Former Tennessee running back Arian Foster says that his talented teammate, Montario Hardesty, helped shape his career and running style while the two were in Knoxville at the same time. Foster, a host of Barstool Sports’ Macrodosing podcast, went into detail about his appreciation for Hardesty during a recent episode of the show.
Foster and Hardesty were both at Tennessee from 2005 to 2008.
“What developed me most as a player was that competition,” Foster said on the podcast. “I was a film junkie. So I used to sit in the film room and just overconsume that stuff. So I watched all of [Hardesty’s] practice reps. Every single one of his practice reps. I was like, what is it that he’s doing that I’m not doing that the coaches love about it so much.
“He was disgusting at getting upfield. It doesn’t matter what – Like, I had a tendency when I first got, because I was so much faster than everybody in high school, I would just beat everybody to the edge. Well, in college, guys are a lot faster, and so they cut off that angle. So they coach you to get upfield. We didn’t have anyone on our roster previously or to that point that got upfield the way that he did. He was explosive as sh**. One of the most explosive people I’ve ever seen get up the field. And so when that clicked, I implemented that into my game during the offseason. I got upfield, I exploded, that’s part of the reason why I developed the dead leg, which helped me so much in the NFL.
“I’ve told Montario that for years afterwards. I was like, dawg, you spearheaded my career because you were so good at it, that I had to study ‘why do the coaches love you so much?’ But it was that competition that I saw something that he was better than me at. And I took it upon myself as a challenge to get better at that sh**, so that I could develop more of my game so that the coaches put me on the field.”
The story of how Montario Hardesty catapulted Arian’s career at Tennessee pic.twitter.com/1Imrs5NjkR
— Macrodosing (@MacrodosingPod) May 22, 2026
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While a knee injury put an obstacle in his way during his freshman season in 2005, it didn’t stop Hardesty from becoming a great running back at the University of Tennessee. He finished his UT career playing in 49 games with 2,391 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns. During his final year in 2009, Hardesty racked up 1,345 rushing yards, which is good for the fifth-highest in a single season in Tennessee Football history.
To put it into perspective, recent Tennessee rushing marks include Jaylen Wright’s 1,013 yards in 2003, Dylan Sampson’s 1,491 yards in 2024, and DeSean Bishop’s 1,076 yards in 2025.
Arian Foster ranks second in Tennessee’s all-time career rushing yards mark with 2,964 yards, while Hardesty is 10th on the list with 2,391 total rushing yards. The two overlapped in Knoxville from 2005 to 2008.
