Isaac Hodgins said one measure regarding Oregon State’s progress as a football program is watching the number of players who stick around after practice to get in extra work.
Hodgins recalls his first spring in 2018, he was the only defensive lineman doing extra drills after practice.
Five years later?
“You see the culture change and how people are lingering after practice,” Hodgins said. “You can tell how much someone is invested when they linger, post-something. Or they show up early. We’ve got a group of guys that do that.”
But 20 minutes after practice, there’s only one player left doing extra drills. It’s old man Hodgins, working on footwork and speed in one corner of the practice field.
Hodgins, a 6-foot, 262-pound defensive end, could be the most motivated player on Oregon State’s roster. Accustomed to being at the forefront of the Beavers’ defense during his career, Hodgins spent the past two years either idled or catching up due to a broken foot. Hodgins played in every game of the 2022 season, but it came from little preparation, as the broken foot kept Hodgins sidelined for more than a year.
Hodgins could have walked away following last year’s Las Vegas Bowl, having logged 33 starts over five years. He’s married and motivated for a family life, having started a yard care business with three OSU teammates during the name, image and likeness era.
In the end, Hodgins thought about unfinished business. After starting all but one game during his first three years at OSU, the end to Hodgins’ career felt a little empty.
He’s back.
“I wanted a full offseason to prepare for the season. I wanted a full year to leave my best foot forward, going into the next chapter of my life,” Hodgins said.
The 2022 year was challenging. Hodgins said the lack of an offseason meant spending some of last fall with “a lot of rust to knock off.” Hodgins needs to be at his best, because getting on the field is much more difficult than it was when he first became a Beaver.
Hodgins started the second game of his true freshman season, in part because of his talent, but also because there weren’t a lot of alternatives. In 2018, OSU had one of the weakest defensive lines in FBS. Much has happened since. In 2022, the Beavers led the Pac-12 in run defense. OSU has two of its best defensive line signees during the Jonathan Smith era participating this spring in Kelze Howard and Thomas Collins.
Hodgins said during his early years, Oregon State had “one or two” defensive linemen who could play, but now “we have a deep group of guys who could play and contribute.”
Hodgins isn’t blind to the fact that he’s undersized for a future NFL lineman. He has the bloodline; father James was a former NFL fullback, and brother Isaiah is a receiver for the New York Giants.
Hodgins also isn’t someone willing to give up until all the doors are closed.
“That’s why I came back another year. I want to continue to chase that dream and play football at the next level,” he said. “What it looks like for me is production. It’s got to be a whole ton of production. It’s got to be the film speaks for me.
“No one’s going to see me on paper and be like, this guy’s, he’s an NFL defensive lineman. I’ve just got to get to a camp and show it.”
It’s not all about polishing the resume for a run at the NFL, however. Hodgins was at the ground floor of Oregon State’s current rebuild. He’d like to see it through as one of the leaders among the defensive front in 2023.
It was apparent from its deep group of leaders a year ago that Oregon State was hungry to break through. The Beavers largely succeeded with a 10-win season and a Las Vegas Bowl victory.
Now comes the next step: repeating and improving on success. It’s an area unfamiliar to these Beavers.
“We want the next level to what we didn’t get last year. We were one or two games away from being in Vegas for a different game, for the Pac-12 championship,” Hodgins said. “That’s the ultimate goal. That’s what everyone is kind of talking about. Pac-12 championship. Pac-12 championship.”
Nick Daschel reported from Corvallis
–Nick Daschel | ndaschel@oregonian.com | @nickdaschel
