Will Hardy Embracing Change, Ready To Lead UNC In Fourth Year

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The meticulous dedication to football from an 18-year-old Will Hardy quickly caught the attention of then-North Carolina defensive starters Cedric Gray and Gio Biggers.

Gray, in August 2022, called him a “very smart player” who could help the team win as a freshman. Biggers, Hardy’s roommate for that training camp, said Hardy was taking a “pro approach” to his training, even going to bed at the right time.

Three years later, Hardy maintains that level of diligence, making sure his nutrition, rest, preparation and attention to detail remain at a certain standard.

Only three other players from UNC’s 2022 recruiting class, which included Hardy, are still on the current roster, which Hardy admits is “pretty crazy.” He arrived in Charlotte for ACC Kickoff last week as one of North Carolina’s five representatives — Bill Belichick, Jordan Shipp, Thad Dixon and Gio Lopez were the others.

No one in that group, even if you count the brief time Belichick spent there as a child when his father was an assistant at North Carolina, has spent more time in Chapel Hill than Hardy.

Belichick’s hire and the implementation of a new roster are among the newest of many changes he’s witnessed in his time at UNC. He’s now on his third defensive coordinator — four if you include Jay Bateman, who recruited him coming out of Greater Atlanta Christian. His head coach of three years is no longer with the program. He’s completely changed roommates every year. Even physically, he’s dealt with injuries that impacted his practice and playing time.

But even with all the moving parts around him, Hardy is coming back for his senior year at North Carolina, ready to accept the abundance of differences.

“Whenever a coach leaves, you for sure have to reevaluate your position,” Hardy said last week. “You know things are gonna change. You know when a new coach comes in, a lot’s gonna change. And it did for us. So for me, it was sort of just ‘Sit back, let’s reevaluate. Let’s wait on us to hire a new coach,’ and then we get the news that the greatest coach of all time is going to come to Chapel Hill. I think that made the decision pretty simple for me.”

Through 38 games at North Carolina, the 6-foot-2 Hardy has recorded 94 tackles, four pass breakups, three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and two interceptions.

Hardy has plugged into his UNC experience off the field just as much as on it. He was named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and received a nomination for the Wuerffel Trophy, awarded to student-athletes who show exemplary community service work. He was one of the 26 recipients across UNC athletics of the Bubba Cunningham Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete Award last season. Hardy has also made the ACC All-Academic team every year of his career and graduated from UNC’s business school in three years.

As he begins year four, Hardy seeks to maximize the time he has left with his play and with his leadership.

“He’s bought into all of Carolina, not just football, not just whoever my current coaches, but he’s bought into the UNC experience, and he’s really proud to be a graduate and, hopefully, have a graduate degree as well,” His father, Tim, told Inside Carolina.

Finding Fun Through Football

Hardy’s first exposure to football came at the age of six, when he was a participant in a youth football program his dad ran at Mountain View High School. Tim Hardy was coaching the high schoolers while the younger kids played a scrimmage on the field. He didn’t get to see his son with his own eyes that day, but he got the sense that Hardy was holding his own.

“The PA announcer, like three times, is like, ‘Will Hardy for the touchdown!’” Tim Hardy said. “I couldn’t even watch it, I’m over there with my team. I’m like, ‘Alright, I guess he’s okay at this.’ But in that, he always had a joy for the game, an excitement for the game. And a love for competition in general.”

Tim Hardy coached Will in high school, as the younger Hardy excelled both as an offensive and defensive player for Greater Atlanta Christian. His desire to compete drove him as a player, and he sought to make that energy contagious for his teammates as well. He attacked his drills with tenacity, intentionally pushing others to do the same.

Hardy made it a point to hype his teammates up after big plays, helping everyone from the team’s stars to the young freshmen feel connected to the team in some way. In practice or in games, he enjoys mobbing his teammates’ standout moments.

“He celebrates everybody on the team,” Lindsey Hardy said. “When they do well, he’s over there. He’s high-fiving you. He’s so fired up for you.

“It’s one of his best qualities, he cares so much about other people on the team. He wants the team to win no matter what. And I’ve seen that throughout his whole time playing football, is that he loves the game, he loves playing, but he wants everybody to be like all in because he wants the team to win and to be the best that they can be.”

Hardy, though talented, hadn’t fully hit his growth spurt as a sophomore. His older brother, Jackson, played quarterback at Richmond, and his mom remembers having a conversation with Jackson about Will’s ability to play on that level. Soon after, Will received his first ACC offer.

So when Will Hardy received an offer to play for Mack Brown’s Tar Heels, the feeling of elation set in for the whole family.

“Even now, to this day, we’re like, ‘Wow, this is just so awesome,’” Lindsey Hardy said. “And it puts everything in perspective.”

Hardy left his mark on the stat sheet in his last two years of high school. Defensively, he made 174 tackles (14 for loss), snagged 10 interceptions and forced and recovered two fumbles. On offense, he caught 77 passes for 1,095 yards and 15 touchdowns. Hardy even made an impact on special teams by blocking three kicks during that span. As a senior, Hardy won the Recruit Georgia 3A Player of the Year award.

Hardy was always supplied with UNC gear growing up, as his dad grew up in Hickory and was always a North Carolina fan. Seeing him become a Tar Heel himself, in a way, brought the journey full circle.

“Will has a picture with Tyler Hansbrough before a basketball game when he’s three years old,” Tim Hardy said. “And not that it was always his dream or something, because we lived in Georgia, we lived in Chicago, different spots. But there was always a connection. More than that, it just felt like the right fit.”

An Eventful Journey So Far

Hardy enrolled in the fall, beginning his UNC tenure in training camp rather than spring practice. He played four snaps in his first collegiate game, which was a UNC win against Florida A&M. As the season went along, though, he’d find himself playing on big stages.

He faced a hefty task in his fourth game, having to match up at times with former Notre Dame tight end and future NFL Draft pick Michael Mayer. Mayer turned in a productive performance, and the Fighting Irish won the game, but it served as an early test for Hardy.

“They end up losing, but it was just like, he’s guarding Michael Mayer, who’s a (second-round) NFL draft pick,” Tim Hardy said. “And he did a good job. Obviously, the six-five Mayor caught a couple balls, but he got a couple of PBUs. To me, it was like the moment wasn’t too big. And like, ‘I can handle this.’ That’s where it was like, ‘This is cool.’ I don’t need to be nervous, because he’s not nervous. He’s out there just playing.”

A few weeks later, UNC found itself in a late-game shootout with Duke at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Drake Maye led a nine-play, 74-yard go-ahead drive down the field and punctuated it with a touchdown pass to Antoine Green in the front of the endzone. The game was sealed, though, by Hardy’s defense. Duke got the ball into UNC territory early in the final drive, but with five seconds remaining, Hardy dove after a deflected pass and intercepted Duke’s Riley Leonard to ice the game.

“Ending a rivalry game at Duke with a pick was just awesome,” Tim Hardy said. “I’ll probably never forget after the team broke, in the area where the parents go down, and just the raw hug that he gave me. I’ll never forget that, that was awesome.”

Hardy played all 14 games for a 9-5 UNC team that reached the ACC Championship game, where the team played Clemson in Charlotte. The Tar Heels also faced Oregon in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Hardy started in both of those last two games.

Hardy’s second season at UNC, individually, was a bumpy one. UNC finished the season with eight wins, but Hardy dealt with injury troubles before, during and after the season. He battled shoulder and hamstring injuries throughout his sophomore year, but he played through most of it. He appeared in 11 games that season at safety and wore a non-contact yellow jersey the following spring, but by the time training camp rolled around to start his junior year, he was back to full health.

The 2024 campaign was UNC’s toughest as a team in Hardy’s career. The team’s first loss came in the fourth game of the season, when the team surrendered 70 points to JMU at home. In October, wide receiver Tylee Craft passed away after battling cancer for two and a half years. North Carolina cut ties with Brown before the team’s regular season finale against N.C. State in November, and the team eventually finished with a 6-7 record.

When the team brought in Belichick, 16 players left for the transfer portal before spring practice. And after spring practice concluded, 23 more departed. But Hardy ultimately decided to stay, making him one of UNC’s longest tenured players in a Tar Heel uniform.

“I think it has been difficult,” Hardy said last week about going through changes since the end of last year. “You never want the coach you commit to to leave. I love Coach Brown, it’s unfortunate that we didn’t have the success we should have had. But with any change, there’s a lot of new stuff. I think a lot of the change has been good, honestly. New players, new coaches. Change is always hard, but there’s been a lot of good out of it, too.”

With more experience on the field, Hardy’s begun to see the game differently than he did as a freshman. Steve Belichick is now his defensive coordinator, and Brian Belichick is coaching the safeties. Hardy said he views football in a more holistic way than he ever has before.

“You see more than just your responsibility,” Hardy said. “You sort of see how that fits into a bigger puzzle, understanding the entire defensive scheme and understanding what stunts are in front of you, where the linebacker’s fitting, what are the corners doing. Just being able to help people out and if they don’t know, but also, being the safety and being in the back end of things, a lot of things happen in front of you.

“And being able to anticipate. You know if the D-line is going to stunt inside, you know the ball is probably going to bounce. In the college game, and really in the program too, it’s like every little step matters. So being efficient and not wasting steps. Knowing exactly what’s going to happen in front of you and being able to anticipate stuff, that’s really helped me grow my game over the years.”

Leaning Into Leadership

Hardy’s leadership after three years is well respected by his teammates. He leads a Bible study group with a collection of members on the team. Faith drives Hardy’s life, as his teammates and family will attest. He partnered with a brand called Jesus Won to help raise money to support a child with a rare heart condition through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Now, proceeds generated through the brand contribute to UNC’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter.

“His faith is the foundation of who he is and why he does things,” Lindsey Hardy said. “And so being able to trust that the Lord has the best plan for your life. It’s like when things aren’t going well, just trust God. Just lean on Him and trust Him. I think the way he carries himself with his character and his integrity, and people being able to trust that he’s going to do what he says he can do, it’s because of faith and his belief in the Lord. It’s not about him, it’s not about Will, and he wants to live his life to honor God however he can.”

On the field, he’s worked to utilize his voice more often. When the Tar Heels began to adjust to the NFL-style of training the Belichick staff brought in, Hardy bought into the change. He kept his teammates accountable through the drills, ensuring that anyone beside him was contributing maximum effort. Hardy holds himself and those around him to a high standard, and he balances that by also bringing encouragement.

“He’s a great leader,” Dixon said. “He holds a lot of dudes in the group accountable. He has a better relationship with dudes that have been here already. Dudes are really keying in on listening to him and stuff like that. Will’s been a great leader, great guy. A great person just in general. He does a lot of stuff, giving back to the community and the kids. Being around a great dude like that is just really inspiring. It makes me want to do better myself.”

In an ever-changing world of college athletics, Hardy brings a sense of stability to a program in transition. Similar to his high school days, he can be seen on the sidelines as his teammates’ biggest advocate, celebrating their successes as if they were his own.

“Experience is big in college football,” Shipp said. “I’ve only started one college football game. Will’s started multiple. Will had a game-sealing pick vs. Duke his freshman year. Will has been making plays his whole life, and it’s just him bringing that to the table for the entire team.”

UNC kicks off the season on Labor Day. When that time comes, the world will tune in to see how Belichick fares in his first season of college football.

With all that Hardy’s navigated in his UNC career, he’s learned to focus on the controllables. He’s embraced the staff change and influx of new teammates as he sets his eyes on 2025.

So with the question marks and attention that surround this year’s North Carolina team, he’s focused on football and taking advantage of his next set of moments in a Tar Heel jersey.

“I hope to have fun playing football,” Hardy said. “Football is such a fun game, and sometimes you can lose that, the fun aspect of the game. And I think I really found that again through spring ball, and as the summer approached. I think this is going to be one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ll have in my life, honestly. Just take every day and don’t rush past a practice or try to move on. Just each and every game, each and every day is a crazy and great opportunity.”