A Coquitlam kicker who only started playing football in his senior year of high school could soon be making his living in the game.
Dawson Hodge is eligible for the 2025 CFL draft that occurs April 29.
Hodge recently posted impressive results at a special pro day for prospective draft picks conducted at the University of Waterloo by the Sacks for Racks Sports Group CFL talent agency.
Hodge ran the 40-yard dash in 4.66 seconds, cleared 9’3.5” in the broad jump and leaped 34 vertical inches.
Those numbers compare favourably to top prospects like Western University defensive back Jackson Findlay who did the 40-yard dash in 4.57 seconds and Wilfrid Laurier wide receiver Ethan Jordan’s 32-inch vertical leap at the CFL Combine in Regina March 21-23.
Hodge started his football journey at the behest of his twin brother, Brandon, who encouraged the lifelong soccer player to try his toe kicking footballs for their Terry Fox Ravens varsity team as well.
He helped the Ravens get to the 2018 Subway Bowl provincial championships, where Fox fell to the New Westminster Hyacks 33-0.
But Dawson Hodge said he was hooked.
He started working with his neighbour, former BC Lions kicker Lui Passaglia, and attended a high performance kicking camp in the United States where he won a field goal competition and finished second in kick-offs.
Feeling he needed more experience and time to catch the attention of university recruiters, Hodge spent an additional year in high school at a Toronto football academy that plays exclusively against top American teams.
The strategy worked.
Hodge was contacted by six Ontario programs as well as Simon Fraser University in Burnaby. He ended up selecting Wilfrid Laurier in Waterloo that’s produced several kickers who’ve gone on to pro careers in the CFL.
In his four seasons there, Hodge scored 332 points in 41 games. He was successful on 73 per cent of his field goal attempts, including an astonishing 92.3 per cent in the seven games he played in his freshman season.
Hodge’s 255 career punts totalled 10,530 yards and his 198 kickoffs averaged 56.5 yards.
He also helped the Golden Hawks to its first Vanier Cup championship final in 19 years, where it was defeated by the Laval Rouge et Or, 22-17, in Kingston, Ont.
Individually, Hodge was named a U Sports Academic All-Canadian four times, and in 2022 he was a U Sports second team all-Canadian as well as a conference first team all-star.
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