The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Westlake grad Hardy agrees to deal with Cowboys
By opting out of his team’s spring college football season, Westlake graduate JaQuan Hardy was betting on himself.
On May 1 — shortly after the completion of the 2021 NFL Draft — Hardy won that bet. The prolific Tiffin running back went undrafted but quickly agreed a free-agent deal with the Dallas Cowboys.
Hardy (5-foot-9, 211 pounds) was hoping to hear and see his name selected on Day 3 of the draft, but after that didn’t happen settled for the next best thing. It came with a price. By the end of the day on May 1, Hardy had tired arms.
Beginning with the 106th pick (the first pick of Round 4), each time a team didn’t select him, Hardy did 30 pushups.
“I had to stop at (pick) 158,” Hardy told The Morning Journal in a phone interview. “My arms really started cramping.”
At that point, Hardy and his nephew took to a game of catch outside to get his mind off the anxiety he was feeling. Tampa Bay, Minnesota and Baltimore were teams during the draft showing interest but none pulled the trigger in the later rounds.
“I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to hear my name called,” said Hardy.
“It’s mentally tough because everyone wants that. At the end of the day, God had a plan. It might not be the plan you want, but it’s what you need.”
What Hardy needs to do in a few weeks is pack for Dallas and the team’s planned rookie OTAs in mid-May. His solid performance at Toledo’s pro day in late March might have went a long way to putting Hardy on NFL team’s radars.
It also didn’t hurt when in 2019, he rushed for 1,554 yards on 204 carries and scored 15 touchdowns for Tiffin en route to being named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year. After opting out of Tiffin’s spring season — in which the Dragons repeated as the GMAC champion — Hardy focused on his pro day. He delivered.
Hardy ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, recorded a vertical jump of 33 inches, benched 19 reps of 225 pounds, and leaped nearly 10 feet in the broad jump.
“It was what was best for me,” said Hardy about sitting out the spring season. “I have nothing but love for Tiffin.”
Now his love is directed at the Cowboys, a team he had an interest in growing
“The grinding doesn’t stop. I’ll go in there with enthusiasm and tenacity, and I’ll be ready to do whatever it takes to get on the field.” — Westlake graduate JaQuan Hardy
up.
“I used to watch videos of Deion (Sanders) all the time,” he said. “Emmitt (Smith) too. I love those guys.”
The job isn’t done for Hardy, and he knows that. Earning a free-agent deal with the Cowboys doesn’t guarantee him a roster spot, and as a player from
Division II he might have to work extra hard for a spot. That doesn’t concern Hardy.
“The grinding doesn’t stop,” said Hardy, who was en route to a late-afternoon workout on May 2. “I’ll go in there with enthusiasm and tenacity, and I’ll be ready to do whatever it takes to get on the field.”