Terrence Cody has to go back a few years to recall being bullied.
“Somebody picking on me?” Cody said. “Shoot. I’d have to say it was early on in elementary school.”
On Feb. 6, the Southeastern Conference will welcome its largest football player ever when the 6-foot-5, 395-pound Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College noseguard signs with the University of Alabama. Heights and weights often get stretched in recruiting, but Gulf Coast defensive coordinator Steve Davis said the only inaccuracy concerning Cody’s size is that he topped 400 pounds on occasion this past season.
Scout.com national editor Jamie Newberg has followed recruiting closely for 16 years and hasn’t seen anybody close to Cody’s gargantuan girth.
“We’ve found that immovable object,” Newberg said. “Alabama will put him over center, and no one is going to budge him. He’s going to do well against the run because he looks really strong. He’s not hard to find on film.”
One of the league’s largest prospects in recent memory is current LSU guard Herman “The House” Johnson, who signed in 2004 as a 6-8, 360-pounder.
The mammoth Cody had a mammoth sophomore year at Gulf Coast that included 18 tackles, 15 assists, five tackles for loss and three touchdowns — one a fumble recovery in the end zone and two out of an imposing fullback role. He was named MVP of the Mississippi Junior College Athletic Association’s South Division and headed a Bulldogs defense that led the 14-member MJCAA in rushing defense and total defense.
Gulf Coast finished 12-0, outscoring foes 440-167, and shared the NJCAA national title with Butler County Community College in Kansas.
“Our demand for Terrence Cody was to demand the double team, and he did that all the time,” Davis said. “We had a freshman middle linebacker who, on the first play of every game, stepped up in the ‘A’ gap as if he was to blitz because he wanted to listen to a guard or center say, ‘Hey, Coach, I’m going to need some help with this big sucker.’ One time, well, I can’t repeat the exact words they used, but it was, ‘Oh, my God, this sucker is bigger than they said he was.’
“He’s amazing. He needs to lose some, but he carried 400 with ease. He’s quick as a cat. His dilemma at that weight is going a long period of time.”
Davis said Alabama coaches want Cody, who wears a size 18 shoe, down to 385 pounds by the time he leaves Gulf Coast in May and want him to start August camp around 375. Cody is adjusting to smaller portions during meals, healthier snacks between meals and drinking more water at night to combat food cravings.
Gulf Coast coaches weren’t as strict with Cody’s diet until now.
“He’s been just like most kids his age,” Davis said. “He tries to eat well and then at 11:30 at night may eat two pizzas or 28 wings or whatever.”
Cody attended Riverdale High School in Fort Myers, Fla., but wasn’t really recruited in 2006 because he didn’t have a desirable academic transcript. He wasn’t sure if he would ever play football again, but Gulf Coast needed a noseguard and liked what they saw of Cody on tape.
Mississippi junior colleges are allowed just eight out-of-state players on their 55-man rosters, so Gulf Coast head coach Steve Campbell took a chance by offering Cody a spot before they had met. Campbell and offensive coordinator Chad Huff then traveled to Fort Myers.
“They saw him come out of the house, and he could barely fit through the door,” Bulldogs defensive line coach Jason Sparks said. “As soon as they saw him, they knew they had made a good choice.”
Sparks, a 6-1, 300-pound former Morehead State defensive tackle, described Cody as “the largest man I’ve ever seen ... I can hide behind him easily.”
Gulf Coast coaches believe Cody was their fastest defensive interior lineman. Davis said there were plays in which Cody would sling an offensive lineman down and then run to the sideline to either assist or make the tackle.
“I think he’s ready to play in the SEC right now,” said Davis, who coached LSU’s secondary in 1991-93 and Auburn’s secondary in 1994. “The guys at Alabama keep telling me that he’s going to turn them around and he’s going to be a big factor in getting them over the hump.”
Cody will have little time to adjust in Tuscaloosa, but he’s more concerned with how a new student body will adjust to seeing such a large person.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “When people meet me, they don’t really think I’m going to be that big, but when they get close, they freak out. I’ve had people get scared.”
David Paschall is a sports writer for the Times Free Press. He started at the Chattanooga Free Press in 1990 and was part of the Times Free Press when the paper started in 1999. David covers University of Georgia football, as well as SEC football recruiting, SEC basketball, Chattanooga Lookouts baseball and other sports stories. He is a Chattanooga native and graduate of the Baylor School and Auburn University. David has received numerous honors for ...
