Summer Feature: Elijah ‘Just Chill’ Hardy 2026 RB

The summer is full of off season and developing and unearthing potential elite talents. One such talent is a familiar name across South Florida, Miami Northwestern’s sophomore running back Elijah ‘Just Chill’ Hardy.  The rising junior is far from an under-the-radar prospect but one thing that took place during the 2023 season is his return to the running back position where he garnered wide-spread acclaim as a youth player. The name ‘Just Chill’ is well known to all youth community of South Florida as the Miami Northwestern Bull running back made a big name beginning with the Scott Lake Vikings and transitioned to the Miami Gardens Chiefs where he took center stage.  Hardy’s combination of speed and vision makes him elite.  And he’s so talented that he joined a loaded Miami Northwestern roster as a freshman and made the transition to wide receiver in order to get onto the field, though, much of his experience coming into high school was in the backfield; only proving just how versatile he is. In 2023, you saw his emergence as a gamebreaker as he returned to his natural home, behind the line of scrimmage. So its time everyone take notice, once again of one of the premier running backs in South Florida who had a strong spring and will look to take the next step behind first year head coach and offensive coordinator, NFL veteran, Teddy Bridgewater.   Blessed and honor to receive an offer from Appalachian State University ⛰️!! @CoachFrankPonce @mnw_fb @ChadSimmons_ @lukechaney247 pic.twitter.com/n3I4XNKjtF— Elijah hardy (@Elijahhardy_1) May 17, 2024

Spring Football Excitement Across South Florida

There has been a tremendous amount of excitement across South Florida the past several weeks as teams have begun wrapping up spring practices and having inter-squad scrimmages and spring games. These scrimmages and games are an early indicator of the skill and talent level each school will look to display come the fall.  Once again, South Florida took the majority of the state’s football championships at the Metro Division level that is now defunct. Columbus, St. Thomas Aquinas and Chaminade won the 4M, 3M and 1M titles respectively.  Miami Norland finished as the runner up to Tampa’s Berkley Catholic High School.  This spring, established coaches like Southridge’s Pierre Senatus are upbeat about their program’s potential after having a few seasons under his belt.  In juxtaposition, Miami Northwestern’s first year head coach, NFL Veteran Teddy Bridgewater, is working out the kinks after his first intersquad scrimmage and spring game.  Stay with Footballhotbed.com for the developments of this off season across the Southeast. SPRING PRACTICE: Caught up with head coach Pierre Senatus @LifeCoachPierre on the first day of spring practice in year three of his tenure, fresh off a deep playoff run. #hotbedworld @Brandon_Odoi pic.twitter.com/z0u6AQzqjh— Football Hotbed (@FootballHotbed) April 30, 2024 Coach @teddyb_h2o 🗣️NFL Veteran QB Teddy Bridgewater in his first appearance as head coach at Miami Northwestern during his school's first spring scrimmage talks organization and effort. #hotbedworld pic.twitter.com/r7oOKmiew7— Football Hotbed (@FootballHotbed) May 5, 2024

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