ball.”

Well, Schrader was ready. Cook escaped pressure right, lofted the ball up field, and there was Schrader — wide open for a 38-yard gain.

Schrader took a wheel route 43 yards early in the second quarter, shortly before he punched the ball home with a gritty, seven-yard touchdown run.

Getting involved in the passing game, he said, was by his own request too, as he’s “messed with” offensive coordinator Kirby Moore to get him more and more involved.

And he went back to old faithful: The inside-zone and off-tackle runs that have helped him reach 1,124 ground yards on the season.

“Here's the deal,” Drinkwitz said. “The way he runs, you're gonna have to sacrifice your body to tackle, because he’s sacrificing his. It’s like a game of chicken, and he ain’t no chicken.”

The one-word reviews for his night were simple.

Safety JC Carlies: “Icon.”

Left tackle Javon Foster: “Insane.”

Defensive end Darius Robinson, one of the players to lift Schrader on his shoulder, said the team needs to “keep giving him his flowers.”

The mantra for Mizzou this week was “four quarters of hell.” It was illuminated in the stadium’s south endzone halls the night before the game. Schrader reiterated that motto after the Volunteer mauling.

Well, Schrader gave it to 'em.

The Tigers are experiencing their own come up, winning their eighth regular-season game for the first time since 2018, and they're still on course for a 10-win season and, perhaps, a New Year’s Six Bowl. The Tigers are, after all, now second in the SEC East.

That’s plenty thanks to their running back, who Drinkwitz called “Superman” postgame.

His story likely will go down among the most remarkable in MU history by the time this historic year is up.

He’s lifted the team more than once this year, and for one unforgettable moment for the running back, they repaid the favor.

“I mean, you guys know my story by now,” Schrader said. “Just seeing where I came from, and then, you know, having a team and brotherhood — you can feel that real love in the locker room. That's something you always look for, and I'm just extremely blessed to be a part of this team, and I won’t ever forget it for the rest of my life.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How 'Superman' Cody Schrader vaulted himself into Heisman contention, MU record books