He attended St. Henry High School, and was a letterwinner in football as a two-way starter and in track and field.

In football, he was a two-time all-conference selection, helped lead his team to the state championship as a senior, and compiled 23 sacks and 200 tackles.

[6][7] In April 2017, Hartings was named the head football coach at Worthington Christian High School.

[9] A born-again Christian, he has performed missionary work in Nicaragua and helped to start a new non-denominational church with former Detroit Lions teammate Luther Elliss.

Since his retirement, he and his wife Rebecca live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Columbus, Ohio with their eight children, Sierra, Michael, Lucas, Mianna, Isabella, Jullexa, Jovanna and Malachi.