French Camp football coach Nathan Wright has a hard time describing junior running back Silas Hodge, calling him a “unique bird.”
While he may be unique, he’s one of the unquestioned leaders of the French Camp football team.
Hodge stands at 5-foot-6 and 180 pounds and led the team in rushing last year while also starting at defensive end.
“If you look at him, he’s a rock, he’s really solid,” Wright said. “But he is much like Ethan (Wright). Both of them are very well spoken and very mild. They don’t give off that persona of being the athletic bomb. They are very soft spoken. But Silas won my Workhouse Award this year. That’s just him, he’s a work horse.”
Hodge had a breakout season last year with with 1,025 yards rushing on 176 carries with 11 touchdowns.
“I’d love to see him work on his vision but I’ve about decided that isn’t going to happen,” Wright said. “But he is just one of those guys who is straight ahead and runs downhill. He might move a little bit but pretty much, he is coming downhill and he’s going to see if you can stop him. He’s a bowling bowl and runs the ball really hard.”
While Hodge is soft spoken, he is a tough football player.
“We have another great running back coming up,” Hodge said “I hope it’s going to be both of us hammering at defenses and putting the other team down. I just hope to be a leader and to be a role model for the guys and work hard and play good.
“It was a year of improvement from the year before. I felt more comfortable in that position. They were a lot more dependent on me last year and it was fun. I didn’t get injured last year so that was a positive thing.”
While Hodge isn’t the tallest, he’s one of the team’s strongest players. He can bench 280 pounds and squat 380 pounds. That combination of speed and strength forced Wright to move Hodge to defensive end where he had 71 tackles and led the team with 10 tackles for loss.
“He slid down and played defensive end for me last year because we didn’t have anybody else to play there,” Wright said. "And he gave me a little more quickness. He is one that we don’t play a lot of technique, just go make a play and be an athlete. If you do get trapped, run around him and go make the play. He is a lot like that.”
While Hodge was forced to play on the line last year, Wright said he would like to see him move back and possibly play safety.
“Tt’s sort of wait and see to where he will play on defense right now,” Wright said. “I know he could play at defensive end but he could very easily play at outside linebacker or even go back to safety. It’s really just a matter of where we need him at. To be honest, I would rather him be safety but we will have to see if he can do that. He has some stiffness in his hips, that’s why he is more of a north-south guy.”
Along with senior quarterback Ethan Wright, Hodge is one of the team leaders for the Panthers.
“When you talk about the two kids who are going to lead this team, it’s going to be those two kids at quarterback and running back,” Wright said. “Both of them are then going to turn around and play defense as well. He is a really hard worker. He works the camp here all summer. He’s really wearing himself out this summer. I really don’t get to see a lot of him. He’s been chasing little kids all summer long because he has the cabin with all of the little guys in it. Same kind of character as Ethan. He’s very light hearted and can be very silly but when it’s time to play, he will strap it on and play.”
While Wright generally calls on his seniors to be the team leaders, Hodge just naturally fits in that position.
“The guys respect him and he works hard in the weight room,” Wright said.
“He and Ethan the two hardest workers we have in the weight room. Even though I don’t usually like using juniors for these stories, he’s a kid you can’t look over. Our senior class isn’t very strong and it’s been that way all the way along.”
During the summer, Hodge works at the French Campwhere he is a counselor for the youngest group of campers.
“This has been a blessing for me,” Hodge said. “The coaches have been awesome. They are great people to look up to. I would love to continue football but ultimately want to do something with children. I like working with them and like being interactive with them. Ultimately, spreading the gospel is what I want to do.”
Hodge was originally born in Africa but adopted at age four. After living in Hattiesburg and Cleveland, Tenn., Hodge has lived in French Camp since his seventh grade year.
“I get the opportunity now to work at The Camp of the Rising Son,” Hodge said. “We have about 12 kids a week and I have the youngest group. I am a counselor there and we have a lot of fun but the main point is to share the gospel. We have kids from Tennessee, Louisiana and Florida. A lot of their family came to camp here and it’s been an awesome experience.”
