When Tennessee hosts South Carolina Saturday at Neyland Stadium, it will mark a homecoming for a former Vol.
Montario Hardesty played running back for Tennessee between 2005-09. He overcame an injury early during his freshman season to have a solid career on Rocky Top.
He is now the running backs coach at South Carolina.
Kickoff for Saturday’s contest is slated for noon EDT and the game will be televised by ESPN2.
While at UT, Hardesty rushed for 2,391 yards and amassed 405 receiving yards and scored 26 combined touchdowns.
Hardesty, who is in his first season with the Gamecocks, played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns (2010-13).
In Cleveland, he rushed for 537 yards and one touchdown on 153 career carries. He also recorded 16 receptions for 138 yards.
Following his professional playing career, Hardesty, a second-round NFL draft pick in 2010, began coaching, starting his career at Norfolk State, where he was the running backs and special teams coach (2015-16).
He was the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Florida Atlantic in 2017 before returning to UT as a quality control coach in 2018.
Between 2019-20, Hardesty was a wide receivers coach at Charlotte.
Hardesty is one of four Gamecocks’ coaches with ties to the Tennessee program.
First-year head coach Shane Beamer was a graduate assistant for the Vols between 2001-03 under Phillip Fulmer.
Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Marcus Satterfield served as a graduate assistant for the Vols between 2002-03.
South Carolina offensive line coach Greg Adkins coached at Tennessee between 2003-08. He served as an offensive line coach, tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator under Fulmer.
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