Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Safety Valve Junior Eilar Hardy has come from a long way back to boost the secondary S By Lou Somogyi afety in numbers is considered an asset. This has especially proven true during the resurrection of junior Eilar Hardy's football career at Notre Dame. In Notre Dame's 38-34 victory versus Navy Nov. 2, Hardy's best play among his four tackles in a regular role didn't even show up on the stat sheet. With the game hanging in the balance and Navy facing fourth-and-four at the Irish 31 in the closing minute, the Midshipmen called the play they had set up throughout the afternoon to finally break the Irish, a reverse pitch to wideout Shawn Lynch. From an aerial view, it appeared Lynch had nothing but green grass and a clear lane to six points staring at him once he made his cut up the field. Only Hardy, who had taken a couple of steps toward the initial flow, did not allow him to make the sharp turn when he quickly pivoted and made a beeline toward Lynch. "Out of the corner of my eye I see [Lynch] looping around for a reverse, and that right there just triggered me to shoot my gun and go in and try to make a play," Hardy said. Navy left tackle Bradyn Heap was positioning to make the final block on Hardy, but Hardy had been so quick to react that he quickly dipped under Heap untouched to string out Lynch wider and provide an extra second for the rest of the defense to react. Hardy's diving lunge at Lynch missed, but the objective to delay the receiver's cut toward paydirt served its purpose. It gave cornerback Bennett Jackson time to race over and make his own lunge at Lynch near the sideline, thereby funneling Lynch right back into the waiting arms of freshman linebacker Jaylon Smith for no gain. In hockey, Smith would be credited with the goal, with assists from Hardy and Jackson. In basketball, it would be a textbook example of "help defense." In football, Hardy received no credit on the stat sheet, but took satisfaction in doing his job to make it possible for others to do theirs. "I wanted to make the tackle, but I forced him wide, I forced him to slow down a little bit, and my teammates just came over hauling and made the play," Hardy said. "That's what we're coached to do: Do your assignment, have force on the defense." It was a watershed moment for Hardy, whose football career appeared to be on the scrap heap after an inauspicious beginning.