Running back Tyler Badie is a Tiger. He was probably always going to be a Tiger. It’s just that at the last moment, he changed his stripes and flipped from Memphis to Missouri.

So, come this Saturday’s game in Columbia, the breakthrough freshman who played at Briarcrest will run for coach Barry Odom’s team.

Yes, sometimes it’s a small college football world – Odom being a former defensive coordinator at Memphis, and another Memphis kid, Johnathon Johnson (Melrose), an impact redshirt junior receiver for these other Tigers.

Johnson, in fact, was a teammate of Memphis playmaker extraordinaire Tony Pollard. Not just at Melrose, but for several years in a youth football league. For a long time, they talked about going to the University of Memphis together.

“That was the plan out of high school,” Pollard said, “but it’s hard to turn down that SEC.”

It was for Badie, too. Originally from New Orleans, the family moved to Baltimore after Hurricane Katrina and then came to Memphis in 2016. Badie is 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds. Maybe that’s why Power 5 teams overlooked him for so long. He committed to Memphis – “I just fell in love with the coaching staff” – but Missouri snapped him up at the last, also beating out a late attempt by Ole Miss.

Badie’s parents, Shaun and Tanjala, make it to all his games home and away, but Dad admits it will feel kind of weird Saturday with Memphis and coach Mike Norvell on the other side.

“Memphis was close to home, and we thought the world of Coach Norvell,” Shaun Badie said, reflecting on their initial decision. “Good guy. But the positives of a Power 5 and the SEC just outweighed being with a smaller conference or school.”

Making Their Mark

Johnson, like Badie, is not a huge guy – 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds. Pollard is 5-foot-11 and 207 pounds, and Johnson says of his friend, “He’s a bigger version of me. He’s got that blessing.”

Odom has the blessing of having both Johnson and Badie producing for his offense. Johnson, who typically works out of the slot, has 87 career receptions for 1,408 yards (16.2 yards per catch) and 11 touchdowns.

Badie burst onto the scene this year as a versatile change-of-pace back and is third on the team with 275 rushing yards. But with his 4.9 yards-per-carry average and the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and block, he has become a counted-on asset in crucial situations.

He played every snap in Missouri’s game-winning drive in a 40-37 victory at Purdue and early in the drive was confronted with an oncoming 240-pound linebacker intent on doing very bad things to quarterback Drew Lock.

“I had to pick up the blitz,” Badie said, like it was no big deal.

Badie upended the linebacker – “when you play football, everybody should take you seriously,” he said – and after leaving him in a heap, darted out into the flat to catch a pass for a 20-yard gain.

That earned Badie a “good job” from Lock and another layer of confidence from coaches. Badie is Missouri’s main kick returner, too, averaging 21.7 yards per return. Johnson has been part of the punt return rotation.

Odom, praising their on-field abilities, work ethic, character as teammates and academic performance, doesn’t know what he would do without them.

Said the coach: “I would take a roster full of Tyler Badies and Johnathon Johnsons.”

From There to Here

They were meant for this. Badie’s father saw something special in his son when he began playing flag football at age 6. It wasn’t just fun for him, wasn’t just about hanging around his buddies.

“He was more passionate than a normal kid,” Shaun Badie said.

So, Shaun began taping the games. Father and son would watch together and maybe the son would pick up something that might help the next time.

“My dad just wanted me to understand,” Tyler said.

Johnson began his film study the way a lot of guys do: by watching the NFL. He focused in on 5-foot-10 speedster DeSean Jackson a decade ago. As the years rolled by, he added other wide receivers to the mix – everyone from Julio Jones and Antonio Brown to Tyreek Hill, the 5-foot-10 burner for Kansas City widely considered the fastest man in the NFL.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, which will match the country’s ninth-highest scoring offense (Memphis) with the 38th (Missouri), Johnson said, “We’re built to have shootouts with anybody. If it turns into a shootout, we’ll be ready for it.”

Whatever it is, Badie and Johnson will have a lot of family, friends and probably a few former coaches in attendance, too. Another Memphis product, sophomore linebacker Aubrey Miller Jr. (Whitehaven), has appeared in four games for Missouri this season, and Johnson says every time a Memphis kid makes it to a Division I college football program, it eases the way for those still trying to get there.

“I like to see that,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of talent in the city.”

To be sure, Memphis at Missouri on Saturday promises to be a special day – if a little strange when Pollard and Johnson look across the field and it sinks in they’re wearing different uniforms and playing against each other for the first time.

They’ve been in contact this week, their friendship still solid even though they will be trying to best each other.

“I asked him about the special teams, if he thought they would kick it to me,” Pollard said. “He told me they weren’t sure yet.

“I think he might be holding back on me.”