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Assistant Coach Bam Hardmon
BAM HARDMON
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@coachbamhardmon
Byron ‘Bam’ Hardmon, an All-SEC linebacker and three-year NFL veteran, enters his eighth season at Troy.
A 2018 Broyles Award nominee, Hardmon begins his fourth year coaching Troy’s outside linebackers and serving as the defensive run game coordinator following four years coaching the inside linebackers and bandits. In what has turned into an impressive streak, Troy’s bandit has been named to the All-Sun Belt First Team in five of his seven seasons and all-conference honors six times, plus Rashad Dillard was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year in 2016.
Additionally, 15 of Hardmon’s players have earned All-Sun Belt honors in his seven seasons with the Trojans and in 2018 former walk-on linebacker Carlton Martial earned Freshman AllAmerica honors from the Football Writers Association of America, The Athletic and USA Today.
Javon Solomon and Richard Jibunor were the latest to join that group -- Solomon earned Pro Football Network All-America honors and All-Sun Belt First Team distinction after he led the Sun Belt in tackles for loss (1.4 per game) and ranked ninth nationally in addition to ranking eighth nationally with 0.92 sacks per game. Jibunor was the only player in the country with at least eight sacks, 10 tackles for loss and two interceptions and became just the fourth player in Sun Belt history to reach eight sacks in the first seven games of the season.
In 2020, Jibunor and Solomon earned All-Sun Belt honors and Troy posted one of the best defensive turnarounds in the country. The Trojans improved 63 spots nationally in scoring defense from 2019 to 2020 and 38 spots in total defense. Troy led the country with four defensive scores and the Trojans finished the season ranked as the nation’s No. 15 defense per PFF. Troy ended the season holding four of its final six opponents to 20 points or fewer.
In 2018, the Trojans ranked third nationally in turnovers gained, 10th in sacks and 16th in tackles for loss. Since the start of the 2016 season, Troy ranks 13 nationally forcing a sack, tackle for loss or turnover on 12.8 percent of its opponent snaps. Over that same time period, Troy ranks sixth nationally with 117 forced turnovers.
In addition to mentoring Martial to an All-America season, Hardmon was instrumental in developing another former walk-on as Hunter Reese was twice named to the All-Sun Belt First Team from the bandit position.
Hardmon coached Troy’s defensive front in each of his first three season with the Trojans.
In 2017, Troy finished fourth nationally with a school record 112 tackles for loss (third with 8.62 per game), while also finishing seventh with 3.23 sacks per game. Reese would go on to earn First Team All-Sun Belt honors.
Troy led the nation in red zone defense in 2017 as the Trojans set a school record for wins (FBS), won the Sun Belt Championship and ended LSU’s 49-game non-conference home winning streak.
Additionally, Troy became just the sixth team in the previous eight seasons to not allow a play of 50 or more yards over the course of a season. The Trojans established a new school record as they held eight opponents under the 100-yard rushing mark. Troy finished the season having allowed just 18.5 points, 105.3 rushing yards and 336.5 total yards per game.
Troy’s defensive line continued its upward trend in Hardmon’s second season as the Trojans finished third in the Sun Belt in sacks and second in tackles for loss.
Dillard was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2016; Troy’s first player to win the award since DeMarcus Ware in 2004. Troy finished the 2016 season 10-3 with a victory in the Dollar General Bowl, the first top-25 ranking in school and Sun Belt Conference history and the best win-improvement in the country.
In his first season, Hardmon helped transform the Troy defense into one of the top units in the Sun Belt Conference and the country. The Trojans finished the 2015 season with the secondbest turnaround nationally in opponent 3rd-down percentage, the fourth-best turnaround in yards per play allowed, the fifth-best improvement in tackles for loss per game and 16th-best improvement in total defense.
Bandit Tyler Roberts earned first team All-Sun Belt honors and finished sixth nationally with 1.55 tackles for loss per game, while ranking 41st nationally with 0.64 sacks per game.
Hardmon joined the Troy staff after two seasons as the defensive line coach at Idaho. While with the Vandals, Hardmon helped transform defensive tackle Quayshawne Buckley into a force behind the line of scrimmage.
The native of Jacksonville, Fla., was a four-year letterwinner as a linebacker at Florida and was the team’s captain in 2002 as a senior. During that season, Hardmon was named second team All-SEC and helped lead the Gators to the Outback Bowl. Hardmon not only excelled on the field but also off it as well. He was a three-time Academic All-SEC honoree and won the Betty Capaldi GPA Award. He ranked second in the SEC and fourth in the nation in tackles and set a Florida single-season tackle record. Hardmon also won Florida’s coveted Ferguson Leadership award in 2002.
Hardmon spent the 2003-06 seasons on three NFL rosters: the Miami Dolphins (2003), the Seattle Seahawks (2004) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2005). He also played three seasons in NFL Europe, winning a World Bowl title in 2007 with Hamburg.
Hardmon returned to football in 2009 after two years in the private business sector. He worked as the co-owner of S & S Trucking in Jacksonville, Fla., while also establishing a very successful real estate career.
He spent three seasons (2009-11) as a graduate assistant at Illinois. In 2011, Hardmon helped tutor a defensive line that broke the school record with 41 sacks and ranked fourth nationally in tackles for loss and sixth nationally in sacks. Defensive end Whitney Mercilus had a breakout year, earning consensus first team All-America honors after leading the nation in sacks and forced fumbles. Mercilus was drafted in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans.
Hardmon helped guide a budding star in 2010 in defensive tackle Corey Liuget, who was a first-round pick of the San Diego Chargers in the 2011 NFL Draft. Liuget and Akeem Spence combined for 108 tackles, the most by a pair of Illini defensive tackles since 1993, and Phil Steele and Rivals.com named Spence a Freshman All-American.
Prior to his stint at Idaho, Hardmon served as the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Charleston Southern.
Hardmon graduated from the University of Florida in 2003 with a degree in sociology and earned his master’s degree in organizational leadership from the University of Illinois in 2011.
He is married to the former Danerica Wright and the couple has one son, Bryson, and a daughter Brynlee.
HARDMON FILE
YEAR AT TROY: AGE: HOMETOWN: WIFE: CHILDREN: HIGH SCHOOL: ALMA MATER:
8th (2015-22) 41 (Jan. 7, 1981) Jacksonville, Fla. Danerica Bryson, Brynlee Edward White HS (‘99) Florida (‘03) - B.S. in Sociology Illinois (‘11) - M.S. Organizational Leadership
PLAYING CAREER
1999-2002 2003 2004 2004 2004 2006-07 Florida Miami Dolphins Seattle Seahawks Cologne Centurions (NFL Europe) Tampa Bay Buccaneers Hamburg Sea Devils (NFL Europe)
COACHING CAREER
Troy Defensive Run Game Coordinator / Outside Linebackers Inside Linebackers Defensive Line
Idaho (Defensive Line) Charleston Southern (OLB/Special Teams) Illinois (Graduate Assistant)
2015-22 2019-22 2018 2015-17
2013-14 2012 2009-11
BOWL HISTORY
Season Bowl
Team Opponent
2018 Dollar General Troy Buffalo
2017 New Orleans Troy North Texas
2016 Dollar General Troy 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Illinois Ohio UCLA
Result
W, 42-32 W, 50-30 W, 28-23 W, 20-14 W, 38-14
