Mecole Hardman believes playing for Kirby Smart at Georgia helped better prepare him for the NFL
Mecole Hardman came to Georgia with a ton of hype as he was rated as a five-star prospect in the 2016 recruiting cycle but it wasn’t until Kirby Smart was hired in Athens that the talented receiver began to live up to those lofty expectations.
There’s no doubt Smart’s program got the best out of Hardman during his time in Athens and the way the Kansas City Chief receiver tells it, the Bulldog program helped him prepare for life in the NFL.
Apparently, Smart did a good job at that, as Hardman finished his rookie season in the NFL by holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
“When Coach Smart came in, you know, the program he developed, it definitely prepare you a lot,” Hardman shares in the video below. “The preparation we did here is the same way we do it in the league. The hard practices, especially playing in the SEC, it’s kinda like a mini NFL, playing in front of big crowds, or big games, and big situations. Training your mind to be mentally preparing for things, keying on the details because a lot of the game is mental.
“What he brought and what he did, he definitely prepared me for sure.”
During his two seasons in Athens playing for Smart, Hardman registered 60 catches for 961 yards and 11 touchdowns and added another 97 rushing yards and a pair of scores. Hardman also returned 39 punts for 592 yards and a touchdown and 35 kickoffs for 875 yards.
Following his college career, Hardman was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Hardman has 704 kick return yards and a touchdown during his rookie season for Kansas City and caught 26 passes for 538 yards and six touchdowns.
Always A Dawg | @MecoleHardman4 #ATD #GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/vZYWDULjdo
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) February 20, 2020
BuT kIrBy CaNt DeVeLoP
Yeah I always get a kick out of the dingle berries on here that say that…
It’s a classic
So glad to see him win a championship!
If you are going to praise Kirby for developing Hardman, you also have to blame him for the regression of Fromm and the receivers in 2019. Seems a little contradictory, but it’s your team.
I think this kid is an amazing kick returner, and he has the luxury of catching passes from Mahomes. I will give him credit for not having turned the ball over as a KR , PR, and a receiver.
So I have to criticize Kirby for Fromm “regression” from year 2-3 but not give him credit for his growth from year 1-2? Maybe Fromms “regression” was more a factor of losing his top 5 pass catchers from the year before. Maybe?
He deserves all of the credit for everything that happens at his program. The good and the bad. Fromm absolutely regressed.
I thought Kirby has been pulling in top recruits since he has been in Athens, and the coach before him had talent as well. This is what is so puzzling. Either these players aren’t being developed properly or they are getting the wrong players. Maybe bad evaluation. Either way, it is Kirby’s job.
We lost 5 of our top receiving targets to Draft, graduation and one we kicked off the team. Cager was hurt on and off all season. Pickens & Blaylock were true freshman. Robertson had a hamstring injury that seemed to bother him all year. We were DECIMATED at WR. I think the biggest things were Holloman getting booted and I don’t think Kirby expected Ridley to leave early. All things considered a 12 win season was pretty impressive. I’m not upset with Kirby. If you want to criticize him fine. But you aren’t going to convince me to.
UGADAWG78 – When I have defended Alabama’s down year on defense in 2019 by pointing out all of the injuries at key positions, you Georgia fans blasted me. Everything from Bama’s run is over, Saban is on his way down, every team has injuries, etc.
Yes, losing 5 WRs is tough, but some of them were seniors so you didn’t “lose” them. They were out of eligibility. If you are including Nauta, then production wise you lost some talent for sure.
If Saban doesn’t ever get a hall pass for injuries and players leaving, then neither does Kirby.
“you Georgia fans blasted me”
We aren’t clones. Just because one fan said something doesn’t mean we all feel the same way. You come into these UGA articles like a bull in a china shop. You’re going to get pushback. Try to tune down the trolling tone and you’ll get better reception for you “ideas” and “arguments”
Tone is very subjective when you can’t hear or see me. I can’t be responsible for the way you perceive things.
And it was you who blasted me. Absolutely.
Your entire persona is snarky, obnoxious comments followed by a “what did I say”. It’s as transparent as glass. We all know what you’re trying to do. I remember getting into it with you over you trashing Fromm. I never cared about Bama’s defense and wouldn’t have argued that point with you because I don’t care about Bama or go trolling on Bama articles. More likely was you wandered into a UGA article with your snide comments looking for a fight and I gave one to you. Stop pretending like you’re not out looking for people to argue with.
Colorado if Finebaum really does decide to leave his show…you should try out for it…you come on here and intentionally say things to get under people’s skin…then turn around and say ur only making a statement or comment…and accusing us of being sensitive…you missed your calling…you should be in the media..
Hold on, this is how hyper sensitive you are. All I did was point out that Head Coaches are responsible for the good and the bad at their program. Any head coach. Then your refusal to acknowledge that Kirby should be held accountable for the slide in the passing game started the whole thing. How was my original comment snarky or obnoxious?
And I’ve never said “what did I say”. I have no problem admitting when I have trolled, and I also stand behind my opinions. Don’t get so emotional just because someone has a different opinion than you. You don’t have to belittle them. Completely unnecessary.
I don’t think any fan base can pass your purity test, including your own. You guys are the ones that belittle and attack, but point at the other person. I haven’t said one negative thing about you personally.
Plenty of other fan bases frequented the Gama articles after the LSU and Auburn games, especially Georgia fans. I never whined about what they were saying. If I disagreed with them, I give an opinion and back it up with facts.
“ The only reason I would agree he needed to leave, is because Kirby doesn’t show the ability to develop QBs”
This isn’t an opinion that you can back up with facts. This is you trolling AGAIN. Stop with the “y’all are sensitive” crap. You’re trolling UGA articles looking for a fight. You’re insufferable.
Lol… Colorado I refuse to believe that you don’t realize what you are doing…you have no problem admitting when you troll? Your Hilarious…you troll UGA articles like Geaux Long and Cojones…or Corch does Flordia articles…but at least they know their trolls…you say you don’t personally attack people on here…yeah you do…you insult people’s intelligence…by denying the crap you constantly post on UGA articles isn’t trolling and insulting…and then turn around and saying someone is sensitive just because they point it out… which is what you want…I’m done with it…go on and troll all you want in the future…I’m done arguing with you..
Also he won 12 games, threw for 2800 yards, 24 TDS and 5 INTS. Y’all want to act like he was terrible or something.
Roll Tide how are we supposed to blame Kirby for the receivers last season? All the receivers from the previous year decided to go pro…that’s not exactly Kirby’s fault…I also don’t blame him for Fromm’s regression…the only thing I blame Kirby for is promoting James Coley to OC…and that’s a decision he realized was a mistake and hopefully fixed it…but we shall see…
In all objectivity here, the receiver situation falls solely on Kirby Smart. The one thing he gets praise for above all else, recruiting, was lacking at the receiver position in his first few years. Only recently has he put the emphasis on recruiting both quality and variety at the position.
What was out of his control was the Holloman situation which may have mitigated some of the issues but if they had recruited better (Holding on to Devonta Smith, Kearis Jackson being their best receiver in the 2019 class, etc.) the loss of Holloman wouldn’t have been as big of a hit.
When you accept a position to run a CFB program, with a salary the size of Kirby’s, you also accept responsibility for everything that happens on your team. All of the talent in the state of Georgia and you couldn’t put some guys around Fromm to help.
The receivers didn’t make the wrong reads or throw interceptions, which is where Fromm seemed to regress. Maybe not so much the INT, but his ability to make the reads took a hit. Maybe defenses figured him out.
To be fair about Fromm’s regression it wasn’t about making wrong reads or throwing interceptions. Of his 5 Interceptions, 1 was a wrong route by a WR, one was a drop by a WR, 1 was a throw he was tring to put out of bounds but the 6’4 corner on the play was able to snag it, the other 2 were 50-50 balls thrown to Stingley who was the best corner in college football last year.
Fromm’s regression was on deep accuracy and that’s about it. He made the right reads within the offense that was given to him. If you want to blame Kirby for Fromm’s regression blame the fact that he though he could pass off Coley as a competent OC instead of bringing in a proven offensive mind to design effective game-plans based on the team’s strengths.
“The receivers didn’t make the wrong reads or throw interceptions”
You obviously didn’t watch any UGA football this year. Fromm threw 3 INTs during the regular season. All of them were in the USCjr game. 2 of them were balls that should have been caught but were tipped up and intercepted. The receivers had an unprecedented number of drops and ran horrible routes. Besides Cager who was hurt most of the season Fromm didn’t trust any of his receivers and he had a right not to. He developed chemistry with Pickens but it took time. I’ll say it again. His numbers aren’t that bad off his career numbers and any QB would “regress” with losing that many targets in one year. The WRs on the roster in 2019 were young and we dealt with injuries all season. Also Kirby made a mistake promoting Coley to OC.
The Holloman thing definitely hurt as well.
If he goes 1st round, then I will take back my evaluation and admit I was wrong.
When he goes 3rd round, we will know teams had similar reservations.
Every projection I have seen is 2nd round. I really don’t understand your obsession with putting Fromm down.
What round he goes in isn’t directly tied to whether or not he regressed and who’s shoulders that blame should be placed.
Sooner or later attrition, injuries or inexperience is going to show up on one position group or the other on a team..I don’t think that has anything to do with a coaches ability to develop players..this past season it was UGA receivers that went through that…I think Fromm had to deal with that and a OC who had no business being a oc…I think that caused his regression…I think the same things plagued the Bama defense this past season… especially their linebacker position… attrition, injuries and inexperience finally caught up with the Bama defense…and maybe the Bama dc… which is why Saban brought Charlie Strong aboard…
I remember being at the Bama vs UGA game in 2015…I remember a lot of fans talking about how much bigger and stronger the Bama team looked compared to UGA…It was so noticeable to everyone there… seriously it looked like men against boys…I even remember listening to the radio on way home and that was all everyone was talking about…that UGA team didn’t belong on the same field as Bama…in 2017 cKS had pretty much the same team looking and belonging with any team in the country…cKS can develop and coach players up
DGD
Recruiting gold.
God, if he and Riley had stayed one more year…
Don’t…I can’t…
Yeah if those two and Nauta stay…Nah I’m not going to think about it…
… it may have been great but it also means Pickens probably is at Auburn.
Cause they would have stopped LSU from throttling you in Atlanta.
Might have made the score 27-37 instead of 37-10 lol.
Probably wouldn’t have lost to USCjr either. It’s hard to say what it would have done. The reason LSU “throttled” us is because we had zero offense. 3 & outs killed us. We hold on to the ball and score it changes the dynamic of the game. Not saying we would have won, I don’t think anyone was going to beat LSU, but a one loss UGA team with a close loss to LSU in the SECCG and people like you aren’t trolling around trying to act like we had a horribly disappointing season. Maybe… you do like to push buttons.
“Cause they would have stopped LSU from throttling you in Atlanta”
I guess saying this, unprovoked, on an UGA article isn’t trolling huh Colorado?
It was trolling. Absolutely. Comments from UGA insinuated that had these guys came back, you would have won a NC. You had that many NFL caliber WRs in 2018 and you didn’t even make the playoff.
It is all in fun man. Don’t start the sensitive thing again man. I had enough of that last night dealing with Sanders supporters at the Trump rally in Colorado Springs.
You went to a Trump Cult Rally? Everything makes sense now.
Absolutely. I know the left, ironically self proclaimed the party of “inclusion”, thinks Trump supporters are ignorant uneducated trash, and I will stay away from to much political discourse, but I will say this. My construction company, which made it through the previous administration but it was painful, has seen 22% revenue growth, which I have invested in new hires, training, paying cash for new equipment and trucks, I expanded our shop for a custom sheet metal fabrication business, and we are virtually debt free. I own the land and the building we are in, so I lease it to the company.
All of things were made possible by this administrations deregulation and tax cuts. For my company and my employees and their families, these are good days with great opportunities. I may not like all of the dumb stuff he says, but he is making good on his promises.
That’s awesome…until the bubble bursts (it inevitably will) just like in 2008. In 2006 our business in Hilton head was booming, business was the best it ever was, then it went under in 2009. We grew too much and then the bottom dropped out. This type of market can’t be sustained at this level. When it crashes, it’s going to crash hard.
The previous administration dug us out of that hole. Trump took over a very heathy economy. Just because he hasn’t muffed it up yet isn’t a strong endorsement.
But yeah I’m sure our ideas on this are polar opposites so that’s all I’m going to say on it. Back to arguing about football.
Where in the hell did you see anyone say UGA would have won nc with those guys? You love putting words in people’s mouth…just FYI I still don’t think UGA would have beat Lsu with those guys…Lsu was to good…and how did you manage to get on politics…I’m sick of hearing about Trump and all the clowns on both sides… keep it about football
They should put Trump and that old fossil Pelosi in a octagon and let them fight it out…that would be more interesting than watching what we’ve had too for the last few years…
I said it was insinuated. By saying “God, if he and Riley had stayed one more year…” The multiple … is where the insinuation starts.
And yes, the bubble will burst. The economy has ups and downs, but never an up like this.
When people start relying on government to solve all of their problems with massive expansion of all social programs, it may not be recoverable. Make hay while the sun is shining.
No I think all we were saying is the UGA offense would have been much better with those guys than without…as any idiot would agree…take the top 5 receivers off any team one year and see how good they are the next…I don’t think it works out so well for any team…take Tua’s and Joe Burrows top 5 receivers away from them and see how their season would have looked…but I guess it wouldn’t make a difference in your mind…
It’s not like mid season one day you had then and then the next they were gone. UGA knew right after the 2018 season. Had a recruiting class to get more talent, and Spring and Fall practice to work in the new guys.
Losing 5 guys in the same position group at one time would obviously be difficult. Having the right guys behind them, recruiting the right guys, and being able to adjust is imperative. Those are the kinds of things that separate Great coaches from good coaches. I bet Kirby doesn’t let that happen again.
I wasn’t thinking that we’d win a national championship judging by Coley’s talent for incredibly awful playcalling, but I think we would’ve at least beaten South Carolina and then gotten respectfully beaten in the SECCG and the CFP semifinals.