Written by Rob Phillips, dallascowboys.com.
Stephen Hodge and Manuel Johnson.
Competitors. Opponents. Rivals.
Teammates?
The irony hit Hodge like a pancake block from Leonard Davis. For a decade, he and Johnson never truly shared the same sideline. In middle school they battled in basketball, track and of course, football. Their gridiron grudge continued into high school and college.
Now, two of the most talented players ever to emerge from East Texas would play for the Dallas Cowboys.
Together.
Hodge sent his old foe a text message once the Cowboys drafted Johnson in the seventh round this past April, about an hour after he was taken in the sixth.
“‘We’ve been going against each other our whole lives,’” Hodge recalls writing, “‘and now we’re finally on the same team.’”
In a way, Stephen Hodge and Manuel Johnson remain friendly adversaries in a crowded 12-man draft class. Both will vie for one of the final 53-man roster spots in training camp-Hodge at inside linebacker, Johnson at wide receiver. Both might not make the team. Both might not achieve their matching lifelong dream.
Yet they’re no longer separated by some 35 miles of Texas highway (the distance between Hodge’s hometown of Tatum and Johnson’s hometown of Gilmer) or the winding path of the Red River (when Hodge stayed in-state at TCU and Johnson crossed over to the University of Oklahoma).
Their football fates have aligned under one star. The star.
Hodge: A “Dominating Force”
Andy Evans coached Stephen Hodge for only his 2004 senior season at Tatum High, but he quickly concluded Hodge was perhaps the most “dominating force I’ve ever seen on a high school football field.”
Hodge played a little defensive back, his eventual college position, but primarily was a three-year starting quarterback for the Eagles. In those three seasons he led Tatum to a 28-10 record, rushing for more than 4,000 yards and 51 touchdowns and passing for nearly 4,500 yards and 48 touchdowns.
“He would just run through them or run over them,” Evans says. “When people tried to tackle him he would stiff-arm them and the first thing to hit the ground was their head. He was an amazing kid with a football in his hands.”
Hodge’s hard-nosed style on offense would help him make a successful transition to defense in college. At 6-0, he didn’t have ideal size to play quarterback at the next level.
“That was one of the discussions we had is at 6-foot or 5-11 your chances at quarterback, at the NFL level-let’s face it, most of those guys that play in the NFL are 6-4 or 6-5,” Evans says. “And he felt like, when we were talking about it when he was getting recruited, that his best chance was on defense. I had no doubts that he would be a great defensive player.”
Before taking his game to Fort Worth, though, Hodge dominated Class 3A competition in East Texas. Perhaps only one other player in the region could match his pure talent and production.
Johnson: “He Put Gilmer on the Map”
Gilmer’s powerhouse program has produced several Division I players in recent years, names like Texas’ David Snow, Oklahoma’s Lamar Harris and Missouri’s Daniel Jenkins.
But Johnson was Gilmer’s first big-time star and “the face of the program,” according to head coach Jeff Traylor.
“Manuel is the one that put us on the map,” Traylor says. “We had been good before but Manuel took us to another level. He was the first one that went to a Big XII school, went to Oklahoma, and he did real well. We’ve had a lot of kids follow him because of Manuel’s success.”
Johnson played receiver and quarterback for the Buckeyes but could score from anywhere on the field. He finished his high school career with 83 total touchdowns-48 passing, 18 rushing and 17 receiving.
Gilmer won big with Johnson at quarterback his senior season, but Traylor says Johnson never thought his career would continue under center.
“He always wanted to be a wide receiver,” Traylor says. “I always thought he was crazy. I thought he’d have been an amazing quarterback.”
Even so, Traylor knew Johnson would flourish at any position. He calls him “the most intelligent, high-character athlete I’ve ever coached in my life.”
“I know he’s only 5-11, but he’s so smart and has such a character,” Traylor says. “And I think that’s what separates him from just about everybody I’ve ever met before. He presents himself so well. I just think he’s an incredible person and an incredible player.”
Gilmer vs. Tatum (2004)
The schools sat roughly 45 minutes apart, but they shared jurisdiction over the region’s football landscape.
Hodge, however, had only known disappointment against Gilmer. The Buckeyes had beaten his Tatum team two of the previous three years, including the 2003 3A regional playoffs.
A year later, Hodge hoped to finish his high school career as a champion. Once again, Johnson’s squad stood in the way in the quarterfinals.
“It was a big game coming in,” Johnson remembers. “The talk was the winner of that game was going to go to the state championship game. We were both big recruits going to college, top quarterbacks.”
Tatum got past a bruising Wilmer-Hutchins team one week earlier, but not without a price. Several key players were injured in the 23-19 victory, including Hodge, who says he strained his MCL.
“It wasn’t quite the same because I couldn’t be as mobile as I wanted to be,” Hodge says. “In that game, we really just didn’t have our main playmakers.”
It showed. Hodge played valiantly, but Gilmer was too deep. Too talented. And the Buckeyes had Manuel Johnson.
“It was the best game Manuel ever played in his career,” Traylor says. “In that game Manuel threw for 560 yards, and he threw seven touchdowns, and he rushed for another one.
“At halftime he was 19 out of 20 for like 340 (yards) and we dropped a fly route. He would’ve been 20 for 20 at halftime.”
Gilmer won convincingly, 60-35, en route to the state championship. Tatum claimed the title the following year with Hodge and Johnson playing on Saturdays rather than under those Friday night lights.
The two kept in touch throughout college. They met twice again on the field: TCU shocked OU their freshman season, and Johnson’s Sooners returned the favor last fall. Both played well enough to get drafted.
To this day, though, the 2004 playoff game is often the choice of conversation.
“He said if he would’ve been healthy they would’ve won,” Johnson says. “He was banged up but he still played great. He still ran a 60-yard touchdown. He said he was banged up, but I think he was all right. I told him his knee alone couldn’t make up for 50 points.”
Despite Tatum’s loss, Traylor calls Hodge the best player he ever coached against.
“He could do everything,” Traylor says. “He’s a great quarterback, he’s a great runner, he’s a great defensive player. I think Stephen Hodge could play in the National Football League for 10 years.”
The Future
Hodge certainly hopes that’s the case. Johnson, too. And although Johnson arguably has more competition at the wide receiver spot, Hodge is the one changing positions in Dallas.
Hodge got accustomed to covering receivers as a safety/outside linebacker in TCU’s 4-2-5 scheme. He never expected the Cowboys would move him to “Mo” linebacker, currently occupied by veterans Keith Brooking and Bobby Carpenter as well as fellow rookie Jason Williams.
But the Cowboys feel his physical style of play and coverage skills make him a potential fit there. As a rookie, he’d likely be a core special teams player.
“It’s a big adjustment for me because I’ve never played inside linebacker,” he says. “I’ve got to throw out the whole playbook, learn the playbook and just learn to read blocks and fight off tackles and just make plays.”
A knee injury kept Hodge sidelined until training camp. Meanwhile, Johnson took advantage of the extra reps created by several receiver injuries in offseason workouts.
“It helped out a lot,” Johnson says. “I’m a firm believer in you can’t learn until you actually get out there and play. You can watch film and all that, but actually until you see it out there for yourself and playing, then you know how to pick it up.”
They have both donned the pads in San Antonio as teammates, not opponents. Friends and family had a short drive to the Alamodome to lend their support.
And high school football fans are seeing two of the state’s biggest stars, both now playing for the one emblazoned on the side of their helmets.
“We both think it’s going to be pretty fun playing with each other,” Hodge says.
The eyes of East Texas are watching.
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