Texas A&M's Michael Hodges walked into the meeting room and sized up the competition.
"I think I counted about 17 linebackers in the room when I first came in here," Hodges said.
As a walk-on, the odds of earning playing time weren't exactly encouraging. But after what Hodges had been through the previous couple of years, he wasn't about to let a little numbers game get in his way.
First, he endured a rough season at an Air Force Academy prep school, then a season of JV football for the Air Force that was punctuated with shoulder surgery and a lot of uncertainty.
"I was still unsure what I wanted to do and wasn't mature enough to make that career decision, so I decided to leave [the Air Force]," Hodges said. "I went home, and then it was a decision of what do I do? I narrowed it down to either going to Texas State or go here in College Station and try and walk on to the team."
With urging from his family, Hodges chose A&M.
But making a decision didn't end Hodges' bumpy road, for A&M didn't admit him because of technicalities in his transcript. So he spent a semester at Blinn before his journey to A&M was complete.
"I was over 12 months without a football organization, so that was hard keeping myself going," he said.
The next spring, Hodges was one of only three walk-ons to make the team under first-year A&M head coach Mike Sherman and his staff.
By the end of spring camp, the other two walk-ons were cut and Hodges feared he wasn't far behind.
"It took some soul searching, definitely, because I just didn't get the opportunity that I thought I deserved," Hodges said. "But everybody thought that. I didn't hold it against anybody because I understood the dilemma they were all in trying to figure out who's who. It was just a mess they came into."
Defensive coordinator Joe Kines spoke with Hodges at the end of the 2008 spring camp, and the conversation wasn't an easy one for Hodges.
"He knew I had a heart," Hodges said. "He could tell that from our conversations and how I played. He didn't know if I had the ability. He finally told me, 'If you are going to stick it out, stick it out to next spring, and then we'll see where you are at.'"
Hodges stuck with it, and he turned into one of the most pleasant surprises of last spring's camp, starting the Maroon & White Game and snagging an interception.
"If I had to identify somebody who had one of the top springs, he and Von Miller are the two that came to mind," Sherman said. "I don't like false steps, and I don't like wasted movement. He's a sudden guy. He goes to the ball. He has a great nose for it. That's kind of what jumped out at me in the spring."
Less than a week later, Hodges was out with a torn ACL. This time, however, there was a silver lining; he was given a vote of confidence from the two people who mattered most to his A&M football career.
"It's not a fun experience laying on that table in the training room," Hodges said. "Coach Kines and Coach Sherman both came down and talked to me and assured me that they were not going to cut me loose, that I had proven to them that I could be a leader for the team and that I had really showed them that I could be a contributor, more than just here and there, that I could actually be a person they need to rely on."
The medical staff told Hodges it would be four months before he could practice with the team. Until then, the 6-foot, 225-pound Hodges could be seen just off to the side of the practice field working with strength and conditioning coach Dave Kennedy and his staff.
Hodges ultimately made a quick recovery, suiting up and participating in the second game of the season.
With that, one journey was over and another beginning.
The second has been bittersweet, with last weekend's game at Norman, Okla., a perfect example. In a 65-10 loss to Oklahoma, Hodges had his first career interception -- at any level of football.
"It was definitely special, and it was early in the game when we were still in it," Hodges said. "It put us there at 14-10 right afterwards. The offense capitalized, which was great."
Hodges intercepted the pass at the OU 34-yard line. OU quarterback Landry Jones slowed him down inside the 10, and offensive lineman Trent Williams bumped him out of bounds at the 6.
"There was no question the first thing I thought about was the end zone," Hodges said. "If I could have given a little bit more to get through [Jones], I would have."
Hodges also had a career-high eight tackles in the lopsided loss. In nine games (six starts), he has 43 tackles, good for sixth on the team.
But his best game as an Aggie couldn't overshadow the scoreboard. Still, Hodges believes A&M will find a way to improve.
"It was a tough one [Monday] morning," Hodges said. "Everyone came in to watch the game. I came in yesterday and told coach I've finally stopped throwing up about the game. We can't let the loss Saturday and the loss two weeks ago [35-34 to Colorado] carry over to our week of practice because it will affect our bowl eligibility that we'll be playing for this weekend."
Notice about comments:
Theeagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. theeagle.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here.
Aggiesports.com is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. You can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends’ recent posts, add an avatar that fits your personality and more. If you have posted here before you’ll need to sign up again, and if you’ve never posted start now by signing up! If you've already registered for the new comments on www.theeagle.com then just use your Eagle username to log in and start commenting.