Mississippi football history is rich with legendary players who were lightly recruited out of high school but went on to become among of the most productive college and professional players on the planet.

Names like Payton (Walter), Rice (Jerry), Favre (Brett) and Manning (Archie) are part of American football lore. None were heavily recruited as 17- and 18-year-olds. “Diamonds in the rough,” sports writers and sportscasters used to call them. Popular opinion is that such rare diamonds no longer exist, what with the proliferation of summer football camps, scouting combines and .com recruiting services.

But just when we think that, out of nowhere (actually from out of Oma, Mississippi), comes a guy like Ahmad Hardy, the 19-year-old Missouri running back, who Saturday night appeared a second coming of the great Payton. All he did was slash and dash for 300 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries in the Tigers’ 49-27 trashing of Mississippi State. Like Payton, Hardy can run around you or he can run over you. He hurts tacklers more than tacklers hurt him. Like Payton, Hardy is listed at 5-10 and 210 pounds. Like Payton, Hardy is just getting started when opponents first hit him.

Yet when signing day arrived in February of 2023, Hardy had just one FBS offer and that was to the University of Louisiana-Monroe. You, as I, must wonder, how can that be?

Jesse Anderson, now the head coach at Hazlehurst, was Hardy’s coach at Lawrence County, and he knew what he had in Hardy. “I knew he was an SEC running back, I knew how good he was, and I told every college coach I could,” Anderson said Monday morning. “I sent them all film. I never got a straightforward answer on why nobody was offering him. They’d tell me, ‘Coach, he’s on our radar. We’re tracking him.’ But his only offer on national signing day was Louisiana-Monroe, so he took it.”

Hardy’s grades weren’t a problem. Neither was his production. Said Anderson, “Ahmad led the state in rushing (2,442 yards and 24 touchdowns) as a senior. He was a dream to coach. He wanted the ball on every play. You never wondered what you were going to get with Ahmad. You always got his best effort.”

Until his senior season of high school football, Hardy played both running back and linebacker. In fact, Anderson’s favorite memory of Hardy remains a game against Brookhaven his junior season. “Ahmad ran for 170 yards in the game, and we were ahead late. Brookhaven was driving deep in our territory for what would have been the winning touchdown,” Anderson said. “Ahmad made four straight tackles on first, second, third and fourth downs. I don’t know why they kept running to his side but they did. He stuffed them.”

Hardy’s toughness was never an issue. Perhaps his foot speed is what turned off recruiters. He reportedly ran a 4.6 40 at a scouting combine. But track speed and football speed are two entirely different things. Jerry Rice famously ran a 4.71 40 at the NFL combine. But did you ever see anybody catch Rice from behind? Me either. Nobody has been catching Hardy either, including State on one 72-yard touchdown run when Hardy was clocked at a top speed of 21 mph. (I remember asking the late, great Archie Cooley, Rice’s coach at Mississippi Valley State, why Rice ran a 4.71 at the combine. Said Cooley, “Because nobody was chasing him.”)

What makes Hardy’s college recruitment (or lack of) even more mystifying is that he comes from a football family. Two uncles (Wayne Hardy and Kendrick Hardy) were outstanding players at Southern Miss. His father, Kentario Hardy, was a terrific defensive end at Nicholls State.

Southern Miss reportedly offered Ahmad Hardy during the fall recruiting period but wanted a verbal commitment from him right away. When Hardy opted to wait until the national signing day in February, USM retracted the offer. Huge mistake, that was.

So, naturally, Hardy torched the Golden Eagles as a freshman for 121 yards and two touchdowns rushing and 52 yards receiving in ULM’s 38-21 victory. Hardy ran for 1,351 yards for the Warhawks, garnering transfer portal interest from football powerhouses around the country. He chose Missouri, and he has treated SEC defenses every bit as rudely as he did those in the Sun Belt. Through 10 games, he had rushed for 1,346 yards and 15 touchdowns. He has yet to fumble in well over 400 carries in two seasons of college football. Not bad for a teenager from Oma, a small community about 15 miles north of Monticello on Mississippi 27.

“Ahmad’s just special,” Anderson, his high school coach, said. “He’s a country kid, loves to fish and ride horses. He loves him some horses, now.”

Seems fitting. Hardy looked like Secretariat running down the stretch against Mississippi State.

“No doubt,” Anderson said. “Ahmad runs like a thoroughbred.”