ECU WR Justin Hardy Building Impressive Resume

Oct 23, 2014; Greenville, NC, USA; East Carolina Pirates wide receiver Justin Hardy (2) runs with ball before the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The East Carolina Pirates defeated the Connecticut Huskies 31-21. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes, the best players in the country are the ones nobody talks about because they’ve been good for so long. A three-year stretch of consistency in college football feels like an eternity, and East Carolina Pirates star receiver Justin Hardy has been a model for that.

Meaning, he’s been so good, seemingly no one even recognizes it anymore.

Hardy, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior receiver has two straight seasons with over 1,000 yards to his name already, and is working on a third with the one-loss Pirates and quarterback Shane Carden, another legitimate NFL prospect.

Now with three straight games of 100 yards or more, Hardy just had arguably his most impressive performance of the year, catching 14 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown against UConn. He has another game in the month of October where he caught eight passes, three of which were touchdowns (vs. SMU).

With seven touchdowns this season, he’s on pace to break his career mark of 11 set two seasons ago when he first broke out for ECU. Even considering how impressive his stretch of production over the last three seasons has been, you can’t discount his freshman year when he caught a respectable 64 passes for 658 yards and six touchdowns.

So how do the number add up? Well, Hardy uses what he has of his frame to be an extremely physical and versatile receiver. He has great quickness off the line of scrimmage and sharp route running skills to get himself open. He works back to the ball and provides the quarterback a safety outlet when the play breaks down. What I like most about Hardy’s game is his ability to make acrobatic catches look easy and his willingness to fight for the football.

For a guy who checks in at 190 pounds, the physicality with which he plays is impressive to me. Hardy is not afraid of contact and he’s also not a typical slot receiver. He lines up both inside and outside and can win jump ball, physical matchups in the red zone or in the end zone, using his strong hands and long arms to beat defensive backs.

Right now, I think Hardy’s stock is probably in the second or third round range, and because of his size he’ll have to run really fast at the Combine to get it up into the top 32 range. I don’t see him climbing that high, but I see him developing into a really good NFL player someday.