Justin Hardy: A player for the ages

By Brian Bailey
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What a thrill it was to be on the sideline on Saturday when Justin Hardy set the all-time NCAA FBS record for career receptions.

The former West Craven standout needed just four catches to break the all-time mark. His first three grabs came rather quickly, setting up the record breaker.

As was the case in many of the receptions through the years, it wasn’t all that spectacular. In typical Justin Hardy fashion, he made the catch, returned the football to the closest referee, and went about the business of the next play.

Always humble, Hardy met the army of reporters afterwards with his same, low key attitude.

"Never let anybody tell you that you can't be anything," Hardy said. "Not really having any D-I offers and coming here as a walk-on, I earned my scholarship, earned my playing time."

He then went out and earned the respect of the entire college football nation.

Give the Pirate brass credit for honoring Hardy in a great way. At the appropriate time the game was stopped momentarily for a short presentation. That presentation included a giant banner that hung from the Murphy Center.

Hardy may know when the ball is coming, but he had no idea that the banner was in the game plan.

“It was breathtaking and I wasn’t expecting it,” Hardy said. “I was just thinking, ‘I got the catch, we’ll take a couple of pictures and go back and play.’ But it was great!”

Pirate coach Ruffin McNeill was most emotional after the game when talking about “Deuce.”

He then touched on the topic again on Monday.

“He symbolizes what we want our program to stand for,” said McNeill. “He symbolizes that in so many ways as a team first, team last, team always player with a total commitment and dedication to the team while embracing his role, which is a high-priority role, but also finding ways to make the team better. Justin does that, (after) working his way from a walk-on to one of the greatest receivers in the history of college football.

"It’s something someone could make a movie or write a book about. His teammates absolutely adore him. He will be the first to tell you that his teammates are the reason he was able to achieve the record.”

“I would never want to be anywhere else,” Hardy added. “East Carolina has done a lot for me, and I’m going to continue to do a lot for them.”

Next up, East Carolina hits the road for the ‘Black Friday’ matchup with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

The Pirates are still on the outside looking in as far as a shot at the American Athletic Conference title is concerned. Memphis, Central Florida and Cincinnati have just one conference loss. The Pirates can give UCF their second. The trick is that the other two teams have to get to two losses for any chance. The Bearcats still have Temple and Houston. Memphis wraps up its season with UConn this weekend.

Still, the Pirates will be bowling this postseason and another win gets them that much closer to back to back 10-win seasons, something to really hang the helmet on.

You know the likes of Shane Carden and Justin Hardy want to finish strong.

Happy Thanksgiving and save some leftovers for Friday night football featuring the Pirates and Tulane. Hopefully, the Pirates can feast on the Golden Hurricane.

BB

E-mail Brian Bailey.