Former Indiana standout WR James Hardy dead at 31

If you made a list of Iowa football's all-time most-productive opposing players, you'd have to make room for James Hardy.

In three games against the Hawkeyes from 2005 to 2007, the Indiana wide receiver caught 24 passes for 420 yards and five touchdowns. The Hoosiers won the last two of those meetings.

He was a 6-foot-5 athlete, one who finished third in Indiana's 'Mr. Basketball' voting as a senior at Elmhurst High in Fort Wayne and was a member of the Hoosiers' basketball team for two seasons.

He had 186 receptions and 36 touchdowns in his three seasons of football at Indiana. He was a talent.

Thursday, it was confirmed that Hardy was found dead in the Maumee River in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Wednesday.

It was the tragic end of a troubled post-football life for the 31-year-old.

Hardy was a second-round NFL draft pick in 2008 and played in the league for four years. In 2014, he was arrested in Los Angeles for resisting arrest following a confrontation with Los Angeles Police Department officers, two of whom suffered minor injuries. A judge ruled he wasn't mentally competent enough to stand trial. He was remanded to a mental facility.

I haven't yet read anything about what happened in Hardy's life between then and Wednesday, but it obviously won't be uplifting.

Life is indeed fragile.