By Myra Bean

Jemarcus “Yoshi” Hardrick just finished his college football career in the Holiday Bowl with the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Now begins his trek in pursuit of a professional life in the National Football League. On his one day back in Batesville Thursday, he visited with students at Batesville Jr. High and South Panola High School pounding in the lesson to stay in school and get an education. Then he sat down in an interview with The Panolian sports editor who kept up with Yoshi through Facebook. A source of inspiration to him has always been his mother Deloris.

“When we were younger, we didn’t know why she was not home, why she had to work two jobs. I call her my best friend. She did a lot for us as kids,” he said.

Yoshi and his siblings grew up in a single parent household. Mississippi, to him, is not indicative of the world.

“The biggest thing was getting out of Mississippi,” Hardrick said. “If you have never been out of Panola County, you pretty much don’t know that much about the world. One of the biggest things was to grow up and see different ways. The more you know the better you are.”

He liked playing in the Big 10 conference this year. and witnessing the tradition of Cornhusker footbal and family atmosphere. Repeating from an earlier interview—everybody knew who him, his first and last names and his number.

“There are no other division one schools or professional teams,” Hardrick said.“ It was like being under a microscope and it was different being constantly noticed.

Leaving South Panola, he went to a small community college with 200 or 300 people (Ft. Scott, Kansas) and almost won a national title.

Even though his Nebraska team faced some losses, including the bowl game loss, Hardrick said fans were positive and encouraged them.

“We may get two negative comments out of a 100,” he said. “We just have to focus on the positive.”
Hardrick has signed on with sports agent Eugene Parker who also represents Ray Lewis and Hines Ward.

He has represented 11 first-round draft picks in the past three years.

While waiting for the draft, Hardrick said he ss to working on technique.

“I pretty much came out of nowhere—didn’t start last year and went to junior college,” he said. “They really like my size, how I played. They really want me to work on technique because I was really raw in my position having played tightend in high school. I came a long way. I went from the bottom (rounds) of the draft to the top 14.”