Hodges says he'll be back at Penn State next season

DALLAS - Penn State's Gerald Hodges sat with his parents in the living room of their Paulsboro, N.J., home last week, just talking and watching an NFL game.

Hodges' father, Gerald Sr., put the television on mute. The verdict on a long-lingering decision was about to be reached.

That day, Hodges, a junior all-Big Ten weakside linebacker, finally decided that he would forgo entering his name in the NFL draft and return to Penn State for his senior season.

"I feel as though I'm ready, but at the same time I just owe it to my teammates, and I just feel as though God feels that I'm not ready," Hodges said after practice Saturday, recalling the conversation he had with his parents last week. "I have a feeling. I feel it in my heart. I'm not ready to just get up and leave."

Hodges will end his first full season as a starter in Monday's TicketCity Bowl against Houston at the Cotton Bowl. The former Paulsboro High standout in football and wrestling was one of the top performers on a Penn State defense that allowed just 15.7 points and 301 yards per game, statistics that rank fifth and 10th in the nation.

The 6-foot-2, 234-pound former safety led the Nittany Lions with 97 tackles and also tallied 41/2 sacks, forced two fumbles, and intercepted a pass that he returned 63 yards.

From the middle of the season until that day over the holiday break, Hodges had discussed with his family the prospects of entering the NFL draft. He said he and his family prayed about a decision that was at times "frustrating" to think about.

But even with the uncertainty surrounding the Penn State football program and its next head coach, and even though he's still awaiting the opinion of the NFL Draft Advisory Board, Hodges is committed to returning for another go-around.

Even if, by an outside chance, the advisory board pegged him as a first-round pick in April's draft?

"Even if they did," Hodges said.

With the help of linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden, Hodges said he became more comfortable as each week of the season unfolded. He said he eventually began to experience a feeling he recognized from high school - the feeling he could play with anyone.

"I think the comparison with [Dallas Cowboys linebacker Sean] Lee and [San Francisco 49ers linebacker NaVorro] Bowman, I think he has a chance to be the same kind of player that those two players finished up being," said Vanderlinden, who also coached those two Penn State greats.

"However, another year of seasoning could help him move in that direction even more so. So he's good, but I think he could be even better."

Getting off blocks more effectively and becoming a better tackler are things Hodges said he wants to refine with another year at school.

But one of Hodges' main goals is to graduate from Penn State, he said, and he is on track to do so next December with a degree in rehabilitation services.

"It's not my place to just get up and leave," Hodges said. "I owe it to my team to stay."

Despite missing the final two practices with a turf-toe injury to his left foot, senior defensive tackle Devon Still said he would "without a doubt" play Monday. Still, the Big Ten defensive player of the year will play with a metal plate in his cleat.

"Just being a defensive lineman, you have to push off your toes a lot," Still said. "Before I got turf toe, I thought turf toe was a soft injury that didn't really bother you. Now that I'm experiencing it, I understand that it's a very painful injury."