Wednesday is early signing day for the class of 2022 and on Monday were able to complete a flip of a prospect that will give them a seventeenth member of the class that will sign a letter of intent with the program at some point in that period.
Earlier this evening, right around 8:00 PM EST, 2022 3✮ ATH Will Hardy announced his decision via social media to flip his commitment from the Virginia Cavaliers to the Tar Heels. This comes after he took an official visit to Chapel Hill over the weekend following an in-home visit during the week from the Tar Heel staff. The Tar Heels had been in the process of making a push for Hardy, who has multiple family ties to the university, since they offered him back in August and Bronco Mendenhall’s surprise resignation at Virginia pushed the door wide open for the Tar Heel staff who took advantage.
Hardy, the No. 59 safety in the class and the No. 85 player in the state of Georgia according to 247Sports, is coming off of a huge senior season at Greater Atlanta Christian School in Norcross, GA. Not only did he have the best season of his career as a receiver, catching 40 passes for 707 yards and seven touchdowns, he took home 5-AAA Defensive Player of the Year honors after tallying 133 total tackles, 14.0 tackles for loss, eight interceptions, one pass breakup, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. That followed a solid junior season that helped put him on a lot of recruiting radar where he finished with 37 catches for 388 yards and eight touchdowns on the offensive side of the football and tallied 41 total tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
Hardy’s film shows a player that is simply everywhere making plays. His speed is outstanding and allows him to cover space quickly which results in plenty of tackles for loss and some nice plays on the football. He is a tremendous open field tackler and that speed makes him difficult to block in open space. He also has really good range in coverage which allows him to cover a lot of space in his zone and create turnovers. He will need to add a little bit to his slender frame, especially if he is wanting to play in the box, but he has the skillset to play either safety spot in this Tar Heel defense. His ability to create turnovers will also be more than welcome in this defense that did a better job of creating turnovers this season than the first two years under Jay Bateman, but is still looking for more consistent production there, especially from their safeties. Even if it takes him time to make an impact as a safety, Hardy brings plenty of special teams value, especially as a member of the field goal block unit after he blocked three field goals this season alone. This a very underrated pick up for Tar Heels who’s lone remaining need in this class was a true safety.
With the commitment, the Tar Heels now have seventeen players that are committed to the 2022 class, all of which look likely to sign on Wednesday. The class does remain No. 8 overall and No. 1 in the ACC according to the 247Sports team rankings heading into Wednesday, the program’s best recruiting class in the 247Sports recruiting era.