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Pirates under the NFL's microscope

By Brett Friedlander
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

After four standout seasons and more catches than anyone in FBS history, Justin Hardy has become an overnight sensation.

It happened last month at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, AL, where those who never took the time to notice or appreciate the now-former ECU wide receiver finally got the chance to see what they’ve been missing.

To be fair, many of those around the NFL were already well aware of the one-time walk-on who finished his Pirates career with 387 catches, 4,541 yards and 35 touchdowns. He would never have been invited to the Senior Bowl in the first place if they weren’t.

But even some of those were surprised at the skills Hardy displayed during the week of practices leading up to the most prestigious of the postseason college football all-star games.

And the media?

Well, let’s just say that if they took a revote among those reporting on proceedings down in Mobile, Hardy probably wouldn’t have been snubbed as one of the top 10 receivers in college football last season — as he was by the electorate selecting the Biletnikoff Award.

“He’s not physically imposing,” Alain Poupart of Dolphins.com wrote of the 6-foot-1, 190-pound ECU star. “But he obviously knows how to get open and catch the ball.”

Packers.com writer Tony Pauline went even farther with his praise, comparing Hardy favorably to Green Bay standout Jordy Nelson by saying “he doesn't wow you physically, but he’s just a terrific football player, a guy I think will be underdrafted.”

One of the most frequently heard knocks against Hardy, other than his size, is that he ran up his impressive college numbers at a non-Power 5 school. Translated into plain English, that means he was being dismissed or at least downgraded for having faced less-than-elite competition.

Never mind that he caught 11 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown against Florida All-America Vernon Hargreaves III in the Birmingham Bowl. Or that a few weeks earlier, he torched another All-America — Jacoby Glenn of UCF — for 12 receptions, 140 yards and another score. After a week of work against some of the top defensive back prospects in the upcoming draft, even the skeptics came away impressed.

“Hardy doesn’t have elite speed or explosiveness, but is extremely nuanced at the position and skilled as a route-runner," Erik Galko of OptimumScouting.com wrote. “He’ll contribute (to an NFL team from) Day 1 out of the slot.”

Hardy is one of three ECU players who received invitations to this week's NFL’s Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Quarterbacks and receivers will register and participate in orientation and team interviews today. That will be followed over the next three days by a battery of activities and trials designed to help NFL teams sort the gems from the clutter.

Unlike their college teammate, who has already bolstered his draft status despite catching only two short passes in the Senior Bowl, quarterback Shane Carden and wide receiver Cam Worthy will have a lot of work to do at the annual meat market — in which NFL hopefuls are weighed, measured and put through a battery of drills under the watchful eye of coaches and general managers.

Carden, in particular, could use a strong showing after his own Senior Bowl experience.

The holder of virtually every school record in the ECU book, Carden went to Mobile with Hardy looking to take a quantum leap up the draft board in what is generally considered a weak quarterback class. But instead of answering questions about his mechanics and arm strength, his balky performance led at least one scout to pigeonhole him with the dreaded label of “great collegiate system quarterback.”

“Carden’s lack of arm strength and leg drive is a major issue when he goes downfield,” OptimimScouting’s Galko wrote. “Additionally, Carden drops his elbow as he loads the throw and lacks an efficient delivery.”

There are some intangibles, however, that can’t be measured by a stopwatch or by the placement of a player’s feet during a passing drill. And Carden showed why during the game.

Although he was given only three possessions of playing time while playing behind Baylor’s Bryce Petty and Oregon State’s Sean Mannion, the AAC Player of the Year was on the field long enough for his competitive nature to shine through.

Carden led the North team to a touchdown, a field goal and a field goal attempt while completing four of nine passes for 70 yards and an efficiency rating of 141.1 — the highest of any quarterback in the game. He also had a six-yard run for a first down to help his team to a 34-13 victory at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

If nothing else, Carden’s effort gave the scouts and national media a brief glimpse of what Pirate fans have known about him since he took over the starting job early in his sophomore season — that he’s a winner who finds a way to get the job done.

Perhaps with a strong performance at the Combine this week, he too, like Hardy before him, will get his chance to become an overnight sensation.

Contact Brett Friedlander

PAGE UPDATED 02/19/15 12:15 AM.

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