Hardin’s kick lifts Florida Gators past Tennessee

He trotted out to the field. A confident 18-year old, Austin Hardin was able to shut everything out and focus on the task at hand.

A senior at Marist High School, Hardin bent down at the 49-yard line, took one giant step backwards and then two more. He looked up briefly before taking a step to his left. Now with two feet planted firmly on his own side of the 50 he gave the signal. The snap was good, Hardin took his time up to the ball and the kick sailed through the uprights from 59-yards out as time expired.

That kick, as well as his ability to register touchbacks with regularity earned him the title of best kicker in the country coming out of high school. Hardin chose Florida knowing full well that he would have to sit behind Caleb Sturgis for a season.

After taking a redshirt, it was Hardin’s job to lose — and that’s just what he did. He missed an easy field goal in the opener against Toledo in 2013. He was one-of-one in a loss to Miami and then just two-of-five over the next three games. He gave way to then walk-on Frankie Velez and when his starting job went out the window, his confidence went out with it.

“There was a lot of adversity just from different areas in my life. I went through a lot. It was tough,” Hardin recalled. “To kind of go from a point where — even though it’s only high school, a point where you’re kind of at a career high to the lowest of lows when it comes to football.”

Hardin was a wreck. He handled kickoff duties the next two weeks but was relegated to the long-distance field goal kicker for the remainder of the season.

Just what a kicker who’s struggling with confidence issues needs — he only attempts that Hardin would get would be kicks from 35-yards and out. He missed again and again; against Georgia, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Florida State.

When the season was over, Hardin was ready to wake up from the nightmare. He worked with kicking coaches in the offseason to refine his mechanics. He worked on the mental side of the game, breathing, envisioning himself making field goals before practice and before games.

It seemed to work. Hardin was solid in the offseason and looked to have won the job outright heading into the 2014 campaign, or did he?

Velez took all three field goal attempts and all eight extra point attempts. Hardin had put on his pads, stretched and warmed up. He ran out of the tunnel like the rest of his teammates but all that did for him was give him a first row seat to watch the Gators.

His opportunity finally came the following week. Florida had scraped back into the game against Kentucky and they needed Hardin to come through to give Florida the win in regulation.

“The big thing was; these guys play 60 minutes and [kickers] may only be called on once or twice,” he said. “Especially given the way we work field goals, I may be called on once, if I’m lucky, a game.”

The 52-yard attempt never had a chance. The leg was there but he had pushed it wide right and into a television camera well in the back of the end zone. It was the sixth consecutive kick he had missed. He walked off of the field in disbelief, how could this be happening again?

The Gators held on to win and Hardin wasn’t used the following week against Alabama.

On Saturday, the Gators played a putrid three quarters of football before Jalen Tabor forced and recovered a fumble. Treon Harris led a touchdown drive but the Gators were still down two.

Florida advanced the ball to the Tennessee 32 yard line on their next possession but the drive stalled. With a 49-yard attempt coming up, Hardin was once again called upon.

He went back to what he worked on in the offseason, “I worked on just breathing, , just to calm myself down and get into the zone,” he said. “You just gotta go out there with those blinders on.”

The moment was huge. Florida had trailed the entire game. The offense had looked stale and once again had stalled, leaving Hardin with a long kick in a very windy Neyland Stadium. The crowd noise was deafening.

Hardin stepped back, powered through the kick, hitting it squarely. It was a feeling that Hardin knew well. He’d felt it all through high school but had forgotten what it felt like to strike a ball that way.

“As soon as it left my foot I knew it was good,” Hardin said.

The ball sailed through the uprights and would have been good from 55 yards or more.

“The one in high school was further but this one was, obviously, on such a bigger stage,” he said. “Even though it wasn’t as time expired, it was still great just to hit a field goal, a difficult field goal, in a windy stadium to help my team out.”

“These guys had worked hard, did what they had to do and I had to go out and do what I had to do.”

Keanu Neal picked off Justin Worley five minutes later and Hardin’s kick proved to be the game winning points. As the team celebrated, turning Rocky Top into their own personal party there was an embrace that the cameras didn’t catch.

Austin Hardin, Coleman Hutzler, Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee
Special teams coordinator Coleman Hutzler embraces Austin Hardin after Florida’s 10-9 win over Tennessee. / Gator Country photo by Nick de la Torre

Special teams coordinator Coleman Hutzler found Hardin. The coach grabbed his kicker by the back of his pads and spun him around. Hutzler grabbed Hardin like a proud father would grab his son. Words were exchanged and Hutzler told the embattled kicker he knew he had it in him.

Somewhere, through all the misses, the adversity and the hard times he faced last year Hardin knew he had it in him too. He just needed to prove it to himself.

“It was just kind of like redemption,” he said. “Finally, I knew I could do it.’

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

2 COMMENTS

  1. Of all possibilities, the Gators winning because they made a long field goal is something that no one could have forsee. It’s now official, the Gator’s kicking game, punting and kicking, is better than last year. The rest of the team? The jury is still out. But with a better kicking game, the Gators pulled out a win that would not have happened last year. Maybe it’s a sign that things will go Florida’s way this season. One thing for sure, the schedule looks a lot easier than it did a month ago. LSU is coming into Gainesville ready to be knocked out after getting hammered in their last two games.