Montario Hardesty (born February 1, 1987) is an American college football coach and former professional running back.

In 2015, Hardesty became the running backs coach and special teams coordinator for Norfolk State University.

He was considered a four-star recruit and ranked 100th on the Rivals.com's list of the top 100 players in the class of 2005.

[4] Hardesty was granted a medical hardship for the 2005 season because of a knee injury he suffered against Ole Miss.

He passed the 1,000 career rushing yard mark against Vanderbilt University in the season's next-to-last game.

[citation needed] Hardesty was picked in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns.

[17] Hardesty was expected to compete for the starting running back position for the Browns, but was limited in pre-season due to injury.

On September 2, in his first pre-season game against the Chicago Bears, he suffered a torn left ACL, sidelining him for the entire 2010 season.