Georgia WR Mecole Hardman declares for 2019 NFL Draft
Georgia has now seen three of its major pass catchers from the 2018 team declare for the NFL draft, as Mecole Hardman joined Riley Ridley and Isaac Nauta in declaring for the NFL draft.
Like Nauta and Ridley, Hardman posted a lengthy message to his Twitter feed where he thanked Georgia fans for the support.
Thank You DawgNation 🙏🏾❤️ pic.twitter.com/ad7T34sGMd
— Mecole Hardman Jr. (@MecoleHardman4) January 4, 2019
Georgia also saw freshman tight end Luke Ford announce his intentions to transfer from the program to Illinois. DawgNation can also report that Justin Fields is transferring to Ohio State.
Underclassmen have until Jan. 14 to declare for the upcoming NFL Draft, which takes place April 25-27 in Nashville. The NFL combine is Feb. 26 through March 4 in Indianapolis.
Georgia junior tight end Isaac Nauta and junior receiver Riley Ridley declared themselves eligible for the draft on Friday.
Hardman, from Bowman, Ga., opened this season on fire.
Hardman scored at least one touchdown in each of the first four games of the season, including a two-touchdown performance against Middle Tennessee that included a punt return for a touchdown.
The speedy 5-foot-11, 183-pounder is widely considered one of the fastest players on Georgia’s football team.
Texas kept the ball away from Hardman in the Sugar Bowl, as he had just one catch for 3 yards and one kick return for 28 yards in the 28-21 loss to the Longhorns on Jan. 1.
Hardman finished this season with 34 catches for 532 yards and seven touchdowns — but he had only 10 catches for 174 yards over the final seven games of the 2018 campaign.
If Hardman had enough punt returns to qualify this season, his 20.06 average on 16 returns would have ranked second in the nation to New Mexico’s Marcus Hayes (21.2).
Hardman also had 14 kick returns for 353 yards, an average of 25.21 yards.
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