By Matt Osborne
SouthernPigskin.com

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Offensive line recruit Sage Hardin ultimately turned down multiple Ivy League offers in order to verbally commit to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Playing football in a conference such as the SEC requires much more than just size, speed and physical attributes; it requires a heavy dose of intelligence and toughness as well.

Fortunately for head coach Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs, they are on the brink of signing a young man that fulfills all of the aforementioned requirements for becoming a successful player at the next level.

Sage Hardin, a six-foot-seven, 276-pound offensive lineman from Atlanta’s Marist School, committed to the Bulldogs prior to the start of his senior season, choosing Georgia over a host of big-time offers, both athletically and academically speaking.

In addition to being courted by numerous schools from “Power Five” conferences, Hardin also boasted an impressive list of offers from Ivy League institutions, such as Cornell, Penn and Yale. Such offers were naturally a testament to the major emphasis he and his family place on academics.

Having to weigh the benefits of attending an elite Ivy League school against the allure and prestige of playing major college football in a power conference, Hardin and his father ultimately sat down in order to attempt to narrow things down on the recruiting trail.

“When this whole process started for me about a year ago, my dad and I made a list of criteria which included a lot of things such as coaching stability, location, academics, facilities and the prestige of the football program,” Hardin commented on the Southern Pigskin Radio Network. “When it came down to my final schools, my dad and I went through the criteria once again and Georgia was at the very top of every section. It was a logical decision and I just fell in love with the place.”

Lauded by most recruiting analysts due to his intelligence on the field, Hardin thoroughly demonstrated that he is not a player that simply excels due to his brain during his senior campaign. In leading the War Eagles to the quarterfinals of the GHSA playoffs, Hardin displayed an abundance of ferocity and physicality in the trenches.

Though he is still considered to be slightly undersized for the position at this point in time, his “slender” playing weight has allowed him to perfect his technique at a much more advanced rate than the vast majority of his peers.

“I really pride myself on technique and just being intelligent,” Hardin responded when asked for an evaluation. “Obviously, I’m not the biggest or the strongest guy, and that’s one of my weaknesses. I’m probably going to redshirt my first year because I need to gain some weight and get a lot stronger. But I do pride myself on my technique and my ability to learn. I pride myself as a very physical player, and I am open to anything.”

That ability to quickly learn and master new concepts has opened the door for Hardin to have a rather unique role in Athens.

Rather than heading to college with an idea of where he will line up along the offensive front, Hardin prepares to enter college expecting to be given the opportunity to play all five positions along the front.

“One thing I am looking forward to is that I am being given the opportunity to play all five positions,” he continued. “It requires a very smart person to be able to do that, and I am really looking forward to it.”

Hardin’s verbal commitment to Georgia was initially facilitated through strong relationships with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and offensive line coach Will Friend. With both of those coaches now having left Athens for roles at Colorado State, however, there was some concern as to whether or not Hardin would re-open his recruitment.

Ole Miss is one school that decided to try its hand at the Hardin sweepstakes, offering the young man a scholarship a couple of days after the conclusion of the college football season.

But even with that new offer in place, Hardin has decided to remain firm to the Bulldogs, thanks in large part to a relationship that he has forged with its head coach.

“I think out of every single coach in the profession, I find Coach Richt as the most honest and the most straight-forward. He’s a good Christian man, and I think that’s the best way to put it. He’s a great coach, but he’s an even better person. I don’t even know how to express it; he’s just an unbelievable man.”

Although Hardin is very likely staring down the barrel of a redshirt in his first season in Athens, the Bulldogs will certainly be more than willing to wait for him to develop his already immense talents.

After all, it isn’t too often that a school is able to sign a prospect that is truly the complete package.