Highlights & Evaluation: Louisville RB Commit Justice Hardy

The Louisville football program's excellent week out on the recruiting trail continues to get even better, this time with Justice Hardy being the latest to commit to the Cardinals.

Here is Louisville Cardinals On SI's full evaluation:

Player: Justice Hardy
Position: Running Back
Measurables: 5-foot-9, 185 pounds
School: Reading (Pa.) Wilson
Top Offers: Cincinnati, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, Pitt
247Sports Composite Rating (Nat'l Rank): 0.8700 (818th)

Justice Hardy's Junior Year Highlights: HERE (Hudl)

Frame: For what he has, Hardy has a great frame on him. While he certainly is a bit undersized in terms of height, he more than makes up for his with his muscle tone. Whether it's his arms, legs or core, Hardy is certainly chiseled, and could add a tick more weight if he wanted to.

Athleticism: As you can imagine, Hardy is a great overall athlete. He's got high play strength for his position, possesses some great lateral footwork, and his speed in the open field is not bad, either.

Instincts: Arguably Hardy's best trait as a running back is not his speed or agility, but his patience and vision. He routinely displays great patience when looking for the rushing lane or waiting for the blocks to unfold and open one up, and when he finds the hole, he explodes through it - and doesn't need a massive hole due to his ability to get skinny. Hardy's not only unafraid to run in between tackles, but he also knows when to try and find the lane in between the tackles, or when to kick it outside and try and beat his man to the sideline. Hardy's also shown the propensity to take good angles and consistently win battles to the sideline, and subsequently be able to start churning up upfield. Once he's past the line of scrimmage, Hardy has showcased some good overall change-of-direction while maintaining forward momentum and focusing on running north-south.

Polish: Hardy is a three-phase football player, also playing safety and rover, and is someone who has excelled on special teams when it comes to blocking punts and field goals. Because he played in a triple-option offense at his previous school before transferring to Wilson, Hardy has shown to be a very willing blocker, has is efficient against slot receivers here. While not cut-on-a-dime shifty, he does have a nice juke move, and can be difficult to take down in the open field because of his slipperiness and strength. It also helps that he runs low to the ground and maintains solid contact balance in traffic. He's got some good burst, but his top gear in the open field does leave a little bit to be desired. Has also shown to be a pass catching asset out of the backfield and in the slot.

Bottom Line: Overall, this is a good pickup for Louisville. Despite his size, Hardy's fundamentals as a runner and his athletic profile are at an advanced stage. If he can bump up his top-end speed and fine tune a couple extra things, the path to early playing time is there.

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