Bo Hardy spent his entire career studying an offensive playbook.
He’s perfected his craft over 16 years of football — from youth football to high school to Capital University, and then finally to Ohio — improving technique, working on ball security and learning offensive formations.
Then last spring Hardy was handed a defensive playbook.
Hardy, who played running back for the majority of his football career, thought he would be better suited to help the team on the defensive side of the ball.
So, before his final season of football at Ohio, he’s learning a whole new position.
“I haven’t played defense in probably eight or nine years, and when I did it was like filling in, just run and go get the ball,” Hardy said. “That’s been the hardest thing for me, so I’ve been in my playbook, watching lots of film, just trying to really make the transition a lot easier for me.”
The redshirt senior runs a blazing 4.36 40-yard dash and has also seen reps at kick returner this fall. Hardy had one of the most eye-opening spring camps, making plays all over the field daily.
“That’s the raw ability that I have. I have the ability to make the transition because I can close on the ball pretty well,” he said. “The other stuff will eventually come, once I was able to really know what was going on it just makes it so much easier.”
Changing positions hasn't only affected Hardy, however, as a few other Bobcats have had to learn new positions because of injuries. Last season, A.J. Ouellette was moved to linebacker due to defensive injuries.
A similar situation happened to Cody Grilliot, who was a linebacker in his first two seasons as a Bobcat before he moved to tight end last season. He's a linebacker once again, but the move was not a total loss.
“It gave me a better understanding of the game overall, just playing it from both sides," he said. "I think in that aspect, I’m understanding the game as a whole a little bit better.”
He'll have to adjust to his old position once again, but this time with a view of the other side.
“I got some experience at linebacker, but they take you to learn a whole new system (on offense)," he said. "You kind of forget techniques, the overall defense. When you come back there’s an adjustment period, especially with techniques, you gotta practice, get muscle memory, re-learn the defense a little bit.”
