Mizzou Football Freshman Phenom RB Arrested Hours After Breaking School Records

Missouri running back Damarea Crockett -- one of the best (if not THE best) freshmen running backs in the country -- was arrested Sunday morning ... after a record-setting performance just hours before.

After putting up 225 YARDS on Tennessee on Saturday (breaking the Mizzou freshman single season rushing record and single game rushing record) ... cops say the 18-year-old was busted smoking weed in a campus parking lot.

He was taken into custody around 4:17 AM on Sunday morning for possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana.

As one law enforcement source put it -- students often go to this particular parking lot to smoke weed. An officer was doing a routine check and saw the fire from the smoking session inside of Crockett's car.

Chad Moller, the Associate Athletic Director at Mizzou, said the team is "aware of the incident and are handling it internally."

Mizzou is set to take on Arkansas on Friday -- no word if Crockett will suit up.