Since the NCAA’s dead period ended Jan. 10 and college football coaches have once again been allowed to visit high school recruits, one of the main destinations for the nation’s top programs has been McCallie.
The Blue Tornado routinely produce multiple college football signees and will do so again in early February, but the target of so much attention now is a member of the 2020 signing class – defensive lineman Jay Hardy. Since posting video highlights of his 2018 junior season to the online site Hudl, where coaches can evaluate players, Hardy’s recruitment has taken off.
“It’s been a revolving door of coaches from more than a dozen schools coming by here, pretty much on a daily basis,” McCallie coach Ralph Potter said. “The first thing they say is how impressive Jay’s film is. He improved tremendously as the season went along and really matured in how he practiced.
“For those big-name programs, it’s all about the measurables, and you don’t find many kids his size who can run and move like he can. Jay is pretty versatile and could wind up playing 3-technique (tackle) or end.”
McCallie defensive lineman Jay Hardy gets a hand on Montgomery Bell Academy’s Brenden Harris during their Aug. 31 game in Chattanooga.The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Hardy updated his highlights Dec. 10 and two days later was given a four-star ranking by Rivals.com. The most impressive footage came from McCallie’s Nov. 16 matchup at Memphis University School in the Division II-AAA state semifinals, when Hardy proved he could win one-on-one battles against one of the nation’s highest-rated offensive line prospects, four-star offensive tackle Marcus Henderson (6-4, 310).