Justin Hardy (born December 18, 1991) is a

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Startin ...

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 ...

(CFL). He was drafted by 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 ...

in the fourth round of the

2015 NFL Draft The 2015 NFL Draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park, from April 30 to May 2. The previous ...

. 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 ...

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

. Hardy was the NCAA all time reception leader until his former teammate

Zay Jones Isaiah Avery "Zay" Jones (born March 30, 1995) is an American football wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at East Carolina. Jones is the all-time NCAA Division I career r ...

overtook his record during the 2016 season.

Early years

Hardy attended West Craven High School in

Vanceboro, North Carolina Vanceboro is a town in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 1,005 at the 2010 Census. Originally called Swift Creek, residents renamed the town for Zebulon B. Vance after he visited there during his 1876 campaign for go ...

. As a senior on the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team, he played

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 ...

after previously being a wide receiver. That season, he passed for 2,500 yards and had 35 passing

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 ...

. Hardy also picked two additional letters as a shooting and point guard on the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

floor and another in

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

as a high jumper (best of 6-4 or 1.93m).

College career

Hardy was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a freshman at

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

in 2010, a season in which he walked on. After earning a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

in spring 2011, he started eight of 10 games in his redshirt freshman season in 2011, recording a school freshman record 64 receptions for 658 yards and six touchdowns. As a sophomore in 2012 Hardy was an All-

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

first-team selection after recording 88 receptions for 1,105 yards and 11 touchdowns. As a junior in 2013, Hardy was again first-team All-Conference USA after setting school records for receptions (114) and receiving yards (1,284) in a season. During the first game of his senior season in 2014, he set East Carolina's record for career receptions, passing

Dwayne Harris Dwayne Lenard Harris (born September 16, 1987) is an American football wide receiver and return specialist who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at East Ca ...

' 268. On November 22, 2014, against Tulane, Hardy became the NCAA's all-time leading receptions leader, passing

Ryan Broyles Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

' 349. On December 8, 2014, Hardy was named the winner of that season's

Burlsworth Trophy The Burlsworth Trophy is an award given annually to the most outstanding FBS college football player who began his career as a walk-on. It was first awarded for the 2010 season and is a program of the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation. Burlsworth wa ...

, awarded annually to the most outstanding player who began his college career as a walk-on. For the season, Hardy had 121 receptions for 1,494 yards and 10 touchdowns. Hardy finished his collegiate career with 387 receptions for 4,541 yards and 35 touchdowns.

Statistics

Professional career

Atlanta Falcons

Hardy was selected by the

in the fourth round (107th overall) in the

.McClure, Vaugh
Total breakdown: Falcons draft WR Justin Hardy in fourth round
ESPN.com May 2, 2015. In his rookie season, Hardy played in nine games, catching 21 passes for 194 yards.Justin Hardy
pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved September 18, 2016. In Week 2 of the 2016 season, against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

, Hardy scored his first career touchdown when he caught a deflected pass from Matt Ryan in the end zone.McClure, Vaughn
Falcons work through their red zone struggles on road in win over Raiders
ESPN.com September 18, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2016. In the 2016 season, he had 21 receptions for 203 yards and four touchdowns. Hardy and the Falcons reached

Super Bowl LI Super Bowl LI was an American football game played at NRG Stadium in Houston, Houston, Texas, on February 5, 2017, to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2016 NFL season, 2016 season. The American Football Confer ...

, where they faced the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. In the Super Bowl, Hardy had two kickoff returns for 17 total yards as the Falcons fell in a 34–28 overtime defeat. In the 2017 season, Hardy recorded 20 receptions for 221 yards and three touchdowns. On March 21, 2019, Hardy re-signed with the Falcons. During the 2019 season Hardy caught 19 passes for 195 yards.

Chicago Bears

On July 27, 2021, Hardy signed with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. He was released on August 17, 2021.

Ottawa Redblacks

On March 18, 2022 Hardy signed with the

of the

(CFL).

References

External links

East Carolina Pirates bioAtlanta Falcons bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Justin 1991 births Living people American football wide receivers Atlanta Falcons players Chicago Bears players East Carolina Pirates football players People from Craven County, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina Ottawa Redblacks players Canadian football wide receivers