LB Andre Hodge Visits UCONN

Most people couldn't tell you where Matawan Regional HS is, let alone tell you where Aberdeen, NJ is located. 2011 Top Prospect LB Andre Hodge hopes to change all that by putting his school and his city on the map. This highly underrated prospect out of Matawan Regional HS has drawn some interest as of late. The most recent school to contact Andre was the University of Connecticut, and Andre and his father visited UCONN this past Saturday to see what they had to offer. I spoke with Andre and his father on their way back from UCONN to see just how his visit went.

When Andre first arrived he really liked the surroundings and the neighborhood in which the campus is located. When they first arrived at the football complex they met with the Video Coordinator who gave them a grand tour of the facilities. "I was pretty impressed with the tour." "We saw the cafe, the players room where they play pool and watch t.v., the trainers room and the weight room." Andre also complimented on how everything they saw on tour was so nice and organized. After their tour Andre had a chance to sit in on a special teams meeting. Prior to the meeting Andre met with Assistant Coach for the Outside Linebackers and Special Teams Coordinator Lyndon Johnson. Coach Johnson talked with Andre about the importance of effort, focus, and team leadership.

After the Special Teams meeting took place Andre had a chance to sit in on a Defensive Team meeting where he met Assistant Coach for the Defense/Defensive Line Hank Hughes. Coach Hughes talked about the importance of teamwork, knowing your assignments, and playing mistake free football. After these two group meeting Andre got to break off and do position meetings where he met Defensive Coordinator and Inside Linebackers Coach Todd Orlando. Coach Orlando was very impressed with Andre's grades and both his speed and size. During the meeting they watched film and Coach Orlando broke down every play and showed what each player did wrong and what they did right. Andre was really amazed that Coach Orlando knew what the player were doing wrong before the play even started. After all these meeting Andre and his father had a chance to go down to the practice field to take in a scrimmage. Andre loved this part of the visit and told me "When I saw the practice field I was very excited to see how the speed of the game differs in college compared to high school. The scrimmage was exciting and I felt like I was out there playing myself, but most of the time I studied the middle linebacker to see what he did right and wrong to see what I need to do to improve my game. the best part of the scrimmage was seeing the level of competition and seeing that everyone is fighting for a spot on the roster." Andre also had a chance to meet with a few of the players who told him to keep working hard and improve so he too can play at the next level.

After the scrimmage Andre and his father had a one on one meeting with UCONN's Recruiting Coordinator Matt Cersosimo. They talked about Andre's experience there and about his academics in which Coach Cersosimo was impressed with Andre's academic accomplishments. He also gave Andre information on the camps that UCONN will be holding over the summer. Andre then met again with Defensive Coordinator Todd Orlando and he invited Andre to their one day camp to evaluate his skills and help him get better as a football player. Andre told me he really loved the trip and that "UCONN is a very nice school and I can see myself playing there."

Congratulations to Andre Hodge for a successful visit to UCONN and look for Andre to be making more visits to schools as this very talented player starts stirring some buzz around the college recruiting circuit. Keep checking in with Michigan Sports Zone for the latest info on this talented 2011 LB prospect.



David Danielson
Midwest Recruiting Analyst
Michigan Sports Zone
danielson.michigansportszone@gmail.com