Auburn head football coach Hugh Freeze brought back a former Tiger recruited by Gus Malzahn, and who wisely passed on playing for Bryan Harsin, who was later recruited in the transfer portal to Liberty by the Oxford, Mississippi native: Jay Hardy.
Hardy explained on Sunday why it was always destiny for him to be back on the Plains after he left just before A-Day in 2021.
"Auburn was my first call," Hardy said, per 247 Sports. "From Coach Freeze and Coach Vontrell, those were the first two coaches that hit me up when I hit the portal. So then they told me that you're going to be our first visit and I was like, 'I'll be down there.' Now I'm here. When Freeze called me, that let me know he still cared for me. It was more than ball when he called me first and let me know he wanted me to come play for him.
"And then even coaches like Coach Dom (Dom Studzinski), being around those guys when I was at Liberty helped me a lot. Coming here and considering Coach Freeze was a big change from Liberty to here."
Hardy redshirted during his lone season at Auburn and his first year in Lynchburg in 2021. He's been a solid contributor for the Flames and figures reuniting with Vontrell King-Williams will do wonders for his game.
"Vontrell was the first Liberty coach that texted me while I was in the portal (in 2021)," Hardy said. "Then he was a GA and left and went to Eastern Michigan and then came here. And then JG (Jeremy Garrett) came here and he was our D-line coach at Liberty. Me and Vontrell are real close. That started because my first year at Liberty I wasn't really playing, so I was always in Vontrell's pocket trying to learn something every day. He was helping me get better. Now that he's the D-line coach I think he's learned more and I've learned more since I've been in college, so putting those two together would probably be really good."
Sometimes in life, you need time away to know you need to be home. The Chattanooga, Tennessee native found coaches who are good for him after spending time with Jamey Chadwell, who has further elevated Liberty since taking over for Freeze.
Now, he gets to play for them at his first college choice.
Everything he needs in one place.