Steady all the way: With playing career over, Gavin Hardison reflects on UTEP career

Through his five years at UTEP, quarterback Gavin Hardison was known for his golden arm and his stoic, steady demeanor.

Over time, that made him a leader, the calming voice the Miners relied on, the player designated to wear the No. 2 of the late Luke Laufenberg. Hardison became the face of the franchise.

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That arm is under repair now, the stoic steadiness is there as ever. Hardison’s playing career officially ended last week when he went to Arlington to have surgery on the UCL joint in his throwing elbow, which was performed by Texas Rangers team doctor Keith Meister.

Meister repaired San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy’s elbow this past offseason.

The hope is Hardison’s arm will be good to go for March and April pro days when he tries to work his way back into the plans of NFL teams who scouted him through the first half of this fall when he was UTEP’s starter and captain.

“It's been tough but I've been trying to be supportive to all the other quarterbacks and (new starter) Cade (McConnell) for the last few weeks, supportive of the team and just trying to be as helpful as I can,” Hardison said in his typical reserved fashion.

“I should be good to go throwing for pro day and fully recovered. I'm not totally sure when, but hopefully about five and a half months.”

As for his mental approach for the final weeks of this season, Hardison just wants to be around for his teammates, including now as they get ready for Middle Tennessee State on Saturday.

“Guys are playing for me, I look at it that way,” he said. “I understand I've had some really good memories, met some really good teammates. I got to play for awesome coaches. Now it's about finishing the last few games strong and being as supportive as I can.

“I look back at it as a success. I got my degree (in business management), I played well at times. I have some great memories. We went to a bowl game, unfortunately we weren't able to win it, but we went to a bowl game.

“Hopefully my memory is being a good teammate to everybody and being supportive.”

That last part is beyond question.

“The leadership he's provided to these guys — we all know who Gavin is,” coach Dana Dimel said. “He's been a tremendous, tremendous person and he's the same guy in the adverse times.

“I feel bad for our team to lose a leader of that stature, and I feel bad for Gavin to not be able to go out the way he wanted to go out. He's handled it with a lot of dignity, a lot of class.

“What I tell the pro scouts, his leadership is, if we win and he threw for 40 yards, he's just as happy as if we won and he threw for 300 yards. That says a lot about a kid's character and how he feels about his team and how unselfish he really is. That checks a lot of boxes.”

The sophomore McConnell echoed that.

“From the moment I got here he was someone I looked up to and learned a lot from,” he said. “You never want to see him go down, but the support both ways has been great. I tried to pick up for him everything I possibly could. I couldn't be more thankful.”

On the field Hardison had some memorable moments. The Hobbs, N.M., native came here from New Mexico Military Institute as a sophomore in 2019, and through a redshirt and the free COVID year, was able to get five years out of UTEP and played in all of them.

His biggest success came as a third-year sophomore in 2021 when he led the team to a 7-5 record and a New Mexico Bowl berth while throwing for 3,217 yards and 18 touchdowns. That yardage total was fifth in a single season in Miner history.

From there he stepped into UTEP’s totemic No. 2 jersey and in the offseason fielded calls from Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach and Jason Garrett, friends of Luke Laufenberg’s father Babe.

Late last season he suffered his first significant injury, then in Week 5 this year — just enough to be ineligible for a hardship redshirt — against UNLV he injured his elbow. Hardison tried to play through it but ultimately he needed the surgery that he hopes will revive his NFL fortunes.

Hardison isn’t going out in the blaze of glory his work merited, but he sees the upside to five years in El Paso.

“I appreciate the people who came out and supported us and were there for us,” Hardison said. “It was good to be part of this program.”

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: With playing career over, Gavin Hardison reflects on UTEP career