NORMAN — With Billy Bowman Jr. now suiting up for the Atlanta Falcons, it's time for new voices to lead the back end of the Oklahoma defense.
Broken Arrow High School product Robert Spears-Jennings is expected to make a massive leap as a senior and become one of OU’s top defenders in 2025.
There’s also hope that Peyton Bowen, after an offseason of recovering from turf toe, will finally live up to his five-star prospect potential this fall.
But Jaydan Hardy shouldn’t be slept on when looking at the Sooners’ safety room for the upcoming season. With Bowen held out of spring practices to heal, Hardy got the lion’s share of first team snaps alongside Spears-Jennings at safety.
OU Spring Practice
Oklahoma's Jaydan Hardy is looking to make an impact on defense for the Sooners in his second year in Norman. Mike Simons, Tulsa World Archive
The former four-star recruit from Lewisville, Texas, primarily contributed on special teams as a freshman in 2024, but Hardy is pushing for a bigger role with the defense as a sophomore.
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“Definitely just go out here every day and have the mindset,” Hardy said toward the end of spring practice. “I got to learn a lot from Billy. Just being behind him last year and seeing how he works, his work ethic. Just seeing how stacked the program is from Ethan Downs, Danny (Stutsman), great leaders last year. We just need to carry on. It’s like we say, DTS every day — Defend The Standard. A lot of great teachers, so we've just got to go and carry it on.”
Hardy was part of a trio of safety signees in OU’s 2024 recruiting class, along with Michael Boganowski and Reggie Powers III.
Boganowski got the most run of the group on defense as a freshman and also seems poised for more opportunities this season, while Powers could be a factor at OU’s Cheetah spot, the outside linebacker/nickelback hybrid position.
For those three, the opportunity to learn together during the 2024 campaign was immensely helpful.
“We were best friends in the dorms,” Hardy said. “We got to spend every day together. Come home every day, watch film on my PC and just go on about our nights and come back at it next day and put the work in. So you see how it’s helped our friendship and our bond and just how we play together on the field. I feel like just how we work together every day just benefits all of us.”
Reps alongside Spears-Jennings — now the elder statesman of the safety room — both last season and in spring ball, were also beneficial to Hardy.
“Playing next to Robert, man, it makes my job so much easier,” Hardy said. “He’s a great teammate, you know, great brother out there. He helps me out in the film room and he helps me on the field every time.”
And likewise, Spears-Jennings is excited for what his younger teammate could become in 2025.
“Just seeing him grow up on and off the field,” Spears-Jennings said of Hardy after the Crimson Combine public practice in April. “He's one of the smartest guys I've been around. He imitates the play before it even happens, so just knowing we have a guy like that on the team is helpful.”
Crimson Combine (copy)
Oklahoma defensive back Jaydan Hardy signs autographs for fans during the Crimson Combine in April. Daniel Shular, Tulsa World Archive
Hardy was originally recruited by OU cornerbacks coach Jay Valai when he was at Alabama, and that relationship later helped the Sooners land the highly-touted defensive back.
While maintaining his rapport with Valai, Hardy now has grown close with and gotten accustomed to learning from OU safeties coach Brandon Hall.
“Coach Hall I would say is one of the biggest helps I’ve had since I got here,” Hardy said. “Really slows stuff down for me and just talks to me and helps me understand it, comprehend it and like I said, he’s always there for me. Always someone I can call on.”
Hardy’s first flash as a freshman came when he intercepted a pass for one of the Sooners’ six turnovers in their 2024 season opener versus Temple.
He’s hoping to get off to a fast start in 2025, too, then sustain peak performance over the course of OU’s second season in the Southeastern Conference.
“Coach (Brent Venables) says it all the time: just reach your highest potential,” Hardy said. “What is your floor? Every day just get to your floor and raise that floor up, because you never know what your ceiling could be. So I just try to use that every day, just be my best version of me. Just help the guys out next to me and like I said, just be the best me at the end of the day.”
mason.young@tulsaworld.com
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