Darryl Gerrod Hardy (born November 22, 1968) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

for the Arizona Cardinals,

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

and Seattle Seahawks. He played college football at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

Early years

Hardy attended Princeton High School, where he played

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

on the

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

as a freshman. The next year, he was moved to offensive tackle. As a senior, he was an All-state

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict in ...

(weighing 185 pounds). In his final game, he got the opportunity to start at outside linebacker, posting 15 tackles and 4.5 sacks. He accepted a football scholarship from the

to play

. He became a starter at outside linebacker as a sophomore and registered 20 tackles (fourth in school history) against the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

. He finished his college career with 318 total tackles, 227 solo tackles (ninth in school history), 20 tackles for loss, 4 interceptions, 5 fumble recoveries, 5 forced fumbles and 5 blocked kicks.

Professional career

Atlanta Falcons

Hardy was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the tenth round (270th overall) of the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott ...

. On August 31, he was waived and signed to the practice squad. He was released on August 23,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

Ottawa Rough Riders (CFL)

On April 7,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, he was signed by the Ottawa Rough Riders of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. He was cut on July 4.

Dallas Cowboys (first stint)

In July

, he signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

. He was released on August 3.

Arizona Cardinals

On August 27,

, he was waived and signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on December 20 and was declared inactive for the last game of the season. He was waived On October 2,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. He appeared in 5 games, tallying one defensive tackle and 2

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

tackles.

Dallas Cowboys (second stint)

On October 3,

, he was claimed off waivers by the

to improve the

units. He was a part of the team that won Super Bowl XXX, although he was deactivated for the game. He was cut on August 20, 1996. In 1996, he injured his left knee in a preseason game against the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

. He had arthroscopic surgery on August 2. He was cut on August 20. He was signed in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and appeared in 12 games. He was released in December.

Seattle Seahawks

On December 10,

, he was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Seahawks. He played on

in the final two games of the season. The next year, he failed to report to minicamp and told the Seahawks he was not sure if he wanted to continue playing football. He was released on June 10,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

References

External links

Just Sports StatsChance on defense propelled Hardy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Darryl Living people 1968 births People from Sharonville, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio American football linebackers African-American players of American football Tennessee Volunteers football players Arizona Cardinals players Dallas Cowboys players Seattle Seahawks players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople