Undersized but elite, Daequan Hardy among best defensive backs

Penn State cornerbacks assistant and associate head coach Terry Smith had two examples in mind this spring.

Joining Justin King for the Blue Chip Academy podcast this week, the pair were talking about college football recruiting. Smith, having gone through the process as a prospect, then shepherding King through it as a parent and coach, and now as a recruiter himself, offers a unique perspective on the subject.

(Editor’s note: PODCAST LINK)

But in examining the ideal, Smith drew a striking contrast between best-case and reality in the college football recruiting process.

“Ultimately, you want a guy that fits and checks all the boxes,” Smith said. “At linebacker, Micah Parsons fits the height, he fits the weight, he fits the speed, he fits the athleticism, and he fits the mental aptitude. So he’s checking every single box. And to be honest, I just finished my eighth season at Penn State, he’s probably the only player we’ve recruited in eight years that checked every box. And that’s including Saquan Barkley, who’s an elite player. That’s the perfect player. There’s very few of them.” 

Detailing at length the ingredients that are necessary for success at Penn State and similar programs, Smith turned his attention to an element more plentiful in recruiting.

And it exists in his room in the form of 5-foot-9, 182-pound redshirt junior Daequan Hardy.

Daequan Hardy’s ‘elite’ characteristics

Describing the need to “minimize the misses” in recruiting, Smith said checking as many boxes as possible is of paramount importance. Height, length, weight, speed, agility, change in direction, and explosiveness all matter, he said. 

But, for every characteristic that might not fit the perfect mold on a positional basis, in Hardy, the Nittany Lions have a player who can make up for those perceived deficiencies. 

“Whether you take a player that you think might be a step slower, then he has to have some type of other elite characteristic,” Smith said. “Daequan Hardy was short and small. But Daequan Hardy runs 4.3. Daequan Hardy scored four touchdowns, four different ways in the state championship game at the highest level in Pennsylvania. 

“He brought something else that was elite that made us ignore the fact that he’s small. He was a different player that brought that eliteness and we’re seeing it come out. He’s one of our best defensive backs now.”

A gradual ascent at Penn State

Even before the start of the 2021 season, Hardy was on the radar of Penn State head coach James Franklin.

A late addition to Penn State’s Class of 2019, committing on the February signing day, just 10 days after his official visit, Hardy has carved out a gradually increasing role in the time since. 

First playing a total of nine snaps over two games at corner as a true freshman in 2019, Hardy followed it with expanding production on special teams and at slot corner in the COVID-19 amended 2020 season. Grading out with a team-high 95.6 from PFF for his pass rush, the effort set up a 2021 campaign in which Hardy’s snaps increased by 33 percent, starting once and playing in all 13 games as the nickel.

“Early on, I think one of his issues was he’s a little bit undersized, and he’s gotten bigger and stronger and more confident and I think he’s going to have a significant role for us,” Franklin said ahead of the 2021 season. “I’m really proud of him. He’s just doing really well in a lot of different areas, and I think he’s going to have a big role for us this year.”

For the year, Hardy finished with 16 tackles, 3.0 tackles for a loss, and a sack while making two interceptions and seven breakups in his pass coverage. Included among them, his interception at Michigan State was returned for a touchdown to take a third-quarter lead. 

Next steps for Hardy in 2022

Now, poised to make his biggest Penn State contribution as one of the program’s best defensive backs, Hardy’s story has found commonalities with Smith’s.

“We’re very similar in the sense that we’re both extremely undersized players. When I graduated high school, I was 140 pounds. A 140-pound kid shouldn’t go off to the national champion Penn State Nittany Lions and be able to have success. The same thing with Daequan Hardy,” Smith said. “At the time, he was 152 pounds when he came out. So the thing that we have in common is that we love football, we played with a passion, and we knew that we had to play with a chip on our shoulders. Because the world says we’re not supposed to be what we are.”

Smith continued, describing a player in Hardy who shares his approach toward the game.

“When you’re looking at colleges recruiting these high school players, they want you to check as many positive boxes as you can. And clearly, we didn’t check the size box. So we have to bring something extreme in other areas,” Smith said. “We got to be an elite talent, we got to be an elite mindset, we have to be sharp, where we’re just smarter than everyone else and bring all these unique qualities that have to be far superior than any other athlete around us.”

In a corners room absent the veteran leadership of Tariq Castro-Fields this spring, it’s a strong presence Penn State will count on Hardy to provide.