Will Hardy is a defensive back who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at North Carolina.
Hardy plays like an extra linebacker near the line. The four seasons at North Carolina span three head coaches: Mack Brown, Freddie Kitchens and Bill Belichick. One game to point at: 8 tackles against Duke — Week 13, 2025.
Play style
Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
51 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 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.
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| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | North Carolina | 51 | 23 | 2.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| 2024 | North Carolina | 33 | 17 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2023 | North Carolina | 22 | 15 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- |
| 2022 | North Carolina | 32 | 18 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | 1 |
| Career | 138 | 73 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 2 | 2 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 10 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 14-48vs TCU | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 20-3@ Charlotte | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 41-6vs Richmond | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 9-34@ UCF | 8 | 7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 8 tackles |
| Wk 8 | L 18-21@ California | 7 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 16-17vs No. 16 Virginia | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 20-15vs Stanford | 6 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 12-28@ Wake Forest | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 25-32vs Duke | 8 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 19-42@ NC State | 4 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 51 | 23 | 2.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
0%0 pass breakupsTackle volume
51tackles this seasonTFL rate
4%2 TFL51 tackles · 2 for loss.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 4.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 5.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 3.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 6.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Bill Belichick
Pass share
51.1%
355 pass / 340 run
Plays / game
57.9
12 games
Team sack rate
5.6%
392 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2025
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #335 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-ACC
Based on 2025: #47 of 75 ACC DBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
A stat line in 40 games over four seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2022–2025
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Mack Brown → Bill Belichick. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
