From unknown to unstoppable: Ahmad Hardy is ready for the SEC
Last season, Ahmad Hardy shocked the college football world.
The true freshman who was a zero-star recruit coming out of high school wasn’t a known quantity. Nobody outside of people watching Louisiana-Monroe’s fall camp would have known who he was coming into the season.
And most teams didn’t really consider bringing him to their school.
But the true freshman burst onto the scene, put up 1,300 yards and instantly became one of the best running backs in the transfer portal.
Suddenly, everybody knew his name and every team wanted him.
“It’s either, like, all or nothing,” Hardy said. “It’s either everybody in the world knows me or nobody knows me.”
And which one is better?
“Hopefully everybody,” Hardy said with a laugh.
Accolades
Now Hardy is well known. He’s on watchlists for the Doak Walker Award (recognizing the best running back in college football) and the Maxwell Award (recognizing the best overall player in college football).
He’s moved from the Sun Belt Conference to the SEC. And with that have come a couple of big changes.
“It’s a lot faster,” Hardy said. “… Trying to get up to speed and things like that, it’s way faster than the SBC.”
But another change has come with some benefits for the running back who was one of the best at breaking tackles last season.
“Everybody’s bigger than all my line at my old school,” Hardy said of his new offensive line at Missouri. “So they’re pretty big and fast.”
Hopefully running behind a bigger, faster offensive line means Hardy will have a little less work to do forcing missed tackles himself. But one of the lessons he learned through his first college football season should help if he needs to keep running through defenders.
“Last year, I kind of lost weight during the season,” Hardy said. “So trying to keep my weight up this year and keep going.”
And along with keeping up his weight, Hardy is making sure to use the resources he has available to keep his body right throughout the season. The Tigers are going to rely on him heavily, which means he’s going to have to take a lot of hits.
“I stay in the cold tub a lot,” Hardy said. “I do a lot of treatment, I try to do as much treatment as I can.”
Keeping spirits up
While he’s not in the cold tub or on the practice field, Hardy is trying to keep the Tigers’ energy high.
Cornerback Toriano Pride said Hardy is one of the offense’s best trash talkers and he can often be found dancing and playing music in the locker room.
“I try to bring the energy,” Hardy said. “I try to keep the same mindset every day, trying to find something to be happy about and get guys up.”
Hardy will keep that energy up in a backfield he shares with returning redshirt sophomore Jamal Roberts. Hardy said Roberts has been a big help in the transfer’s transition to Missouri.
“Yeah, that’s my guy,” Hardy said of Roberts. “He’s probably the smartest guy on the team. So he’s helped me a lot with everything that I need to do.”
Although Hardy is being recognized now, around the league, around the country and soon throughout campus when the students return, he is still focused on the team.
“I’m really a team player. So I like to win and whatever it takes for the team to win,” Hardy said. “And if the accolades come, they just come.”
Click here to discuss this story in the story thread.
Or click here to discuss fall camp as a whole in our Fall Camp Mega Thread.
