Mecole Hardman was showered in preseason hype. The rising sophomore cornerback-turned-wide receiver was expected to be a dynamic addition to an improved Georgia Bulldogs offense.
The offense has improved, but no thanks to Hardman. He has seven catches for 58 yards and a touchdown. Plagued by drops, Hardman hasn’t registered a catch in two games, and has only a pair of receptions across his past four.
He had the perfect shot while streaking across the middle against Vanderbilt on Saturday, but the ball eluded his hands again. Fortunately for Hardman and the Bulldogs, the team’s dominated enough to be patient.
“We’re going to continue to throw it to him,” coach Kirby Smart said. “We’re not going to not throw it to him.
“Mecole’s a work in progress. He’s getting better each week. Nobody said it was going to be easy. It’s not natural for a guy that didn’t play receiver his whole life to go play receiver.”
Expecting early returns on the Hardman transition was unrealistic. He was a quarterback and defensive back in high school and a defensive back last season at Georgia. The lone tease of potential we saw was a three-catch, 62-yard performance for the Red team last G-Day.
He suits the position from an athletic and physical standpoint. He just hasn’t looked comfortable catching the ball yet.
“I’m not one to make excuses,” Hardman said in September. “Every ball I drop I’ve got to catch. I’ll go back in the film and look at it and see why I missed it. In the week of practice, I’ll work on those type of balls and work on catching them.”
Hardman played in 11 games a season ago, contributing on defense and special teams. A small 5-foot-11, 183 pounds coming out of Elbert County High School, he was ESPN.com’s No. 2-ranked player in the athlete category, coming to Georgia expecting to be a cornerback. The team attempted developing him there, but apparently decided the upside leaned more toward offense.
Hardman is raw. The talent, speed and theoretical ceiling are evident; the basic traits of a receiver are not. Smart indicated those require time.
“It’s running routes,” Smart said. “It’s being comfortable catching the ball. It’s 10 to 15 years of that’s not what he did his whole life. He’s developing, he’s working hard at it. I think the guy’s going to make a really good player. To be honest with you, we’ve thrown to him in the last couple of weeks in practice. It’s not like he’s got the drops. He just hasn’t had the opportunity. He hasn’t really had an opportunity in a game in a while.”
Georgia has the chance to beat up a Missouri defense that some may consider an abomination to the sport. It’s 111th overall in the nation and 109th against the pass. The Tigers have allowed at least 31 points in all five games.
Missouri inexplicably lost 35-3 to Purdue, 51-14 to Auburn and 40-34 to Kentucky last week. Arguably worse than those results was allowing Missouri State to score 43.
UGA shouldn’t have much trouble with this group. If there’s a time to break Hardman in – and maybe the best catalyst for his receiver career - Missouri might be it.
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