http://www.buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=6062When Donte Whitner was roaming the secondary as a college player for Ohio State, their game plan each week was pretty straightforward. On a roster blessed with more than its share of top flight athletes, most of the time the coaching staff would leave the secondary in man-to-man coverage knowing their cornerbacks could handle it. In his three seasons playing for the Buckeyes Whitner can only remember one exception, Indiana receiver James Hardy.
"The only guy we ever based our defensive coverages around was him," said Whitner of Hardy. "We didn't game plan for a lot of receivers, but we did game plan for him."
In the three games prior to Indiana's matchup with Ohio State, Hardy in his first full collegiate season of football had racked up 478 receiving yards on 29 catches (16.4 avg.) and five touchdowns. That included a ridiculous 12-catch 203-yard and two touchdown performance at Iowa the week before. Standing over 6'5" with a vertical leap of 37 inches, even the highly-ranked Buckeyes had to give Hardy extra attention.
"Playing Indiana we didn't care about the receiver on the other side, even if they put five receivers on the field we didn't care," recalled Whitner. "We played everybody else man-to-man and we kept two guys on him. He's a mismatch."
At the time Hardy was not accustomed to being double teamed on every play and aside from him the Hoosier offense didn't have much else. Hardy finished the game with just two catches for 27 yards as Indiana passed for all of 95 yards on the day in a 41-10 final.
But after facing double teams for every game after that for three seasons, Whitner is convinced that Hardy can make an early impact for Buffalo even if given the same attention he attracted in college.
"Hardy is a seasoned guy," said Whitner. "He was the focal point of their offense at Indiana. Whenever you're on a football team and you're the focal point you're going to get double teamed and triple teamed. So he's used to that."
That being said Whitner doesn't believe Hardy will see as many double teams as he did in college due to the simple fact that a proven wideout in Lee Evans will be lined up on the other side.
"When he's singled up it's going to be a breath of fresh air because he's coming from a team where he was the only offensive threat," said Whitner of Hardy. "Now he's going to be singled up. We'll see what happens, but I believe he'll come in and make a lot of noise this year and give us that threat we need in the red zone."
The red zone, which was a major area of deficiency for the Bills last season when it came to scoring touchdowns, might be Hardy's favorite place on the field.
"I feel (if you) just put the ball in my area I'll be able to come down with it," said Hardy.
Adding Hardy to Buffalo's receiving corps obviously has Whitner excited. He believes that a receiver with the size and ability of Hardy will force opposing defenses to make tough choices when it comes to coverage.
"Any time you have a guy that's 6'5" or 6'6" with the speed that he has and with Lee (Evans) on the other side and guys like Roscoe (Parrish) and Josh (Reed) in the slot, you have a dangerous receiving corps," Whitner said. "So now when we get down in the red zone we don't have to come up with little schemes or tricks to try to get in the end zone. You can just throw the ball up to him and if he's double covered that means Lee is probably singled up. And I'm taking Lee 95 percent of the time against any corner in the league one-on-one. If you try to double both of them you have a guy like Roscoe in the slot. And I don't believe that anybody can cover him one-on-one in the slot in true man to man. I truly don't believe it. So now you have a very dangerous receiving corps."
As much impact as Whitner believes the addition of Hardy will provide to Buffalo's passing game, he also sees it benefiting the Bills ground attack.
"You have to worry about Marshawn because now you can't load eight in the box if there are two dangerous receivers on the outside," said Whitner. "So you have to pick your poison now. You can load eight in the box and let us beat you with the pass or you can play some of those two-deep shells with a double team on one side and some combination coverages, but then Marshawn is going to get loose."
Buffalo's running game has Hardy convinced he'll be able to make plays as a rookie, because opponents won't be able to devote as much attention to him as they did in college.
"The running game here in Buffalo is so much better that it will open things up more than at Indiana where we were mostly a spread offense and they just threw me the ball," Hardy said. "Overall I feel I'll be able to contribute."
Whitner has already talked to Evans about the addition of Hardy and both are very interested to see just how well he'll blend into Buffalo's attack. Having already seen him up close and personal on the field Whitner sounds sold on the difference Hardy will make for the Bills offense in 2008.
Said Whitner succinctly.
"He's going to be a great addition to our team."
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