He went to Navy to play lacrosse. Now he’s in line to be a starting linebacker at TCU.
Johnny Hodges was a pretty good football player in high school, earning All-Met honors as an inside linebacker at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland. But Hodges garnered more interest from colleges for his lacrosse skills.
Lacrosse is what landed Hodges at Navy, but he played in only one game his freshman season in the spring of 2020 before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hodges returned home and realized how much he missed football.
So Hodges worked out to build up his strength during the pandemic and sent email after email to Navy’s football staff, begging for an opportunity to play.
“I found their emails online and just hit them up every single day,” Hodges said. “The linebacker coach. The defensive coordinator. The head coach. Then, after a couple of weeks, they said they would give me a shot since I was already there. It was a good run.”
Hodges ended up making the team and played in seven games, including one start, as a freshman in 2020. He then became one of Navy’s best defenders last season, finishing fourth on the team with 50 tackles in nine games (seven starts).
Hodges decided to leave Navy to pursue an opportunity at the Power Five level this offseason. Once in the transfer portal, he received interest from TCU. After all, Hodges was a known commodity throughout the American Athletic Conference, the same league that TCU coach Sonny Dykes (SMU) and defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie (Tulsa) worked last season.
Hodges had a career-high 14 tackles with one interception and one pass breakup against SMU. He had seven tackles, including two for a loss, and a forced fumble against Tulsa.
“I had good games against SMU and Tulsa,” Hodges said. “When I saw they got hired here, I reached out to them. After that it was kind of quick. They called me and gave me an offer. After a couple of days I was like, ‘It seems like a good fit. I’m happy.’ So far so good.”
Hodges has made a seamless transition this spring. He’s been working with the first-team linebacker corps through seven spring practices, alongside Dee Winters and Jamoi Hodge.
The Frogs are transitioning from a 4-2-5 defense to a 3-3-5 scheme under Gillespie, something that Hodges described as a defense that “puts athletes in a position to be athletes.”
“Every day defensive linemen are making great plays. The secondary is making great plays,” Hodges said. “It gives them the chance to run man, to run zone. Secondary to show they can be versatile for the next level. Allows me to play fast, and I know the other linebackers are loving it. It’s just taking a little while to figure out. But, once we get it down, I think it’s going to be pretty scary.”
That’s good news for TCU fans who are used to seeing elite-level defense. The Frogs were among the nation’s best defenses consistently under former coach Gary Patterson, although they regressed last season by finishing 119th in total defense.
So a regime change happened and there seems to be a new sense of optimism about returning the program to being a championship contender. Adding players such as Hodges should help accelerate the process.
“He’s a good football player,” Dykes said. “He’s just one of those guys that shows up all the time. He’s always in the right spot and makes a lot of plays. You see him and he’s kind of a big guy but he’s a little more athletic than you think he might be and he’s got a knack for being able to find the football.
“He’s a big, strong guy that plays physical. I think he’s really smart and understands the game.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
