Duke recruit has local connection

By all accounts, the Duke University football team is having a stellar recruiting season. The Blue Devils already have 17 commitments. That’s a large and impressive number for early July, even for an Atlantic Coast Conference school.
One of the names on the Blue Devils’ list of commitments has a name that should sound familiar to longtime local high school football fans: Darrell Harding Jr.
A wide receiver out of West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Fla., Harding Jr. is the son of former Charleroi High School standout Darrell Harding, who once held the WPIAL’s all-time rushing record. He also is the cousin of former major league outfielder Ken Griffey Jr.
The younger Harding is a wide receiver who had offers from 19 Division I programs, including Pitt and West Virginia. He committed to Duke late in June.
Harding is coming off a productive junior season at West Orange, catching 24 passes for 390 yards and eight touchdowns. He averaged 16 yards per catch. At 6-4 and 195 pounds, Harding Jr. is significantly taller than his father.
The elder Harding is one of the most productive running backs in WPIAL history. In 1988, he rushed for 1,074 yards to become one of the first freshmen in WPIAL history to gain 1,000 yards. In his next two seasons with Charleroi, Harding rushed for 1,273 and 917 yards. As a senior, Harding ran wild, gaining 2,146 yards and scoring 28 touchdowns. He finished his career with a then-WPIAL record 5,410 yards and averaged an impressive 7.1 yards per carry while playing for former Cougars coach Bob Hodgson. Harding was the first player in WPIAL history rush for 5,000 career yards.
Harding went on to play running back and cornerback at the University of Cincinnati.
• Griffey Jr.’s son, Trey, who played college football at Arizona, is on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ training camp roster as a wide receiver.
• Here’s something has that never before been written: A former Wild Things player had a multi-hit game in the major leagues.
That happened Tuesday night, but the player who accomplished the feat doesn’t play a position you might expect for a player having two hits.
Former Wild Things pitcher Vidal Nuno went 2-for-2 for Tampa Bay in the Rays’ 9-6 win in 16 innings over the Miami Marlins. Nuno, who was the Wild Things’ opening day pitcher in 2011, singled in the 15th inning and singled again, driving in a run, in the Rays’ five-run 16th inning.
The two hits doubled Nuno’s career total. He’s now 4-for-28 as a hitter.
It was a good night for Nuno as he threw two shutout innings and was the winning pitcher, improving his record to 3-0 and lowering his ERA to 1.50 over nine relief appearances this season.
The only area where Nuno needed some work was baserunning. He was thrown out trying to stretch the first single into a double and he left the game with a strained hamstring after his second hit. He was placed on the disabled list Wednesday.
• The two players most likely to be traded this month by the Pittsburgh Pirates are second baseman Josh Harrison and shortstop Jordy Mercer. There should be a market for Harrison, who has two years remaining on his contract. Mercer is a free agent at season’s end. The Pirates have several young middle infielders, especially at second base, who could be ready to move up in the system.