Tackling Tight End
October 28, 2003 10:40 AM | General
October 28, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – What was initially a move out of desperation may have turned into a stroke of genius for the West Virginia football staff.
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| Jason Hardee is tied for the team lead with three sacks and is first among defensive linemen with seven QB hurries. (Bill Amatucci photo) |
Due to a shortage of defensive linemen during fall camp, Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez decided to move backup tight end Jason Hardee to defensive end. At the time Rodriguez wasn’t sure how well Hardee would perform or even if the move would be permanent.
Now two months later, Hardee has not only become a key component in West Virginia’s defensive line rotation, he actually is tied with Ernest Hunter for the team lead in sacks with three and leads all defensive linemen with seven quarterback hurries.
It is a remarkable transformation for a player that has traveled more than 3,000 miles to play college football at WVU.
Hardee spent two years playing at the College of San Mateo in San Mateo, Calif., and came to West Virginia with the idea of playing tight end. It was evident that Hardee possessed outstanding athletic ability, but he was at a position that was well-stocked with good players.
Midway through fall camp Rodriguez decided to send Hardee down with the defensive linemen where veteran coach Bill Kirelawich has had pretty good success taking tight ends and turning them into defensive tackles. Recent proof comes in the form of Cincinnati Bengals defensive lineman John Thornton and former Detroit Lions defensive end Antwan Lake.
Kirelawich doesn’t have a ready explanation for his ability to turn tight ends into elite defenders, “I don’t know what it is? I guess that’s the one position that demands being the best athlete. You can take a tight end and work with him quicker than you can a guard or a tackle.”
Hardee has a simple explanation, “You can add 20 or 30 pounds and learn your techniques and use your athletic ability to play the position. At a certain point it’s just a matter of getting your techniques down. I think having that athletic ability makes up for a certain amount of mistakes, though.”
According to the coach, Hardee has both the athletic ability and the size that could one day put him into the same league with players like John Thornton, Mike Fox and John Browning – all Kirelawich-bred NFL standouts.
“I think he’s coming along,” said Kirelawich. “Sometimes he can be his own worst enemy but I think he has a tremendous amount of upside if he ever lets it go. I think he’s instinctive, he’s talented and innately, he’s tough. He has just got to understand that there are certain things that you’ve got to do and he’s got to do it if he wants to be one of those elite guys. He has the body and the potential to be an elite guy but he’s not there yet.”
Right now Hardee is getting by mainly on athletic ability. There are times when he tries a certain move that gets him out of position or leaves a certain gap uncovered. The one thing Kirelawich absolutely has no tolerance for is freelancing among his defensive linemen.
Hardee has learned that valuable lesson the hard way in practice.
“I tried different moves against our offensive linemen and afterward I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m not going to do that again.’ It’s not high school anymore where you are more or less better than everybody,” he said.
“One time I tried to move left and spin and I telegraphed it so bad,” he laughed. “It was bad and Coach Kirlav was yelling at me not to do that again.”
And even though he is operating primarily on athletic ability right now, for the most part Hardee has maintained a controlled rush in games. In Hardee, Rodriguez notices a certain nose for the ball that WVU’s other more experienced defensive linemen may not possess.
“He’s probably got as much athletic ability as anyone we have up front,” said Rodriguez. “He’s got kind of a knack for the game as far as making plays. Technically he’s all over the place and Coach Kirlav is working hard trying to get him more fundamentally sound, but feel-wise he is as good as anyone we have up front.”
What Kirelawich is trying to do is to harness all of Hardee’s tremendous physical gifts and package it into a player that understands the defense and can quickly diagnose plays within the framework of the defense.
The 6-foot-3, 280-pound junior says he’s beginning to understand what Kirelawich is talking about. He’s now studying offensive linemen, looking for subtle keys that can help tip off a play.
“Are their splits tight? Are they wide? That is something Coach Kirlav has taught me to look for and it’s helping,” said Hardee.
Never was that more evident than in last Wednesday’s 28-7 victory over Virginia Tech. WVU’s fired up defense held Tech’s nationally ranked offense to just 211 total yards. Hardee says he was thinking draw play every time Virginia Tech came up in wide splits in a second-and-long situation.
“It was just like on film,” he said. “I look down the line of scrimmage, it’s second and seven and I’m thinking to myself what will they do here? I’m hitting the guy, the running back is coming at me and I make the play.”
Becoming a more intelligent player is just one of the things Hardee is improving on. He says his biggest improvement needs to be made at the point of attack.
“I need to work on my leverage and stay low,” he admitted. “Coach Kirlav says I can do that then nobody can block me.”
Hardee got his first sack at Maryland, but it was his sack against Virginia Tech’s Bryan Randall last week that had all of his friends calling.
“Everyone saw it at home and I had like 30 messages on my cell phone,” he said.
“He’s a good kid, he’s a smart kid, he’s got a wonderful mom and dad, and he’s come a long way to play football here,” said Kirelawich. “I think sooner or later the light will go on for him.”
If that’s the case, then chances are Jason Hardee will be getting a lot of phone calls in the future.
Briefly ...
“Everybody emphasizes it and maybe we go overboard … I don’t know if there is such a thing? On the other side we have some guys on defense that really have a knack for stripping the ball. (Grant) Wiley, (Mike) Lorello, and Brian King have great instincts. King playing at free safety is going to help us get a few more we hope.”
“Defensively more of the questions have been answered,” he continued. “A lot of what we are working on now is not who it is but rather how they’re doing it and things we need to get corrected.”
