NC State Tight End Cody Hardy Wants To Be Great
As a transfer in from Elon, Cody Hardy will be competing against a higher level of competition
this season playing for NC State. Cody and NC State are expecting both his physical traits and
his mindset will allow for him to have a successful transition.
Hardy is 6-foot-4 and 268 pounds, and with those kinds of measurables, he definitely has the physical tools to play at this level.
When it comes to his mindset, Cody’s dad instilled a thought process of, “if we’re going to do it, we’ve got to do it to the best of our ability.”
Cody commented, “I just bring a physical mindset. Just walking out there on the field and being like, ain’t nobody going to beat me.” Cody wants to set the example and spread that mindset among the rest of the team. “If everybody thinks in that type of way, then we’ll go out there and be the biggest and baddest people on the field. Ain’t nobody going to be able to touch us. Just bringing a different mindset.”
It’s no secret Dave Doeren values toughness and hard-nosed players. During his visit to NC State, Hardy felt it right away.
Hardy had this to say about his visit: “When I visited here, I was at practice, walked around, felt it. Then, I talked to a bunch of the coaches. Just talking to them and hearing what they had to say. It kind of just felt like me. It felt like home. Kind of like the culture. I wanted to go somewhere that I felt at home. I felt comfortable. I felt like I could be who I am. Just to be able to build it up. NC State was that place.”
So, what’s it been like transitioning to the physicality of playing against FBS defensive lineman?
“It’s actually been, I guess, pretty good. Not too bad. The biggest difference is just the size of the defensive line of players. The twitch of them, how fast they are. Strong. It’s not that big of a difference, honestly. Just a little bit bigger ball.”
Who has been the toughest defender to compete against? “I’d probably say Sebastian (Harsh). He’s doing really well. Really strong. Really good technique. Also, Tra (Thomas). Tra’s really
strong. Pretty long as well. Them two, definitely.”
Prior to enrolling at Elon, Hardy grew up about three hours away from NC State and attended Parkwood High School. In high school, he participated in football and wrestling. He finished his
high school football career with 488 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He also won a state championship in wrestling as a junior.
The expectation coming into the season is Hardy will be most impactful in the run game as a
blocking tight end. While at Elon, Hardy wasn’t heavily used in the passing game. As a junior,
Hardy started the first 10 games of the season before an injury ended his season. In those 10
games, he had six catches for 36 yards and one touchdown.
In his career at Elon, he had 10 receptions for 63 yards.
IPS attended some early practices and it appeared there may be times where Hardy is on the
field at the same time as Preseason All-ACC tight end Justin Joly. What does Hardy think about Joly?
“I didn’t really know Justin last year, but…I’ve seen what he can do…It kind of opened my eyes like, dang, somebody can actually, if they work on something, they can do it. He’s gotten a heck of a lot, I guess, bigger, stronger, better within the run game, which is really good. I guess learning from him within the passing game is really nice for me because I didn’t really have a whole lot of that at Elon.”
In terms of the entire tight end room, Hardy has a pretty good feeling about this year’s group.
“I guess since I got here, I kind of just felt like, dang, we have that energy…let’s go out there and be the dogs on the field. Let’s be the best dudes out there. Let the defense be scared of us.”
One of the missing pieces on last year’s team was a true hand in the dirt, blocking tight end. With the potential of Hardy on one end of the line and Joly on the other, it will definitely present a different look for defenses to prepare for. If Hardy has it his way, then hopefully the Pack will have some defenses definitely feeling scared.
