Montario Hardesty is a Brown

With the 59th overall pick, the Cleveland Browns select... Montario Hardesty from the University of Tennessee. (cheers)

He may not be quite as popular as Eric Berry, but Montario Hardesty earned the respect and admiration of Tennessee fans with his play last season. I saw all 13 games and I thought Hardesty gave his all for Tennessee in every single game.

He was a workhorse.

Defenses knew Hardesty was going to get the football, and yet he still performed. At times, he looked to be caught behind the line of scrimmage, only to somehow will his way to positive yardage.

Of course, who will ever forget the spin move against South Carolina on Halloween night when Tennessee wore black jerseys. That was an Xbox move if there ever was one.

I admit that I was surprised to see Hardesty drafted in the second round. I honestly thought durability would be too big of an issue for teams to draft him that high. But apparently, that wasn't a concern in Cleveland. Not only was the Brown's front office not afraid to draft Hardesty in the second round, they traded up to get him.

Oddly, the Browns earlier pick, T.J. Ward, is someone who also suffered quite a few injuries during his college career.

Anyway, as I remember it, Hardesty was injured every year he was in Knoxville. Obviously he held up pretty well this past year, but I still think he was banged up at times.

It's a bit of a risky pick for the Browns, but one that could pay off. Looking over their roster, it's not like Cleveland has a huge stable of backs. From the looks of things' Hardesty should be able to compete for the number two spot in the backfield right away.

While I don't expect many Tennessee fans to become big time Browns supporters, I know that they will be watching closely to see how one of their own will fare in his new home.

Good luck Montario.