TCU Football Linebacker Johnny Hodges: From Lacrosse To Football

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One on one with TCU Football Linebacker Johnny Hodges.  2022 | JUNIOR: Led TCU with 87 tackles, the most by a Horned Frog since Garret Wallow had 90 in 2020 ... placed third on the team with 9.5 tackles for loss ... started all 14 games he played ... sidelined by injury and missed the Big 12 Championship Game ...  CAREER HONORS: 2022 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year - 2022 Second-Team All-Big 12 - 2022 Associated Press Second-Team All-Big 12 - 2022 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, vs. Texas - 2022 Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week, vs. Texas Tech

Transcript

00:00 (electronic music)

00:02 - Normally when you hear of highly touted football players,

00:07 they have a pretty particular path to success.

00:10 They're a four-star crew out of high school,

00:12 then they commit to a Power Five school,

00:14 and then they shine on the biggest stage.

00:16 Well, for star linebacker for TCU, Johnny Hodges,

00:18 his story is nothing but normal.

00:21 - Coming out of high school,

00:22 I wasn't very heavily recruited for football.

00:24 I was pretty heavily recruited for lacrosse.

00:26 Went to the Navy to play lacrosse.

00:28 The year got cut short 'cause of COVID,

00:30 and then I was just kinda like chillin' at home,

00:32 just turnin' up with the boys,

00:34 and I was like, "All right,

00:35 I need to kinda do somethin' different with my life."

00:37 'Cause I hadn't offered an Army,

00:38 so I knew I could play at Navy, you know what I mean?

00:40 It's like the same style.

00:42 Started like annoying the coaches, found their emails.

00:44 My dad found their emails.

00:45 My high school coach was reachin' out to 'em,

00:47 and they let me walk on.

00:48 Played there for like two years,

00:50 had some good memories, some good memories on the field,

00:53 and then just kinda wanted out of the whole school situation

00:56 kind of a fresh start.

00:57 Entered the portal and just eventually ended up here.

01:00 - You led the team in tackles last year.

01:03 What are you changing about your mindset

01:07 going into this season in comparison

01:09 to what you were expecting from last season?

01:11 - The big thing is just takin' it one day at a time.

01:13 Like, all right, we gotta practice,

01:14 we gotta get better at these certain plays

01:16 and these certain coverages,

01:17 and get better looks just so we can be better

01:19 when the games come around.

01:20 So, take it one day at a time,

01:21 then once the games come around, one game at a time,

01:23 and I think just bring it like every play

01:25 when you're in the game.

01:26 So, stay in comp, I think that's the biggest thing.

01:29 (electronic music)

01:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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