Rutgers Linebackers coach Elijah Hodge talks Spring Practice: Press Conference

Rutgers Football continued spring ball this week on Thursday afternoon, and linebackers coach Elijah Hodge spoke to the media for his first spring football press conference on staff.

Hodge spoke for roughly four minutes and addressed a range of questions, including his journey to Rutgers, how his unit is developing, reuniting with Travis Johansen, and much more.

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Full Elijah Hodge Presser Transcript

Obviously, you’ve worked a lot with Coach Johanson. I guess, what kind of really convinced you to make the jump here to Rutgers after working with him at South Dakota? And what has been your early returns here at Rutgers in your time? 

Yeah, I believe you need to be around the right people. And one thing I value with Coach Johanson, he believed in the same thing. So when the opportunity presented itself, I ran through the door. So I believe when he believes in it as far as running our defense, and he gave me the opportunity to come and be the linebacker co-chair.So that’s why I’m here. 

What have your impressions this spring been of Kamar Archie and kind of where he is in his development? 

He’s chopping every day. He’s working to turn his potential into his reality. And he’s taking everything just like he should as a young man, eyes up and take it on the chest, good, bad, or different. He takes the feedback and he knows everything is for the purpose of his good, and he’s attacking every single day. 

I know once upon a time you were a player at Wisconsin. How have you seen the Big Ten change or maybe not change since your time playing in the Big Ten? 

Well, I like to say back then when we played, it was more smash mouth football, more downhill power counters. Now it’s a little more flexible with the spread offense and things like that. So, but some things stay the same, it’s all about blocking and tackling.

With that change, what do you look for in a Big Ten linebacker? What catches your attention? 

To be honest with you, the first thing I look for is violence, all right? Violence is a non-negotiable, you have to play the game the right way. And then after that, it’s strain. And when I mean by strain, it’s just giving a draw, right, a max effort. Every single play is a max effort, and then after that is intelligence. So it’s violence, strain, and then intelligence. 

Personally for you and your family, how has the move been here? 

Well, the move’s been great.My family’s still in Florida right now, so they haven’t made the move permanently. My daughter’s finishing up her fifth grade, so I didn’t wanna uproot her. But everyone here, staff, starting with Coach Yano, they’re very welcoming.I thought it was very great that although my family isn’t here, that Dylan and some of the staff reached out to my wife to make sure that they was great and they needed anything for the move, so it’s been splendid. 

Two returning starters, Moses Walker and Abram Wright, they both fell with injury last fall. Are they on the field now in camp, and what’s your impressions of them? 

Well, they’re doing great, they bring some experience to the room.They’re showing some of the young guys what it means to be a backer, what it means to be a Scarlet Knight, and what it means to be a pro. And they’re being an exemplar in a lot of ways. 

You worked with Coach Johanson up till 2024. Can you just take us through what the last year in your life has been? There’s kind of been a little bit of a gap here on your resume, and then the decision to come here. 

Yeah, absolutely. So one thing that we believe in is family, right? And family means forget about me, I love you, and love is sacrifice.Well, last year I took a year off for sacrifice for my family, and I have a son now that’s eight months. And when my wife was pregnant with him, she had some complications. So I decided to sacrifice my love for the game for my love for my family, and that’s what the gap year is for.

You also have a little bit of an interesting background as well. I think school administration, something like that. Do you see any of that parlay itself to being a football coach on the field in?

 Absolutely, I think the greatest coaches are the greatest teachers. So my administration or my education experience allows me to teach in a way that our players can learn and retain the information. So that’s how that experience helps me. 

Tell us on Ty Morris coming in here from Rice, just what has he brought so far?

 I think he brings a lot of game experience and a lot of leadership. He’s attacking it the right way. When guys have had experience in the past like him, sometimes they come in and just try to ruffle some feathers.He didn’t do that. He came in and went to work, and now he’s earning the respect from the players because of how he’s showing up every single day.

There’s some young guys in the linebacker room. I know you’ve kind of already touched on, but that kind of room as a whole with the young guys that haven’t gotten a lot of playing experience yet. How have you seen them continue to develop, and how ready do you think they could be, if need be?

 I think they’ll be ready when they’re ready, all right? It’s a day-by-day process. Although they haven’t had a lot of experience, one thing I think that we do great here is in enacting perfection. So making sure that everybody’s taking every single rep, and those reps are gonna stack on top of each other, and eventually they’ll turn their potential into their reality.