Marjahn Penny Mathias Hart (born July 5, 1996) is an

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 with ...

wide receiver who is a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Georgia State Panthers The Georgia State Panthers are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Georgia State University, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Almost all GSU teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as mem ...

and was signed as an

undrafted 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 ...

by the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

after the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

Early years

Hart grew up in

Roswell, Georgia Roswell is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. At the official 2010 census, the city had a population of 88,346. The 2020 estimated population was 94,884, making Roswell the state's ninth largest city. A close suburb of Atla ...

and attended King's Ridge Christian School in

Alpharetta, Georgia Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and is a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 US Census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818 The population in 2010 was 57,551. History In the 1830s, the Ch ...

, where he played both football and baseball. In baseball, Hart was coached by former Major Leaguer

Dallas McPherson Dallas Lyle McPherson (born July 23, 1980) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and current minor league coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Anaheim Angels / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Florida Marlins, ...

and as a senior scored the winning run for King's Ridge in the 2015

Georgia High School Association The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) is an organization that governs athletics and activities for member high schools in Georgia, USA. GHSA is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations. The association has 463 pu ...

Class A state championship game. In football, Hart was named first-team All-Region as a junior at

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and again as a senior as an athlete after playing running back and then moving to

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the final three games of the season. In his final high school game, Hart rushed for 390 yards and eight

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

while also passing for 162 yards and another score.

College career

Hart spent four seasons as a member of the Georgia State Panthers. In his first collegiate season, Hart had 71 receptions for 1,099 yards and eight touchdowns and was named the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Sun Belt, and was also named Freshman All-American by the

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

. Hart entered his sophomore season on the

Fred Biletnikoff Award The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was creat ...

watchlist, but eventually had to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

after suffering a hamstring injury in

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

and then breaking his foot in the fourth game of the season against

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

. As a redshirt sophomore, he caught a school record 74 passes for 1,121 yards and eight touchdowns and was again named first-team All-Sun Belt. The following season, Hart recorded 49 catches for 669 yards and two touchdowns, as well as 15 kickoffs returned for 299 yards and nine punts returned for 158 yards and a touchdown, and was named third-team All-Sun Belt. Hart declared himself eligible for the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

, forgoing his final season of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

eligibility. Hart finished his collegiate career with 203 receptions for 2,960 yards, both second in Georgia State history, and a school-record 19 receiving touchdowns. Following his final season Hart received an invitation to participate in the

2019 Senior Bowl The 2019 Senior Bowl was an all-star college football exhibition game played on January 26, 2019, at 1:30 p.m. CST, at Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game featured prospects for the 2019 draft of the professional National F ...

, where he impressed NFL scouts in practice and caught one pass for seven yards in the actual game.

Professional career

Indianapolis Colts

Hart signed with the

as an

on May 3, 2019. He was

waived/injured The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see ''Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

on August 31, 2019, and reverted to the team's

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

list the next day. He was waived from injured reserve with an injury settlement on September 7.

Seattle Seahawks

Hart was signed to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

of the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

on October 22, 2019 following a workout with the team. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Seahawks on January 14, 2020. On September 5, 2020, Hart was waived by the Seahawks and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 8. Hart made his NFL debut on September 13, 2020 in the season opener against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

, playing one snap on offense and two on special teams. He was waived on December 21, 2020, and re-signed to the practice squad two days later. He was elevated to the active roster on December 26 and January 2, 2021, for the team's weeks 16 and 17 games against the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, and reverted to the practice squad after each game. On January 11, 2021, Hart signed a reserve/futures contract with the Seahawks. On August 31, 2021, Hart was waived by the Seahawks and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 7, 2021. The Seahawks re-signed Hart on April 19, 2022.

Atlanta Falcons

On May 3, 2023, Hart signed with the

. He was placed on injured reserve on August 29, 2023. He was released on October 9.

References

External links

Georgia State Panthers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Penny 1996 births Living people American football wide receivers Atlanta Falcons players Georgia State Panthers football players Indianapolis Colts players Players of American football from Roswell, Georgia Seattle Seahawks players