IU's Hardy plays the pros

Receivers and quarterbacks commonly work out in the summer to sharpen their timing and precision.

[IU Guy 68]

Funny how rivals had him as only a two star recruit for football.

I wish he would have played basketball too. He was a four star recruit, which is scary considering how underestimated he was in football.

[Lets go Hoosiers]

And some of you haters on here said yesterday you think he will be a flop in the NFL. Please. The kid has two more years of eligibility. He is still young as he said.

Calvin Johnson's first two years:
130 Rec
2090 yds
21 tds

Hardys first two:
112 Rep
1615 yds
20 tds

And that includes Johnson's season last year, which was one of the most memorable in college football history by a WR.

Hardy had more catches, yds, and TDs than Johnson did his freshman year. And he is two inches taller.

All he needs to do is get his 40 down to about 4.4 or 4.3 and turn in a year that builds on last year...maybe 70 rec, 1050 yds, 13 tds and he will be a top 10 pick if he wants to go. Either way, he is the best receiver in IU history. Not that that says a lot, but he would be the best receiver in a lot of schools history as well.

[zefer]

I wonder if he'd be a better TE in the NFL. He needs to spend some time with NFL inebackers, too.

[Roby Fan]

Shut up! Roby is the best.

[Ron]

All WR discussion at IU starts and stops with Courtney Roby and James Hardy. Hardy plays a different game than Roby given his size, but both are burners. Here's hoping to a great year for both.

[Jeremy]

This is good stuff....GO IU!!

[Shock and Awe]

Is this I.U. football we are talking about??? Sorry, I'm not used to this around these parts. Although it is quite refreshing...

[asdf]

"Ike Taylor would sit down and talk to me and I would run routes against him. I was working with Youboty every day."

Best. Line. Ever.

[Chris]

What I think is that this is neat. For a kid to voluntarily take time out to go work on his weaknesses, to put his trust in people who have been there before, well it's rare. I know he's had some character issues in the past and I'm not trying to take away from those at all. I do think this demonstrates his work ethic and desire to improve.

[just a thought]

Lets go Hoosiers wrote:

And some of you haters on here said yesterday you think he will be a flop in the NFL. Please. The kid has two more years of eligibility. He is still young as he said.
Calvin Johnson's first two years:
130 Rec
2090 yds
21 tds
Hardys first two:
112 Rep
1615 yds
20 tds
And that includes Johnson's season last year, which was one of the most memorable in college football history by a WR.
Hardy had more catches, yds, and TDs than Johnson did his freshman year. And he is two inches taller.
All he needs to do is get his 40 down to about 4.4 or 4.3 and turn in a year that builds on last year...maybe 70 rec, 1050 yds, 13 tds and he will be a top 10 pick if he wants to go. Either way, he is the best receiver in IU history. Not that that says a lot, but he would be the best receiver in a lot of schools history as well.

I like the stat comparison, but you forgot to compare the strength of schedule. I am pretty sure that Calvin got his stats against teams that would beat IU almost every time. Instead of showing off his stats why don't you break it down game by game or show what he did against non-conference teams and against conference teams. I wonder if he did a lot better first half then he did second half. Just a thought

[just a thought]

oh i forgot one thing, Calvin Johnson got his team to a bowl and James Hardy didn't. This kid needs to be smart and stay in school instead of coming out early or he might regret it.

[Lets go Hoosiers]

just a thought wrote:

<quoted text>
I like the stat comparison, but you forgot to compare the strength of schedule. I am pretty sure that Calvin got his stats against teams that would beat IU almost every time. Instead of showing off his stats why don't you break it down game by game or show what he did against non-conference teams and against conference teams. I wonder if he did a lot better first half then he did second half. Just a thought

Yeah I agree. I dont have enough time to break it all down, but I am sure you are right. Which team wouldnt beat IU almost everytime though really? I would guarantee his stats were down against really good defenses, but not because of him. Most likely because of the QB laying on his back half the game.

[Will]

Lets go Hoosiers wrote:

And some of you haters on here said yesterday you think he will be a flop in the NFL. Please. The kid has two more years of eligibility. He is still young as he said.
Calvin Johnson's first two years:
130 Rec
2090 yds
21 tds
Hardys first two:
112 Rep
1615 yds
20 tds
And that includes Johnson's season last year, which was one of the most memorable in college football history by a WR.
Hardy had more catches, yds, and TDs than Johnson did his freshman year. And he is two inches taller.
All he needs to do is get his 40 down to about 4.4 or 4.3 and turn in a year that builds on last year...maybe 70 rec, 1050 yds, 13 tds and he will be a top 10 pick if he wants to go. Either way, he is the best receiver in IU history. Not that that says a lot, but he would be the best receiver in a lot of schools history as well.

I am embarrassed to be a fellow Hoosiers fan with you if you are gonna compare James Hardy to Calvin Johnson. That is laughable. I think Hardy will blow his NFL chances cause he is a troublemaker not cause of his skills

[Lets go Hoosiers]

asdf wrote:

"Ike Taylor would sit down and talk to me and I would run routes against him. I was working with Youboty every day."
Best. Line. Ever.

I didnt even catch that last sentence. THAT is some funny stuff. I bet he read that this morning and thought "well, that came out wrong".

[mdiu07]

just a thought wrote:

<quoted text>
I like the stat comparison, but you forgot to compare the strength of schedule. I am pretty sure that Calvin got his stats against teams that would beat IU almost every time. Instead of showing off his stats why don't you break it down game by game or show what he did against non-conference teams and against conference teams. I wonder if he did a lot better first half then he did second half. Just a thought

Actually, last season Hardy missed half of the non-conference schedule against the likes of Southern Illinois, and UConn. Throw Hardy, and Hep in the mix for those two games and his stats likely creep closer to Johnsons and the Hoosiers probably win at least one of the two and play in a bowl game.

Besides that, looking back over the last two seasons, Hardy's most memorable games were in conference. 3 TD's against 15th ranked Iowa last season, 4 scores against MSU, a big game his Freshman year against Illinois and a season high 151 yards at Purdue last November in the bucket game.

The biggest reason he was overlooked as a football recruit was his basketball success. He didn't even play four years of football, but had a profound impact in the FT Wayne area. Elmhurst High school had a very lengthy losing streak, something like 4-5 seasons of L's, and Hardy transformed them into one of the better teams in the area by his senior season. But on the court he was amazing. Hardy owns the all time points record in the FT Wayne area, and seeing him hit double digits in three pointers made in a game was nothing out of the ordinary.

[Jim]

Hardy most needs to take, study hard and ace courses in Child Development, Parenting, Communication and Conflict Resolution, and Marriage and Family Relations. These will better help him in the broader and more imporatnat game of life.

[AJC99z]

I wonder who payed for his 2 weeks in Disneyworld? College sports are a joke.

[Lets go Hoosiers]

Will wrote:

<quoted text> I am embarrassed to be a fellow Hoosiers fan with you if you are gonna compare James Hardy to Calvin Johnson. That is laughable. I think Hardy will blow his NFL chances cause he is a troublemaker not cause of his skills

So you look at the whole post, how similar they are. How hardy's freshman year was BETTER than Johnson's. How Johnson had one of the best years a WR has ever had last year, while Hardy plays on a bad team with multiple offensive weapons that likes to run the ball and plays tougher defenses than Johnson faced. How is that laughable? Look at the numbers.

Did you read the story? Doesnt sound like a trouble maker to me. Everyone has done something stupid in their past. He apologized, said he was wrong, and took his punishment like a man. I am sure you have done a few things wrong in your life and hopefully people didnt hold it over you like you are attempting to do to him.

Dont be embarassed. It was just a thoughtful, fact-driven post. Besides, if you are getting embarassed by something a fellow fan wrote in a blog in support of the same team you root for, perhaps you are a little too sensitive.

[Just the facts Jim]

He's just like Calvin Johnson? That's why we hear him mentioned so much on TV as a top player in college huh? Nothing against the kid, but c'mon now....
If he were that good, everybody would be talking about him. Don't say it is because of IU's team either.

Everyone knew about Jerry Rice @ Miss. Valley St. and T.O.@ Tennessee-chat.

[roby hater]

roby dropped way too many balls to be considered on Hardy's level.