From Baker County to the Jaguars: Cooper Hodges worked hard to get to his 'dream team'
MACCLENNY — Cooper Hodges rested his right hand on top of a chain link fence surrounding Baker County Memorial Stadium and gazed longingly at the lush green grass on the field, growing thick and strong after days of summer rain.
Come September, there will be football once again and Friday nights will result in full parking lots and packed bleachers to watch the Baker County High School Wildcats.
Residents of Macclenny, Glen St. Mary, Sanderson, Olustee, Black Bottom, Two Bridges and Cuyler will flock to the games as usual, putting about 25 percent of the entire Baker County population of 28,259 in one place, beating with one heart in pulling for their Wildcats.
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“Friday nights were huge,” said Hodges, who was a two-way lineman and fullback for the Wildcats when they had their best season in school history when he was a senior in 2017, going 13-2 and reaching the Class 5A state championship game. “The only thing to do in Baker County on Friday nights is to go to the games. Knowing you had that kind of support behind you, how much everyone loved the team, was an awesome feeling.”
Hodges took another look at the field, on which he and his teammates had left sweat, sometimes blood and tears of joy and sorrow, a ritual repeated in thousands of small American towns on thousands of Friday nights every high school football season.
“I could have a long pro career, and I still wouldn’t have played as much football anywhere as I have on this field,” he said. “Little League football, junior high, J.V., varsity … some of the best memories I’ll have in my life are out there.”
Now it’s time for new memories to be forged — because Cooper Hodges, beyond his wildest dreams, is a Jacksonville Jaguar.
Hodges drafted by his dream team
Hodges, a 6-foot-4, 305-pound offensive tackle and a four-time All-Sun Belt selection at Appalachian State who will be converted to guard in the NFL, was one of the two players the Jacksonville Jaguars selected in the seventh round of the 2023 draft, the 226th overall selection.
If Hodges makes the team, he will be the seventh product of a First Coast high school to play for the Jags, following cornerbacks Rashean Mathis (Englewood), Darious Williams (Creekside) and Dee Webb (White), linebacker Shaq Quarterman (Oakleaf), wide receiver Micah Ross (Jackson) and kicker Jim Tarle (Bishop Kenny).
Hodges, who started all 51 games he played at Appalachian State, is only the fourth First Coast product to be drafted by the Jags, following Mathis (second round), Webb (seventh round) and Quarterman (fourth round). Williams, Ross and Tarle were free-agent signings.
Hodges also can be the first player from one of the outlying First Coast counties of Baker, Clay and Nassau to play for the Jags.
It’s especially sweet for Hodges because he grew up a Jaguars fan (his favorite player was Maurice Jones-Drew). His joy at the selection can be heard on the phone when Jaguars coach Doug Pederson placed the call to let Hodges know he would be picked.
“Hell yeah!” was Hodges’ response.
“It’s every kid’s wish to play for their dream team,” Hodges said.
His selection wasn't a bone for a local kid. Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke is a big believer in staying true to the team’s draft board and the decision to take Hodges was simple: It was the Jags’ turn and Hodges was the top name on their board at the time.
But Pederson said getting a player from Hodges’ background and his love of the Jaguars is a bonus.
“There’s an extra edge with a kid like that,” Pederson said. “He loves ball, man. He doesn't like all the bells and whistles … he just wants to get out there and play football and [coming] from a small town like that, it just means something.”
Feeling a community’s support
Baker County has had an NFL player in recent years — Mike Boone — now with the Houston Texans after playing for Minnesota and Denver.
But the county is embracing one of its own playing for the Jaguars.
People wearing a teal and gold hat with the words “BAAAKER” embroidered on it can be spotted around town (Hodges himself wears one) and Teri Faudree, the owner of Calendar’s, the only sports bar in the county, said there will be a “Cooper Hodges Wall” by the start of the season with replicas of his high school, college and Jaguars jerseys, photos and news clippings.
“Right over here,” she pointed out, shouting over the din of a big crowd at Calendar’s one recent night. “We’re all so excited about having a Jaguar from Baker County, especially a kid like Cooper. We’ve been watching him and the kids he was playing with since they were in Little League.”
Hodges said the support of his hometown has been powerful motivation throughout his high school, college and now professional career. He said winning or losing — and in this case, making the Jaguars or not — will never change that.
“They want to see the best out of you and there is a little pressure because I never want to disappoint them,” he said. “You always want to make your community proud. But if you lose a game, they’re still going to love you. They lined the streets to welcome us back after we lost the state championship game [in 2017]. My family and the people I grew up with are just amazing.”
That said, Hodges said the first question he gets around town when he bumps into most people isn’t always how he’s doing.
“They want to know what [quarterback] Trevor [Lawrence] is like,” he said. “But that’s an easy answer. Trevor has been great to me and all the rookies. Just a few minutes after I was drafted, he got my number somehow and texted me a message, welcoming me to the team and telling me how much he was looking forward to working with me.”
Deep roots in Baker County
Hodges has roots in Baker County that go back several generations.
Spend a few minutes with Hodges’ parents, Brad and Alicia, in their comfortable home on a 3-acre tract just off State Road 125, and learn about their roots, and it makes all the sense in the world.
His father Brad is the son of the late Alvin Hodges, a truck driver, and Carolyn, a nurse’s assistant.
Cooper’s grandparents on his mother’s side are Neal Stavely, who was a transportation officer for the state prison system, and Eileen, who worked for the phone company. They moved from Bainbridge, Ga., to Macclenny in 1968 and had Alicia 10 years later.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Alicia Hodges said about her family’s deep ties in the county.
Brad and Alicia Hodges were high school sweethearts. Brad played defensive end for Baker County’s first-ever district championship team in 1989 (they won in the first round of the playoffs, then didn't win another playoff game until his son played). Alicia first caught his attention when she participated in a skit for a football pep rally when she and other girlfriends dressed in full pads and uniforms.
Brad Hodges went to work after his graduation and has spent 25 years at the old West Fraser Sawmill and currently operates heavy equipment for Tenax.
Alicia Hodges works for the Northeast Florida State Hospital as a recruiting coordinator.
"Great family, great people," Appalachian State coach Shawn Clark said. "If you're a member of the Hodges family, you've got to work hard and do the right things and that's what Cooper is all about."
Cooper Hodges is the second of three sons. The oldest, Bo, who pitched for the Wildcats baseball team, is now a hospital nurse and the youngest, Hudson, will enter Baker County High School in August and is already projected to have a chance to play linebacker on the varsity team as a freshman.
Brad and Alicia Hodges’ first home was a trailer. But they worked long enough and hard enough to afford to buy the comfortable house 20 years ago that their sons have always known as home, 10 minutes north of I-10 and several miles from the St. Mary’s River that serves as the Florida-Georgia border.
They raised their boys with time-honored values and rituals in an idyllic country setting more than an hour from the nearest shopping mall or beach. With their own upbringing as a base, they taught their sons the tenets of faith, an honest day’s labor, respect for elders and the importance of education.
“Both of our families are faith-based and believe in hard work more than anything,” Brad Hodges said.
Cooper Hodges’ childhood was a routine of school, church at the Christian Fellowship Temple (adjacent to Baker County Memorial Stadium, a wonderful juxtaposition of the fine line between football and religion), hunting, fishing, family meals, baptisms, weddings and funerals.
And football.
“It’s made me who I am,” he said.
Opening act of 'The Big Show'
Brad Hodges got an early clue about how much intensity his son would put into the game. When he was 5 years old Cooper was judged big enough to play for the youngest Little League football team in the county — which would still put him with a team of mostly 8-year-olds.
During one early preseason practice, the kids were talking about their favorite pro wrestling characters and arguing about what nicknames to call each other. The coach of their team, Rock Rhoden, told the players that they’d run a one-on-one tackling drill and whoever won the individual battle got to pick their nickname.
Cooper not only wanted in, but he wanted to face the biggest 8-year-old on the team. When the whistle blew, Cooper scored a clear victory.
“You could have heard that collision up the road,” Brad Hodges said. "After that, I knew he had the heart to play football."
The nickname he chose: “The Big Show," paying homage to the 7-foot, 500-pound giant, Paul Wight.
By the following season, Brad Hodges became the team’s coach and his son played for him until he reached middle school. But football wasn’t all he tried to teach the players. Hodges constantly drilled into them what he called “the three S's – self-discipline, self-confidence and self-respect.”
“I was relentless about those,” he said. “Kids need the most help in those areas.”
Years later, he found out how that impacted his son.
One day, after Cooper had gone to Appalachian State, his parents, brothers and grandparents received hand-written letters about how they played a part in his growth and maturation.
“He let me know that those three S's had helped him all the way to college,” Brad Hodges said. "That meant more than anyone can know."
Frosted Flakes fuel growth spurt
Ask Alicia Hodges about a grocery bill for three boys, all on their way to being 6 feet or taller — and one, Cooper, on his way to weighing more than 300 pounds — and she turns her eyes to the heavens and simply says, “Oh, Lord.”
When Neal Stavely would pick up his grandson from middle school football practice, it wasn’t uncommon for Cooper to polish off an entire pizza and a 2-liter bottle of soda. More than once, Alicia Hodges’ refrigerator would be emptied when Cooper and his friends came sweeping in after school.
But to paraphrase a current Jaguars’ catchphrase, it was always the Frosted Flakes.
Cooper Hodges read an article one day about how Tim Tebow put on some needed weight by eating huge bowls of cereal at night. Cooper adopted the practice, except his mother didn’t have bowls big enough — he would pour half a large box of flakes into huge mixing or salad bowls and inhale the contents within minutes.
“That’s when he started getting big,” Brad Hodges said.
“I was always a little bigger than the rest of the kids but at first, not like I am now,” Cooper said. “When I was a freshman I was probably 5-9, 220 pounds. I had the growth spurt before my sophomore year and got up to about 6-2, 260.”
But food intake was only part of it. Cooper Hodges attacked offseason weight training with a vengeance, was a member of the Baker County state championship weightlifting team and became legendary for his work ethic.
“The best players work the hardest and they demand it from everyone else,” said Jamie Rodgers, who coached the Wildcats during a 22-4 run in 2016 and 2017 when Hodges was a junior and senior and is now coaching at Bradford County. “He was one of those guys. When you have enough of them, coaching is really easy. The key is to make it a player-led team and Cooper worked the hardest and demanded the most of everyone. He was physically gifted, but he never relied on that. He wanted to out-work everyone.”
Hodges admits he was a bit disappointed that he didn't hear from Georgia coaches. But he had most Sun Belt, Conference USA and AAC teams after him and picked Appalachian State over Troy and Memphis.
Hodges red-shirted in 2018 and was pressed into starting duty at right tackle the following season a bit quicker than Clark had planned, due to injuries.
Hodges didn't disappoint and thrived under what Clark called a "demanding coaching staff."
"There's no gray area with what we expect of our players," Clark said. "We demand excellence and Cooper thrived off that. We were tough on him because we knew we had someone special."
Brad Hodges got a clue about that kind of mindset years before that when he was driving Cooper home after a Little League practice. His son turned to him and said out of the blue, “You’re tough on me.”
Hodges braced for what might come next. But he said Cooper thought for a minute and said, “That’s okay … I like that.”
Pederson said he’s been able to discern, just from the handful of padless practices, that Hodges “likes to be coached hard.”
What did that mean to Hodges?
“If a coach gets on you and stays on you, I’ve always believed it meant they see something in you,” he said. “You’re never perfect. It’s the reason everyone loves the game because it’s an imperfect game and perfection is what you strive for. But someone has to be there to push you.”
Odds stacked against Hodges
Hodges has no illusions about the task ahead. Even though he got rave reviews for his overall performance in rookie minicamp, OTAs and mandatory minicamp, the rubber will meet the road when training camp begins on July 26 and full contact is allowed.
As a seventh-round pick, along with defensive tackle Raymond Vohasek (picked one spot after Hodges), Hodges is the longest shot to make the team and play among the 12 picks the Jaguars made. According to one survey over a 10-year period by Pro Football Reference, seventh-round offensive linemen have a 9 percent chance of becoming starters and earning a second contract.
“The way I view it is that once you’re in the building they’re going to have to kick you out,” he said. “It’s your opportunity, so it’s whatever you make of it. At this point, it doesn’t matter if you’re a first, second, third or seventh-round pick. I won’t let where I was drafted dictate how I do things. My goal is to contribute to the team the best way I can.”
Jaguars coaches like what they see so far.
“He’s developing at a rate that we’re happy with,” said offensive line coach Phil Rauscher. “We'll be able to tell more about the physical aspect of it once he puts his shoulder pads on but it's not going to be an issue mentally. He's really made very few mistakes."
Pederson said Hodges has shown both a sharp focus in learning his craft on the NFL level but not so much that his personality is hidden.
“He’s a fun guy to be around,” Pederson said. “I just see the seriousness that comes with a guy like that, from a small town trying to make it on the big stage.”
Don't be against him. The Big Show has been ready for this his whole life.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Cooper Hodges learned the value of work from his family on the way to NFL
