Tag: Kevin hardy

All-time Notre Dame athlete dies at 78

RIP to one of the greatest athletes Notre Dame has ever seen

When you think of great multiple sport athletes in the history of Notre Dame, a few names come to mind.

[autotag]Jeff Samardzija[/autotag] and [autotag]Golden Tate[/autotag] both tore up the baseball field while starring as wide receivers for the Fighting Irish.

Raghib “Rocket” Ismail wasn’t just a speedy football star at Notre Dame but also a track sensation with his blazing speed.

Currently [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] isn’t just perhaps Notre Dame’s best wide receiver but is also a key member of its top-ranked lacrosse program.

There are plenty more we should discuss at length one day but let’s take this moment to remember one of the greatest multisport athletes in the history of Notre Dame.

Former defensive tackle Kevin Hardy, who starred on Notre Dame’s 1966 national championship team, died on May 6 at 78 years old.

Hardy lettered in three sports at Notre Dame. In football, he was a key defensive lineman on the 1966 team that famously tied Michigan State en-route to winning the national championship. His 38 tackles and four pass breakups helped earn him All-American honors that year.

Hardy also played a key role on the basketball team that went to the NCAA Tournament. In 1968, he led the Fighting Irish baseball team, hitting .398.

Hardy was a first-round draft pick of the New Orleans Saints in 1967 and was moved to the San Francisco 49ers shortly after.  He also played for the Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers during his career.

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10 former Jaguars on 2024 College Football Hall of Fame ballot

Paul Posluszny, Kevin Hardy, and eight other former Jaguars players are among the nominees for the College Football Hall of Fame.

The College Football Hall of Fame released its list of candidates for the Class of 2024 and the Jacksonville Jaguars are well-represented on the ballot.

Ten players who spent time with Jacksonville during their respective NFL careers are among the list of nominees (years with Jaguars):

  • Aaron Beasley, cornerback, West Virginia (1996-2001)
  • Justin Blackmon, wide receiver, Oklahoma State (2012-2013)
  • Marco Coleman, defensive end, Georgia Tech (2002)
  • Jarett Dillard, wide receiver, Rice (2009-2011)
  • Vaughn Dunbar, running back, Indiana (1995)
  • Deon Figures, cornerback, Colorado (1997-1998)
  • Toby Gerhart, running back, Stanford (2014-2015)
  • Kevin Hardy, linebacker, Illinois (1996-2001)
  • John Jurkovic, defensive end, Eastern Illinois (1996-1998)
  • Paul Posluszny, linebacker, Penn State (2011-2017)

The 18 players inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame last year included Tim Tebow, a former Denver Broncos and New York Jets quarterback who spent one offseason at tight end with the Jaguars.

Beasley, Blackmon, Dillard, and Hardy were all drafted by the Jaguars. Posluszny stands as the franchise’s all-time leading tackler and Beasley is second in team history in interceptions.

Voting for the Class of 2024 will happen through the remainder of June, but the inductees won’t be announced until January of next year.

5 best and 5 worst ever Jaguars first-round draft picks

Who stands out as the best first-round selections ever made by the Jaguars, and which players were the worst?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a far from stellar track record when it comes to the NFL draft. It hasn’t all been bad, though.

Nearly three decades into the franchise’s existence, there are a handful of players who stand out as spectacular first-round choices by the Jaguars. Of course, there are plenty who stand out as especially poor selections.

It’s a little premature to judge the picks made by general manager Trent Baalke, although the early returns on Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne sure look great. But for the sake of the exercise, we’ll exclude players picked in the last three years.

Here are the five best first-round picks ever made by the Jaguars and the five worst:

Kevin Hardy to announce Jaguars’ Night 2 draft picks

The former Jacksonville linebacker will be the team’s guest picker on Friday and will announce all three of the Jaguars’ Night 2 picks.

A draft tradition that has only grown in recent years has been allowing guests to announce the selections instead of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. That will continue this year, as every team’s pick on Night 2 of the draft will be announced by either a former or current team star.

For the Jaguars, that legend is former linebacker Kevin Hardy, who played for Jacksonville from his rookie season in 1996 until 2001. Originally taken with the second pick in the Jags’ second-ever draft, Hardy was a major part of the team’s AFC Championship run in 1999, earning Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro honors in the process.

Injuries limited his career, and he only played three more seasons between the Cowboys and the Bengals before he retired. He finished his career with 741 tackles, 36 sacks and five interceptions.

Hardy will be busy on Friday, as the Jaguars have three picks in total on the night as things currently stand, two of which are in the second round.