Hardy ready to jump right in
Receiver knows playing immediately is tall order
By Mark Gaughan NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
Updated: 05/03/08 7:09 AM
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- Bills second-round pick James Hardy makes a catch Friday at the team’s rookie minicamp.
Receiver James Hardy found the end zone in each of his first six games as a freshman at Indiana University. In his first-ever Big Ten Conference game, he burned Wisconsin with seven catches for 157 yards and two touchdowns.
The Buffalo Bills can only dream that their second-round draft choice might make such a quick adjustment to the NFL.
Hardy, the biggest receiver ever drafted by the Bills, hit the pro field for the first time Friday during the team’s rookie minicamp. The 6-foot-6, 221-pounder is optimistic about making some kind of immediate impact on the Bills.
“I feel I’d be able to do the same thing [as at Indiana],” Hardy said. “After this minicamp, I’m going to get back here as soon as I can, and I’m going to be in Buffalo the entire time trying to focus on it. I want to come in and contribute right away, the first game. I’m going to do whatever I can to make that happen.”
The Bills are counting on Hardy to help right away. He is the main addition to an offense that ranked 30th in the NFL. He gives them the dimension — height — that has been lacking in their receiving corps.
“We’ve got a nice group [of receivers] but now we’ve added what we felt was a missing piece, which is a big receiver,” said Bills coach Dick Jauron.
Rookie receivers, however, typically do not make a huge impact. Last season nine receivers were drafted in the first two rounds. Five caught more than 30 passes as rookies and only one caught more than 40 passes. That was Dwayne Bowe, who had 70 catches for 995 yards and five touchdowns for Kansas City.
Bills receiver Lee Evans had a very good rookie year in 2004, catching 48 passes for 843 yards with nine touchdowns.
Given the track record of rookie wideouts, a 35-catch, five-touchdown season would be a decent showing for Hardy.
“They say it usually takes a receiver up to three years [to fully adjust to the NFL],” Hardy said. “I’m trying to cut that down to hopefully one, and in this season I’ll be effective.”
Even if Hardy has difficulty adjusting to the NFL game, the Bills hope he has the tools to make an immediate impact in the red zone.
Hardy showed an amazing knack for scoring at Indiana, catching 10 touchdown passes as a freshman, another 10 as a sophomore and 16 last fall as a junior.
At the least, the Bills should be able to exploit some height mismatches and throw him some fade patterns along the sideline in the end zone.
“Most definitely,” Hardy said of the fade play. “I feel if you just put the ball in my area I’ll be able to come down with it.”
Hardy was recruited to college as a two-sport star, for both football and basketball. He had more than 120 basketball scholarship offers. His final five in picking a college were Indiana, Connecticut, Florida State, Illinois and Georgia Tech.
Hardy played 11 minutes a game as a freshman on the Indiana basketball team but after that first season opted to give up hoops for football. He thinks his basketball background helps him as a receiver.
“The way I maneuver my body over defenders is sort of like a box out or like you’re going to get an alleyoop,” Hardy said. “For the most part it’s eye contact. You just want to go up there and just grab the ball. That’s one of the abilities that God has blessed me with, and I’ll use it to the best of my ability here in Buffalo.”
The Bills have a starting job wide open opposite Evans at No. 2 receiver. Hardy said he’s not taking anything for granted.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to come in,” Hardy said. “But like any other guy, you just have to come out here and the best guy wins. I’m not coming in thinking I’m going to get the starter’s job. I want to come here and work extremely hard, like a Lee Evans, and just sort of be his little brother. He can help guide me through this. I’m new to this. I want to come in and contribute and do whatever the coaching staff wants me to do.”
