J.Q. Hardaway is a defensive back who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Kentucky.
Hardaway moves between deep coverage and the slot. Played for two head coaches at two programs in four seasons: Luke Fickell and Mark Stoops. A game that shows it: 11 tackles against Georgia — Week 6, 2025.
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
58 tackles. 5 passes defended. 1 interception. 2 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Kentucky | 58 | 40 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 5 | 1 |
| 2024 | Kentucky | 47 | 33 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 2 |
| 2023 | Kentucky | 29 | 21 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 4 | -- |
| 2022 | Cincinnati | 8 | 5 | 2.0 | 1.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 142 | 99 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 12 | 3 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 12 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 24-16vs Toledo | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 23-30vs No. 20 Ole Miss | 7 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 48-23vs Eastern Michigan | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 13-35@ South Carolina | 5 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 14-35@ No. 12 Georgia | 11 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 11 tackles |
| Wk 8 | L 13-16vs No. 21 Texas | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 34-56vs No. 17 Tennessee | 6 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 10-3@ Auburn | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 11 | W 38-7vs Florida | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 12 | W 42-10vs Tennessee Tech | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 17-45@ No. 12 Vanderbilt | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 0-41@ Louisville | 6 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 58 | 40 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 5 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
9%5 pass breakupsInterceptions
1interceptionsTackle volume
58tackles this seasonTFL rate
3%2 TFL58 tackles · 2 for loss · 1 sack · 5 pass breakups · 1 interception.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 4.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Road5g | 5.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 6.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+7g | 3.9 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mark Stoops
Pass share
46.2%
366 pass / 427 run
Plays / game
66.1
12 games
Team sack rate
6.8%
409 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2025
58 tackles in 12 games, about as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Former four-star. Now #141 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-SEC
Based on 2025: #20 of 57 SEC DBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 22% of returning players who ranked #11–20 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 19–25%).
A stat line in 39 games over four seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2022–2025
2 coachesPlayed for 2 head coaches at 2 schools: Luke Fickell and Mark Stoops.
