Cody Hendricks is relatively new to the game of football. He’s
only been playing the contact sport since the eighth grade, and
even then, the fullback position he’s had the last two years on the
San Benito varsity team was one he’s been focusing on since only
his junior season.
HOLLISTER
Cody Hendricks is relatively new to the game of football. He’s only been playing the contact sport since the eighth grade, and even then, the fullback position he’s had the last two years on the San Benito varsity team was one he’s been focusing on since only his junior season.
So to see the 5-foot-10, 200-pound bulldozer shine on the defensive side of the football as well this past fall perhaps made sense. He picked up the fullback position basically from scratch; why not the linebacker’s role?
But taking over at starting middle linebacker in the middle of the year, without seeing a dip in his touches at the starting fullback spot, simply brought the game of football, however new it might be, full-circle for the San Benito senior.
After all, despite only playing football since the eighth grade, Hendricks was already well versed at both positions.
“My sophomore year, I got pulled up as a linebacker. My junior year they moved me to fullback,” said Hendricks, who combined both offensive and defensive positions this past season for the Balers and turned in an all-around performance his senior year.
“I definitely had fun playing more than one position,” he said.
At fullback, Hendricks led the team offensively with 946 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns on 149 carries, while defensively at middle linebacker, he recorded 2.5 sacks and 58 total tackles — fifth most on the team — and as a result was named the Free Lance/Pinnacle’s Most Outstanding Fall Male Athlete this season.
He was a two-way athlete for a team that doesn’t too often play athletes two ways, and the dual roles didn’t slow him down one bit.
“It was a real challenge for him and he was happy to meet that challenge,” San Benito head coach Chris Cameron said.
“I think he was very reliable. He carried a lot of the load for us, carried the football, ran stuff correctly and did stuff he was supposed to do,” Cameron later added. “He was pretty reliable to me. Those are all good things.”
Although the Balers have employed an offensive-defensive platoon system in recent years, allowing players to focus on one position and one side of the football, injuries and eligibility issues shortened San Benito’s roster midway through the season this year, forcing several players to go both ways.
Hendricks was one of only two players who started on both offense and defense, however, making him a natural leader for the Balers this past season.
“The leadership role just emerges over time, and (for him) that emerged way before the season started,” Cameron said. “From the end of last season, you could see it in him. Guys want to do that. They want to take ownership.”
The fact that Hendricks would soon be starting on both sides of the football only made him a likely candidate.
As a freshmen and sophomore, Hendricks was a starting linebacker. He was even called up to the varsity level as a sophomore to fill-in for an injured Robert Pinedo at the position, playing the last four games on the defensive side of the football.
But with so many linebackers on the team last year, coupled with a shortage of non-graduating running backs in the San Benito backfield, Cameron converted Hendricks for the fullback’s role, figuring he’d be the lead returner this season.
And he very much was. After running for 417 yards and six touchdowns as a junior, Hendricks was the leading returner this season — he surpassed last season’s rushing total by the fifth game. Eclipsing the century mark four times in 11 contests, Hendricks averaged 6.35 yards per carry, finished fourth in total yards in the Tri-County Athletic League, and was recently chosen as a first team all-league selection.
The offensive numbers and statistics took on a different meaning when Hendricks acquired the middle linebacker position, though. But Cameron wasn’t surprised the senior was able to keep his numbers up on the offensive side.
“We talked about it, but he stepped right in, embraced it, and was happy to do it,” Cameron said, later adding, “I knew he could do it. He was in physical shape and he was a senior, so he was gonna get after it even more.”
Used sparingly on defense against Palo Alto in Week 3 and against Salinas in Week 5, Hendricks started at the linebacker spot in Week 6 against North Salinas, and every game remaining for the rest of the season.
“That North Salinas game was … I got really tired that game,” said Hendricks, who started at linebacker and helped the defense post a shutout against the Vikings, while also running for 133 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries on offense.
Although he didn’t receive the calls from the sideline — Jon Huaracha did that — Hendricks’ job at linebacker was to read the opposing team’s offensive package, and echo the formations between the secondary and the defensive line.
After North High, Hendricks upped his post-practice conditioning to handle the added snaps. With the last 20 minutes of every San Benito practice reserved for sprints, Hendricks would stay later and run two additional 100-yard sprints — his fastest time was 11.3 seconds in full pads.
“At first, I was rusty. It was hard to do the reads. But after the first week and a half, it all came back to me,” said Hendricks, who relied on his previous years of experience at the linebacker position.
“Palma felt like a normal game. Alvarez felt like a normal game,” he later added. “Gilroy did not. That spread-offense, you’re running everywhere. That was a butt-kicker.”
Despite playing twice as many snaps as nearly everyone else on the team, Cameron felt that Hendricks received a mid-season boost after taking over the defensive role. And his rushing numbers reflected as much.
In the final five games of the season, Hendricks ran for 461 yards and seven touchdowns.
Playing the last five games at linebacker, though, Hendricks was also fifth on the team in tackles, tied for second on the team in sacks and interceptions, and also had a fumble forced and two fumble recoveries.
Again, he was a two-way athlete for a team that doesn’t too often play athletes two ways, and his dual roles didn’t slow him down one bit.
“I actually think it was fun for him,” Cameron said. “It was a new challenge, and he ran with it.”
See next Tuesday’s edition of the Hollister Free Lance for the Free Lance/Pinnacle’s Most Outstanding Female Fall Athlete.
