Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BOLD MOVE? Kansas PURSUES TJ Harden - How Would Former SMU, UCLA Runner Affect Jayhawks Backfield?

Starting point is 00:00:00 KU football has some reported interest in a newly available running back with over 2,000 rushing yards throughout his collegiate career. T.J. Hardden, Deep dive, does he make sense for KU? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, Derek Johnson here. This is Locked on Jayhawks. And on today's bonus deep dive, we're going into T.J. Hardin for KU football, somebody that According to On 3 and Jayhawks' slant reported interest for Kansas and Hardin. We'll break down what he would potentially do if he arrives at Kansas, his scouting report, and more.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Let's start with this. Again, there's the reported interest there along with, you know, a handful of schools in this kid. Actually, funny enough, there was a offer that this was a tweet back from December 11th of 2019 from T.J. Hardin, extremely blessed to receive my third offer from the University of Kansas, hashtag Go Jayhawks. Now, that would have been pre-Lance Leipold staff. That would have been the less miles staff. But I guess, you know, there's some sort of tie with KU for him in the past. But Hardin is a player who recently graduated and was actually playing for the Seattle Seahawks training camp team.

Starting point is 00:01:19 Before that, the Cleveland Browns in the offseason. But he's one of these newly eligible players from all this local stuff kind of going down. So on August 19th, a Louisiana federal court granted Hardin, along with some, other collegiate players temporary restraining order allowing them to pursue an additional season of NCAA eligibility in 2026, right? Basically one of these players that under the new rules that are set to be with the five and five would have had a fifth year this upcoming season, right? He is a six foot one, 218 pound running back who is originally from Englewood, California. He was an 87 rated three star out of high school, top 1,000 recruit, and goes to nearby

Starting point is 00:02:03 UCLA. And for the Bruins, was a solid running back really every season. Has 1658 rushing yards across the three seasons, 5.1 yards per carry, also over 500 career receiving yards there, 14 total touchdowns. Then he finishes up, or at the time, thought he was finishing up his collegiate career at SMU, where in 2025, he logged 787 rushing yards, 4.6 yards per carry, and 10 total touchdowns for the Mustangs this past season. Arguably, his best game came against the team this past season that Kansas will play in 2026. That was the Baylor Bears. He had 115 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns against Baylor in a non-conference meeting for SMU against Baylor in 2025.

Starting point is 00:02:48 So he finishes his four years of college, goes undrafted into the NFL. Originally, signs as an undrafted free agent with the Cleveland Browns, gets cut, later gets scooped up by the Seattle Seahawks, actually plays in week one of preseason very limited. It was only a couple of carries. And then he, I don't know if it was him opting to leave and saying, hey, can you cut me so I can go back to college or if it was him actually getting cut or what. But, you know, now he threw that TRO from Louisiana going back. I mean, just crazy world we live in right now.

Starting point is 00:03:22 But when you look at Kansas, it is a really good running back room. But it's kind of beaten and battered a little bit already before the season is already. started. So if you have a chance to make your team better, then I guess you go ahead and do it. And so let's break down a little bit more of the scouting report on Hardin, how exactly he would fit in with, like I said, what's a good running back room already for Kansas, but one that does have some injuries as well. This is locked on Jayhawks. Our episode of the show today is brought to you by Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. It's one app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other. Well, that's where Odu comes in. It's an all. in one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing everything works in one place odu is one platform to manage grow and scale your business and the best organizations know that success isn't just about talent it's about having everyone working toward the same goal and that's true in sports just like it is in business i always think about this with the k u baseball team right like you think about

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Starting point is 00:06:12 So what is the scouting report for T.J. Hardin, the running back previously at UCLA and SMU, who's now in the transfer portal with that extra year of eligibility. Well, let's start here with some of the metrics. What do they say about him? Pro football focus says that he was a 72 or higher rated. That's a good number to be at all four of his seasons of college ball. Now, I don't really care that much to be honest about the pro football focus grade for running backs because I think there's certain things that um like vision isn't always going to get

Starting point is 00:06:41 graded as easily as like a broken tackle. So if you're running back who breaks more tackles compared to a running back who just doesn't need to break the tackle because they had good vision and knew where to cut to you're not going to get scored as highly. So there's like certain things that I there's certain positions that I care more about the pro football focus grade than others. Running back is not really what I care about. But you know, I guess sure it's something to be be high about. Now there are some good numbers from provable focus. focus we can look at here. 2.8 yards after contact per rush. That's not a huge number here. That was only the 29th percentile among ACC running backs with 50 or more carries this past season, right? And if you

Starting point is 00:07:19 look at breakaway percentage, which is the percentage of your runs that you broke away, which I don't know the exact number of that's 10 yards rushing or 20 for pro football focus, but he was also in the 29th percentile there. So he wasn't necessarily busting big runs. He wasn't breaking a ton of tackles necessary or we're getting a lot of yards after that initial contact right now i do think this is interesting though if you look at his career numbers for breakaway percentage it is closer to 36 which is about 10 percentage points higher than it was this past season at smu so um is that just he's he's gotten a little beat up over the course of his collegiate career is that the role he was at to play at smu and he does have a little bit more breakaway ability because that number specifically

Starting point is 00:08:00 would be a much more average number according to the ACC, right? So you look at some of the strengths. I think good size is kind of the big one you look at here. Some of his previous colleges listed him at 6-2 at the combine stuff. He measured like 6'1 quarter. Let's just call him 6'1. That's still good size for a running back here. And then you also add in the idea that he's like 218 pounds.

Starting point is 00:08:26 Again, if you just want to round up and call him 220, again, very good size for a running back. And I think he uses that size to be really good at moving the chains. He was third among ACC running backs last season in first downs gained. So if you have a third and short situation, a second short, he was picking up a lot of those first downs. And that really is a skill. Like you look at what Kareem Hunt, for instance, did for the Kansas City Chiefs the past couple years. It wasn't an explosive back. He wasn't gaining huge gains for the Chiefs, but he was constantly picking up the first downs.

Starting point is 00:08:56 And so that can't be your be all complete running back. But that can be a really helpful situational running back for you, right? He shows a good combination, hardened that is in power, determination, keeping things on schedule, I think, converting those short downs, which can be so important. And I think that's really important, too, when I look at Andy Kodlnicki will, hey, it's third and short, fourth and short. We're going to try to just outpower you, right?

Starting point is 00:09:20 So having a running back that can do that is good. And I think that's really backed up by his high success rate as a runner, both the moving the chains and keeping you on schedule. schedule. What is success rate? Success rate basically is a measure of how often your in this case, runs are successful. And what is considered successful is picking up at least half of the yardage on a first and second down. So if you're in first and 10, a five-yard run would be a successful run. A three-yard run would not be a successful run, right? It's kind of a very data one or zero, like way of looking at things. But then on third down, it just did you pick it up or not? And the

Starting point is 00:09:59 beauty of that is that you can't just like a third and nine where you run for seven yards. Oh, you're averaging seven yards of carry. Like that looks really good. But in reality, a seven yard run on third and nine was not successful because you didn't pick up the first down. And now you got a punt, right? Versus a two yard run on third and two is successful. But a four yard run on third and five is not successful.

Starting point is 00:10:21 If that kind of makes sense, that right? He was, it had a 50% success rate. That's really good for runners. that would have led all KU running backs a season ago. So, like, again, he keeps you on schedule. He converts shorts, downs. And then he's good at checkdowns, right? He's not somebody you're going to throw out in the receiving game,

Starting point is 00:10:40 but he's caught 82 of the 93 career targets coming his way. So it's a sure-handed checkdown ability to get him the football. Then you look at some of the weaknesses here. He's not the most athletic running back in the world. If you look at RAS score, which is basically the athletic testing that they do, do getting ready for the NFL. They'll put a score on them based on some of the numbers. And based on that, he registered as below average speed, poor agility, below average explosion. Now, do keep in mind, that's coming compared to other NFL prospects, right?

Starting point is 00:11:12 So, you know, like him running a four, five, nine, 40 might be below average for the NFL. If you compare it to college, maybe it's more average. You know what I mean? Like Devin Neal was running around there. Daniel Hysha was running slower than that and, you know, had plenty of success at KU, right? So maybe you bump all those up if you're playing him at college and say, okay, average speed, below average agility, average explosion, good power. Like maybe that's kind of how you would go about it, right? The other one is this.

Starting point is 00:11:39 And this one kind of bothers me because you would think for a power running back, they're going to be a good pass blocking running back. Not really the case. His best pass blocking grade for a season, 43.6 on pro football focus. So not really a pass blocker. You'd have to get that from somewhere else. And then even though he's good at checkdowns, you don't use. him in the receiving game, his career average depth of target is negative 1.4 yards, meaning on average, when he catches the ball, it's about a yard before the line of scrimmage.

Starting point is 00:12:07 It screens and checkdowns. He's reliable on those, but you can't really use him in the full passing game. What exactly would be as fit with KU? We'll get to that next. Thanks again for joining us here on Lockdown, Jayhawks. T.J. Hardin, available in the portal, I've seen Baylor, Auburn, some other school's interest in addition to reportedly Kansas here. I'd imagine this is something that has to happen pretty quickly. Now, what would be the fit? Like, I don't think you could really expect him to come in and play for you right away in week one. Now, I do think he's in football shape, right? Like, he's been,

Starting point is 00:12:42 going around some of the NFL training camps. It's more so getting to know the playbook and everything, right, where maybe this would be somebody that wouldn't be available to you to you till, you know, week four, week five of the season. But that's kind of a nice thing to have, right? If some of the running backs get beat up early in the season, you can say, hey, now we've got this guy who, you know, was a very successful collegiate runner for four years, has, fresh legs for the final eight, nine games a season. And that especially becomes true for Kansas, given their schedule and the London game and the byweek, then nine straight games, it'd be nice to have a player like that, even if he's not

Starting point is 00:13:15 available to week seven, right, having that for the final six weeks would be a nice thing for KU. It also would be nice because Kansas is in a point right now where they do have some injury. Like, I think the running back room when healthy might be KU's best position group of the team. The problem is right now, it's not healthy. Jalen Dupree has had to kind of bounce around. around some different injuries and I think he's good right now, but that is in the back of your mind. Coria Mockrey is beat up right now after getting beat up at different points throughout the fall as well.

Starting point is 00:13:43 You look at, you know, Justin Thurman, he's out for the season. So quickly, and then all of a sudden you're like, okay, we're fully dependent on Yacin Willis, who has his had to deal with some injury stuff at Syracuse, including some like concussion stuff and Dylan Edwards, who's had to deal with some, you know, injury stuff or stuff that's kept him off the field at different points and he's not the biggest back to begin with that can take 20 carries a game each and every year. game. So I think that even though it's a very talented group, it's one that I could understand why you would add T.J. Hardin to the fold. Do you have enough money to make a move like this,

Starting point is 00:14:14 especially with the other schools that are interested? I don't know. That kind of remains to be seen, right? But clearly there's interest there, and I understand the interest. And so the way I would view it is that, you know, if this ends up being a move where he ends up being your third string running back most of the season, but it gives you more depth, that's probably still worth it for KU, especially knowing. the challenges that you're going to have with depth over the latter half of the season. I don't really think that like, I got to be honest, like I don't think this would be a move that you would make where I would expect him to outrush

Starting point is 00:14:45 Yacine Willis or maybe even Dylan Edwards this season. But it would lengthen your running back room. It would give you another quality back. It would give you more, I guess, margin for error should there be injuries. And it'll give you those fresh legs for the back half of the season when that could be the difference in you winning another game. If you have that extra healthy running back, you don't know what's going to happen to the rest of the running back room.

Starting point is 00:15:05 So I'd be all about doing this if you could. I also feel like in general, if you're going to make an ad this late into the game, like, you know, like Thomas Castellanos is available. And we did a deep dive on him a bit ago. At this point, though, adding a quarterback is so hard. Like, adding a running back, at least you could just be like, hey, you're just going to come into these two or three formations. Just learn those three formations and the play.

Starting point is 00:15:28 And for a running back, I'm not trying to bear down. Like, there is more complications than I'm going to make this. sound right now. So I apologize. Like any running backs out there, you do get a bad rap. Like there is more complications than just run the football. Like, but it's an easier job to be like learn the playbook and quickly learn it and know your your your job than it is for like the quarterback or it is for like the tight end who has to know every blocking and every, you know, passing route and scheme and stuff. Right. So yeah, go ahead. Do it. I'd be in. All right. That would do it for this episode of Lockdown Jayhawks. We'll get back to some basketball deep dives on some potential portal targets as well.

Starting point is 00:16:03 And back for a full episode on Monday as well, right here on LOJ. See you next time on Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - BOLD MOVE? Kansas PURSUES TJ Harden - How Would Former SMU, UCLA Runner Affect Jayhawks Backfield?

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