KhaDarel Hodge

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  • #89565
    Avatar photozn
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    KhaDarel Hodge
    Wide receiver
    SCHOOL: PRAIRIE VIEW | CONFERENCE: D-IAA
    HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-1 / 190 | 40: 4.52 | DRAFT YR:2018

    Hodge (6-2, 200; R-Sr., D’Lo Miss.) earned first-team All-SWAC honors, as well as Black College All-America accolades from both BOXTOROW and SBN/Power News Radio Network. Hodge was third in the SWAC in both receptions (48) and receiving yards (844), second in yards per catch (17.6) and first in touchdown receptions (12). In his last seven games, he caught 39 passes for 746 yards and 11 touchdowns, posting three 100-yard receiving games and four multi-TD receiving games. Hodge broke Otis Taylor’s 53-year old single-game receiving yards school record with 232 yards on eight receptions and three touchdowns vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 11. In his three-year career, Hodge caught 104 passes for 1797 yards and 21 touchdowns.

    #89596
    Avatar photoEternal Ramnation
    Participant

    #89597
    Hram
    Participant

    I think he is playing his way onto the practice squad.

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by Hram.
    #89647
    Avatar photoEternal Ramnation
    Participant

    KhaDarel Hodge’s First Impression

    Clarence Dennis
    STAFF WRITER

    On Sept. 4 at 1:00 p.m. PDT, all 32 NFL teams must have their rosters reduced to 53 players.

    The September 4 date will send approximately 37 Rams packing. A few will be invited to the practice squad, others will move on to other opportunities, some may even seek a complete career change altogether.

    A job in the NFL is a hard job to land. According to the NCAA, there are over 70,000 NCAA football participants in 2018, many of whom dream of a career in the NFL — and have since Pop Warner. For some, playing professional football is bound to happen, for others it’s about opportunity and a bit of luck. Walk-ons pay tuition, superstars win the Heisman, the good, but not that good pursue a different career, and a fortunate 253 are drafted to the NFL.

    The NCAA’s website says 1.6-percent of college football players will go on to play “major professional sports.”

    Rams’ receiver KhaDarel Hodge is doing everything in his power to join that one percent.

    In the first two preseason games, Hodge has recorded four receptions for 71 yards and one touchdown — good, considering the Rams’ lack of offense early in the preseason, but not exactly numbers to write his hometown of D’Lo, Mississippi about.

    Hodge’s impression on head coach Sean McVay and the powers that be in L.A., has come in the form of big-time plays. Three of Hodge’s four receptions in the preseason have been highlight-reel material.

    In preseason Week 1 against the Ravens, Hodge scored the Rams’ only touchdown of the game by making an athletic, lunging grab on a low ball, with Ravens’ corner Stanley Jean-Baptiste draped over him in the end zone.

    On Saturday against the Raiders, Hodge made his mark with a pair of plays. The first came in the second quarter with an outstanding 47-yard reception in-front of the Rams’ bench. Nearly back-peddling, Hodge leapt backwards, extended to catch the ball delivered by quarterback Sean Mannion, and pulled it to his chest with Raiders’ corner Nick Nelson all over him.

    “It was basically a go-route. I know I had the win,” Hodge said confidently. “So, I just dug out and I’d seen the ball in the air – and at that point it’s just having the fundamentals. I didn’t get ahead of myself and made a big play.”

    Mannion expressed similar confidence in Hodge when talking about the play.

    “He knows where to be on every play. That was a situation where we got the right look to take a shot. I just tried to put some air under it, give him a chance and he went up and made a great play,” Mannion said.

    So far, it seems as that if anyone gives Hodge a chance, he will make the most of it.

    In the same game, Hodge made another impressive grab early in the third quarter on a high pass by quarterback Brandon Allen. Hodge pulled the ball down from over a Raider defender and toed the sideline en route to a Rams’ field goal.

    Hodge is an undrafted free agent out of Prairie View A&M in Prairie View, Texas. Hodge’s time at Prairie View A&M was his third and final college football stop, after starting his career at Alcorn State in 2013, and then spending time at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Mississippi.

    To add to the list of largely unknown stops of Hodge’s football career, the 5-foot-11 rookie receiver is originally from D’Lo, Mississippi — a dot in south-central Mississippi that just over 400 people call home. In fact, over 200 of Hodge’s hometown populations could have fit in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday to watch him haul in passes over Raider defenders.

    While many of Hodge’s friends and family were likely watching, impressing coach McVay and his staff might be of greater importance to Hodge. A first impression in the preseason is critical for an undrafted and unproven player like Hodge, who is low on L.A.’s receiver depth chart.

    “For him to continue to take these steps in the right directions and then being able to demonstrate that play-making ability has been something that you definitely can’t help but notice and it’s been good to see,” McVay said.

    The training for a job in the NFL is rigorous. Players must make sure each rep in minicamp, OTAs, and training camp is meaningful. Studying systems and learning extensive playbooks is essential to becoming a pro. The job training wraps up with the preseason — an opportunity to make an impression with pads on, play tackle football in a stadium with with screaming fans, and make plays against a team other than your own.

    After doing just that for the second consecutive week on Saturday — just over two weeks until the Sept. 4 roster deadline, Hodge stood in the Coliseum locker room in Los Angeles — a city over 1,800 miles from D’Lo, and with 3.9 million more people than D’Lo — addressing reporters with humble smile.

    “I’ve been in these situations before where I’ve had to come from the bottom and stuff. So, this is nothing new to me.”

    https://www.therams.com/news/khadarel-hodge-s-first-impression

    #89746
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    #89769
    Avatar photocanadaram
    Participant

    I was surprised that he’s listed as being over 6ft, he looks shorter to me. I’m no carnival height guesser guy though, so what do I know. At any rate he seems like he might start his career like Danny Amendola- spending some time on one or two practice squads before he finds a home. Since it seems as though several starters will be resting I’d like to see him play against the Texans starting secondary.

    #90063
    JackPMiller
    Participant

    I wonder if KhaDarel could replace Pharaoh Cooper. Coop had one of the worst drop ratios in the NFL last year, if I’m correct.

    #90074
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    I wonder if KhaDarel could replace Pharaoh Cooper. Coop had one of the worst drop ratios in the NFL last year, if I’m correct.

    He couldn;t have had one of the worst drop rates last year. The Rams ranked high (in the good way) in passes dropped, with only 13, 2nd best in the league. 5 of those were by Kupp and Everett had 4. Cooper didn’t make the list I looked at meaning whatever his number was, it was less than 4 and probably far less that 4 because he only had 19 targets.

    He didn’t have a very high catch rate though but again, that’s on only 19 targets.

    PC’s big contribution is as a returner.

    #90135
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    jrry32

    Hodge v. Reynolds & Thomas & Cooper

    Hodge is not an outstanding WR. He could develop into something, but he’s nowhere close yet. Meanwhile, we already have three studs at WR, a talented young player in Reynolds, and a couple of special teams monsters. You don’t make a guy who needs a lot of WR development your 6th WR if he’s not a strong STer.

    With Hodge, I’m watching his routes and releases. His route running is not crisp and severely flawed. It’s why he has to keep making contested catches. Today, he backed into both of his stop routes, which allowed the defender to smother it. The guy has outstanding hands. He has enough skill and talent to be worth developing. But he’s nowhere close to ready to play on Sundays. He’s playing against guys who won’t see the field when the regular season hits. That’s a kid you put on the PS and develop.

    Reynolds, if you remember, was great last preseason and then held his own on Sundays against NFL players. He’s further along in the process than Hodge and even more gifted. Don’t put him out of mind because he’s been injured and out of sight this preseason. Cooper is an All Pro returner, and Thomas is one of the NFL’s best gunners. When you’re that good on STs, less is needed of you at WR. We’ve consistently had top special teams units over the past few years. I put a lot of value in guys who can do what Thomas can do on special teams. A #6 WR has to make his mark on STs.

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