An 86-Yard Sprint to Glory: Shay Hodge's Profound Impact on Ole Miss Rebels Football
Over 90,000 fans had expected a home win in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, but as the seconds passed, they became less-and-less sure that the No. 4 Florida Gators would escape the September heat on the right side of the box score.
The unranked and previously-unnoticed Ole Miss Rebels had given Tim Tebow and the Gators all they wanted on this Saturday afternoon. After trailing 17-7 at halftime in "The Swamp," the Rebels had roared back to take a 24-17 lead in the third quarter. Florida quickly tied the game at 24 in the final frame, and Ole Miss found itself with the ball deep in its own territory with under six minutes to play.
Ole Miss vs. Florida in 2008
On third and six at their own 14-yard line, the Rebels trotted out in the I-formation as the clock ticked below 5:40. Quarterback Jevan Snead faked the handoff to his tailback, looked downfield, and hit his receiver in stride down the left sideline.
Exactly seven seconds after the reception, Shay Hodge stood in the end zone, a long way from his football beginnings in Morton, Mississippi, over a decade prior.
FROM MORTON TO OXFORD: THE OLE MISS PIPELINE
Shay Hodge in the 2007 game against the Gators, one year before the Rebels' historic win in Gainesville.
One could argue that the road to Ole Miss ran through Morton, Mississippi, for a few years. Although Oxford and Morton are 163 miles apart, this small town of around 3,000 residents produced two of the greatest players in Rebels history.
The first came with his own catchphrase: "The Deuce is loose!" Running back Deuce McAllister joined the Ole Miss roster in 1997, and he quickly cemented himself into the team's lore. In 2001, "Deuce," as he was simply known to fans, was drafted in the first round by the New Orleans Saints where he spent all nine of his seasons in the NFL.
Deuce McAllister in his time with the New Orleans Saints.
As is often the case in small towns, when someone "makes it big," they are idolized. One set of young eyes who saw Deuce's rise was a young man by the name of Shay Hodge who eventually chose to attend Ole Miss because of McAllister.
"The Ole Miss decision came down to influence from wanting to walk in Deuce McAllister's steps," Hodge said. "Ole Miss was graduating four senior receivers, and playing early was a big deal for me, so Ole Miss made sense."
Football wasn't always Hodge's first love, however. In reality, he saw himself as a basketball player first, but as is often the case for multi-sport athletes in small towns, success in one sport leads to success in another.
"It started because of the X's and O's," Hodge said. "I was always a basketball player, but I loved the mind games of football. Then, I used basketball movements to dominate in football."
That's not to say that Hodge was foreign to the gridiron. His neighborhood in Morton had a "football first" mentality, and even though he was younger and smaller than those around him, the focus on athletics paid off.
"I started playing because of my neighborhood," Hodge said. "It was full of older tough guys, and my best friend was a bigger kid who loved football, so I couldn't be the only one that didn't play."
Eventually, Hodge found success, but it wasn't immediate. Not by a long shot.
FROM AVERAGE TO DOMINANT: A REBEL LEGEND IS BORN
Shay Hodge in an Ole Miss football game at Wake Forest in 2008.
"'Do not get caught, do not get caught, do not get caught. You can win this game for us.'"
Hodge's touchdown on that September Saturday put Ole Miss on the map, and he knew it on his sprint to pay dirt. The Rebels went on to knock off the eventual-national-champion Florida Gators, and Ole Miss itself finished the regular season with an 8-4 record, reaching its first bowl game since the 2003 season.
There's a chance, however, that this play doesn't happen if not for a high school growth spurt.
"I was average in junior high and was gonna quit after ninth grade," Hodge said. "From eighth to ninth grade, I grew from around 5-foot-2 to 6-foot-2, and I became extremely dominant my ninth grade year, scoring around 50 touchdowns at quarterback running and throwing. So I decided to stick with it."
Morton High School was never the same, but neither was Ole Miss after Hodge arrived. In the course of his collegiate career, he hauled in 2,646 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns, including eight scores in 2008 alone.
Hodge broke records. He went from a small Mississippi high school to the biggest stage in college football: the Southeastern Conference. The talent jump never scared the receiver, but there were some aspects of college ball that took some getting used to.
"It's the same people you compete against at camps that you play in college," Hodge said. "Getting over I was playing folks I saw on TV was my issue and crowd noise at bigger stadiums."
Against Florida, the average fan wouldn't have known that Hodge had needed an adjustment period at all. He finished that day as the Rebels' leading receiver--three catches for 133 yards, including his 86-yard score in the fourth quarter.
The second receiver on the list that day? Cordera Eason with 28 yards. Hodge proved to be the difference.
'DOMINATE, PERIOD' AND GIVING BACK TO MISSISSIPPI
Shay Hodge in the 2010 AT&T Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma State.
After his career at Ole Miss, Hodge spent time in the NFL, Arena League and CFL, but his journey eventually led him back home to Mississippi.
Today, Hodge serves as the pass game coordinator at Jackson Academy (Miss.), and he is the co-owner of Mesh Academy, a 7-on-7 team and training organization in the Magnolia State. Hodge runs this program with another former Ole Miss receiver in Mike Espy who became famous in Oxford for passing connections with none other than Eli Manning.
Through all his years of football, Hodge says that the most rewarding aspect of the game is "the success from hard work," and that's evident in how he describes his current role in the sport.
"Skills trainer, recruiter, offensive coordinator, mentor," Hodge said.
It's clear that Hodge is giving back to his home state, but what is his advice to players from similar backgrounds who want to make it to the next level?
"Dominate, period," Hodge said. "If you think you belong there, you have to prove it. You have to do more most of the time because of where you're from. The right eyes have to get on you."
That quote, in a nutshell, is Shay Hodge's story. He dominated through adversity, and a man from small-town Mississippi brought down one of the SEC's premier programs as a result.
A story that began in the smallest of places found its climax in Gainesville, Florida, on this fall afternoon in 2008, and the Ole Miss Rebels will never be the same.
