William Hardrick, a senior defensive back at Austin Peay State University, was killed Tuesday in a highway crash on I-65 in Alabama. He was 22.
According to News 19, Hardrick had been traveling southbound when the vehicle he was in left the roadway and hit a fence, flipping over before coming to rest on Piney Chapel Road near the Interstate. Hardrick was pronounced dead on the scene.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency later arrested 31-year-old John Walter McAdams in connection with the crash, charging him with murder as well as two counts of leaving the scene of an accident with injury and one count of driving under the influence. According to court documents shared by WAFF, McAdams had a blood alcohol content of 0.09%, just over the legal limit.
Court documents say McAdams recklessly engaged “in conduct which manifested extreme indifference to human life, and created a grave risk of death to a person other than the said John McAdams, and did thereby cause the death of William Deon Hardrick.”
Hardrick, a native of Adamsville who played high school football at Minor High School in his hometown, had transferred to Austin Peay after previously playing for Mississippi State and Miami (Ohio). Hardrick appeared in 18 games for Miami over the past two seasons, recording 14 solo tackles and four pass deflections.
“We are truly saddened by the passing of William Hardrick, a new member of our football program and the Austin Peay family,” read a statement by APSU vice president and director of athletics Gerald Harrison. “All of our thoughts and prayers are with the Hardrick Family today. We will do everything we can to support his friends, family, and teammates at this time.”
“William Hardrick was an exceptional young man, and our team is heartbroken by his loss,” APSU football coach Jeff Faris said. “He made everyone around him better and has made a real impact both on and off the field. We lift up the Hardrick family in prayer as we grieve this tragic loss with them.”
Hardrick’s fatal crash remains under investigation by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
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