Zavion Hardy Announces Future Plans

South Carolina defensive line commit Zavion Hardy has undergone a slight change of plans on national signing day.

Since mid-August, Zavion Hardy has been a part of the best South Carolina defensive line class in recent memory. It consists of other national-level prospects like Desmond Umeozulu, Xzavier McLeod, Elijah Davis, and Monteque Rhames. 

While all of the aforementioned players not only signed during the early national signing day period in December but enrolled early and are currently with the football team, Hardy didn't officially join the fold in that period.

Phil Kornblut of SportsTalk Media Network reported that Hardy ran into issues with the NCAA clearinghouse, which pushed back his ability to sign the dotted line. In the past week, more information has come out regarding where Hardy might end up, as his high school coach told Kornblut that Hardy would likely be heading to a junior college.

On Tuesday night, Hardy took to Twitter to put any further rumblings or conjecture on his impending decision to bed. He announced that he would take the junior college route but intends to end up in South Carolina.

At his signing ceremony at Howard high school on Wednesday morning, Hardy made his intentions official as he signed to play for East Mississippi Community College over the next two years.

Congratulations to @howardhshuskies senior Zavion Hardy for signing with East Mississippi CC for football! #NationalSigningDay2023 pic.twitter.com/ChjkkRm7tB

— Bibb Athletics (@BibbAthletics) February 1, 2023

With Hardy heading onto EMCC, head coach Shane Beamer and his football staff won't be able to loop back around to Zavion on a serious level until the 2025 recruiting cycle. Plus, if Hardy produces high-level tape wherever he ends up, he could receive interest from some new schools that weren't involved in his high school recruitment, which could make him reevaluate everything.

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