NC State tight end Cody Hardy was more of a focal point in the passing game in the win over Georgia Tech, and he recently met with the media to discuss his play, the Miami matchup, and more.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
On how the tight ends played without Justin Joly…
Oh, yeah, it was great. First off, Dante played really, really well. It was actually pretty awesome to see him step up and jump into the role and do really well, and I'm actually pretty proud of our show, you know, without having Justin, which is a big loss, jumping in and, still putting on for the tight ends in the receiving game, so that was really nice to see and showed some people that me and Dante can catch the ball a little bit, so, yeah, super proud of him, man, super proud of him.
Let's get that reaction after the game. Is that one of the big reasons you wanted to go to a place like NC State?
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Gavin actually came up to me. It was like, this is the reason you came here. I was like, yeah, that was awesome and everything, dude. I wish I could go back and just keep replaying it just for that clock to, wind down and see all the people storm field, and I don't know, it just felt like home. It was amazing.
When did y'all find out that Justin wasn't going to be available?
It was probably mid or it was like early week, early during that week. We kind of just went with it and said, we got to step up and do the job. We're not going to let this room fall off, so found out, and, me and Dante were like, we're going to do it. We're going to do it. We're not going to let this room go down. So, yeah, we just kind of had the mindset of just keep the ball rolling. Just do our thing and do what we can do.
Did he give you, any advice or pep talks going into the game?
Justin? Oh, yeah. Justin was our biggest hype man, biggest hype man ever. I mean, I remember, like, just during the game, if either one of us caught the ball, he was right there. Right there when we came off the field, just yelling and screaming. It was, yeah, that was really cool to see.
Just leaked out in the end zone, that one. I mean, what was that feeling like? First of all, you kind of had to reroute a little bit and turn your body the other way to make that catch, but what was that like to be wide open in the end zone and nobody paying attention to you to make that catch?
Um, I don't know, there for a second when I came off the snag and I was kind of, I don't know, wobbling around. I was like, oh, no, and I seen the ball and kind of tracked it in and once I caught it, I was like, what in the world? That was amazing. So, yeah, no, it was kind of schemed that up all week, trying to, attack a player and get one player that was supposed to be covering me. Really, really well executed play and, it all worked out.
Has practice been taking up a notch after the win? Everybody feeling kind of excited coming off of that?
Oh, yeah, everybody's feeling excited. That was, you know, I feel like that's what we needed right there. Past couple games before Georgia Tech was a little rough, but, you know coming off that win, I feel like everybody's juiced up and ready to go and, going up against another top team in the country next week, that's kind of what we needed. So, yeah, everybody feels juiced up, ready to go and, kind of wish we didn't have a bye week, but it's nice to have one.
How do you keep that momentum going?
Just practicing hard, keeping everybody together, keeping the energy up, not getting complacent, like just trying to strive to be better every day.
But in what ways have you kind of helped out the younger tight ends like Preston and Gus? Do you feel like a big brother to them?
Yeah, kind of, sort of, you know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, just trying to be there for them and just trying to teach them, not trying to be, like, mean, but trying to make them understand what the right things to do, not just, like, on the field, but, like, in the meeting rooms and everything within the building. I guess little do they know next year three tight ends that are, I guess, mainly playing right now are going to be going most likely. So, I mean, they got to step up and, fill the shoes of what we've done.
How do you think it would be like watching their progress in the next three or four years?
Oh, it's going to be amazing. That's going to be great. I'm really excited to see what Preston and Gus and Ian Flynt and Griff do.
