Cody Mauch makes you laugh, then drives you into the dirt
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Cody Mauch makes you laugh, then drives you into the dirt
A chat with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' new wild man. He's missing a couple teeth.
The first depth charts across the NFL are out and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not tipping their hand. Right there at quarterback, Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask are listed as co-starters. They’re taking this competition into the exhibition games.
Who replaces Tom Brady is justifiably the No. 1 storyline in Tampa, but as Carlton Davis detailed, this is a defense that plans to “wreck shit.” If anyone thinks the Bucs are about to fall off in 2023 — breaking news: many do — Davis promises a “rude awakening.” True, the core that flustered the all-galaxy Patrick Mahomes in a Super Bowl remains in its collective prime on defense. Even Devin White is a happy camper again.
Expect a more comprehensive look at these fascinating Bucs later this month at Go Long. It’s not time to write that obit quite yet.
For now, to gain some clarity on offense, here’s a look at the rookie they’ve slotted in as the starter at right guard: Cody Mauch. The Buccaneers took the North Dakota State lineman 48th overall in this year’s draft.
Nobody has rocked a smile quite like this in pro football. Step aside, Michael Strahan.
Mauch (pronounced “Mouck”) became a cult hero through the draft season. As you’ll learn, a close childhood friend (Kendrick Lenzen) knocked Mauch’s two front teeth out when the two collided in a middle-school basketball game. We discuss his 1-of-1 look — why Mauch may rock it forever — and a lot more below. Initially a 220-pound, walk-on tight end, the Hankinson, North Dakota native left college as a 302-pound, ass-kicking lineman… with a twist. He’s not foaming at the mouth during games. Mauch became famous for his creative first-down celebrations and striking up random conversations with the same opponents he’s pummeling between the whistles.
The 2023 Buccaneers, unlike the ‘22 Bucs, will make a concerted effort to run the ball, and they’ll probably be sending Rachaad White off the hip of Mauch.
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How do you approach the profession?
Mauch: I just go about it, like, “We’re playing football.” That’s what it comes down to. It’s definitely serious. It’s the NFL. But it’s still just playing football. You can’t take it too seriously. You still have to have fun and live. But obviously, it means a lot to a lot of people. I really try to bring fun to everything that I do.
So, the Napoleon Dynamite dance is real. From sixth grade. Having fun goes back to before your teeth getting knocked out.
Mauch: This goes back to a long time ago.
What was that exactly?
Mauch: It was an elementary talent show. No winners. Everybody gets a chance. Usually, people go up and sing pop music. But my sixth-grade teacher loves Napoleon Dynamite. He wanted someone for so many years to actually go do the dance (from the movie). I’m like, “Screw it. I’ll do it.” So, I practiced for a couple months, did my best and the video wasn’t around for a while but picked up some popularity recently.
Your buddy knocks your teeth out. You tried to fix them for a while with some dental work, right?
Mauch: I did. Two sets of braces. Braces with like fake teeth up there. The biggest thing for me was the space. The space in there. I couldn’t get implants right away because my jaw was still growing. So if you get implants, it’s going to be weird and you didn’t want the space to close. So I always had fake teeth in there and when I got the braces off, it was a retainer with fake teeth in there. Eventually, it was a different kind of retainer. But I was breaking them all the time. I just stopped wearing it. Not even realizing it. I would wear it less. I just kind of stopped wearing it and never wore it again.
You’re at that age where you could be so self-conscious about how you look and worrying about what people think. None of that entered your mind?
Mauch: No, I mean, I think I look about as funny as they get anyway. Long, red hair. I don’t really care. I don’t care about any of that.
I love it. Some people freak out over a pimple. Who cares? This is your personality.
Mauch: Exactly. That’s what it’s about.
When you’re done playing, you said you want to get work done on them?
Mauch: I might. Hopefully, that’s a while from now. Whenever I’m done playing, I’ll have gone however long without wearing teeth. Who really cares at that point? If I don’t care now I’m definitely not going to care in 10 years. I might just never get them fixed. My girlfriend is OK with the no teeth so that’s all that matters.
How long have you been with your girlfriend?
Mauch: Just under a year.
You’re good.
Mauch: We’re good. That’s all that matters.
Do you remember the collision? Does it feel like yesterday?
Mauch: It was basketball. I can remember exactly what was going on. I was in the low post, on the right, under the basket. My buddy was on the left elbow. The ball dropped right in the middle. I went to dive for it and he went to go grab it — ducking down — and I was in a full-out dive. He was reaching down and I smacked the top of his head. It hurt a lot. There was blood everywhere. I had to get a concussion test and all that was fine. Nothing wrong there. But then I had to go to the ER right away.
So, it was a game?
Mauch: It was our junior high conference championship game. So, it meant a lot at the time for us. Nothing more important than that.
Blood all over the court.
Mauch: Yeah, it was a pretty big pool of blood.
Did you find your teeth?
Mauch: They were still in. They actually didn’t get knocked out, but they were so loose and so broke. The roots were still in there, so they had to pull them out at the ER that night. With the teeth. I really should’ve kept the teeth. I didn’t really think about that. That would’ve been funny. My Mom kept some of the fake teeth from the retainer, but it’s not the same.
Was the pain bad?
Mauch: It wasn’t that bad. I’ve never been punched in the face before, but that’s probably what it felt like. Just getting absolutely popped in the face. But it wasn’t like the worst thing in the world. Definitely hurt.
George Kittle has told me how much he loves cracking jokes on the field. Talking to a defensive lineman. Because he can flip that switch. He can disarm a player — get him joking, get him laughing — and then kick his ass. It sounds like you do something similar on the field.
Mauch: I definitely did in college. I was big on that.
How does that psychology work for you?
Mauch: I think it goes back to having fun. Approaching it with fun all the time. I know what I’m supposed to do. I’ve been playing college ball for six years. I know what I’m supposed to do, how to do it, I know the guy I’m playing against. It’s just a lot off your plate. So, at that point? I’m not trying to mess with him. I don’t do it psychologically. I’m just talking to the guy. Having a conversation and I’m still trying to kick your butt out there.
What are your conversations? One your teammates told ESPN he heard you talking about ag science in farming?
Mauch: So, I was a farmer and I knew the guy across from me was an ag guy. We were talking about a new combine or tractor and I was asking him, “Do you guys have red or green tractors at your farm?” They get so caught off-guard when I bring up stuff like that. I think this was someone from Northern Iowa, but I don’t remember who it was.
What other conversations have you had out there?
Mauch: Oh, shoot. We played Montana and Montana State. I’d tell them about my experiences going on ski trips out to Montana. One year we went on spring break and there were Montana State football players that also happened to be in Cabo the same time we were. We talked to them about that. Just bullshit. Nothing important.
But how do you play the most violent sport and just have a conversation? Is this between plays?
Mauch: This is as we’re going up to the line. Which is probably even more wild. We should be out there communicating what we’re supposed to do. But at that point, the game slows down so much for you. They’re still good players but — when the game slows down — it makes everything so much easier. There’s a lot less you have to worry about.
What was farm life really like? And you had 18 kids in your graduating class?
Mauch: Eighteen. The farm thing, it was hard work at a young age. You never really want to go. I probably started working on the farm when I was eight years old. Sweeping the shop. They really just wanted to keep us busy. Even then, I was probably eight years old the first time I drove a tractor. We built our shop in 2007, so I would’ve been seven or eight years old. They had me driving the tractor. At that point, you don’t love it. But the older you get, you start to like it a little bit more. Now, I’m at the point where I’d love to go help out on the farm. I love to be around that lifestyle. That’s what I want to do when I’m done playing ball.
How early are you waking up? What are you farming?
Mauch: We were just crops: Corn, soy beans, edible beans, sugar beets. Those were our main crops. When I was in middle school and high school, it was just the summer. Summer, I’d help at 7:30 or 8 until 5. We’d get some leeway if we had travel basketball or baseball games. We could leave for those. But otherwise, Monday through Friday we’re working on the farm.
You’re probably thinking, “This is what I’m going to be doing for most of my life.”
Mauch: Yeah, absolutely. Honestly, my whole life that’s what I wanted to do. I always grew up around it. During summer at NDSU, we got summer jobs and we’d work at a soybean production plant. So that was a little bit in the ag field. You’re working for someone else. That’s something my Dad always wanted. He wanted you to work for someone else. Because, (he’d say), “if working for me and the farm is all you know, you don’t really know what you could be missing.” So, I did that for two summers. After that, even in the summer at NDSU, I’d drive back to the farm every single day and help.
How much did you weigh when you first went to college as a tight end?
Mauch: 220.
In high school, you did everything in nine-man football: Quarterback, etc. How did you put on 85 pounds?
Mauch: I don’t know. I really don’t know. We have to get an unlimited meal plan at the dining hall as freshmen, so I definitely used that. It was not three meals a day. It was breakfast, post-breakfast snack, pre-lunch snack, lunch, post-lunch snack, there were times I was getting seven swipes a day at the dining center. They’re not all to get meals. But maybe I’ll go in at 9 p.m. at night to get some peanut-butter toast or something like that. I was always eating. But I did it the right way. I only gained 1 to 2 pounds a week. It wasn’t like I jumped 10 pounds in one week and it was all fat. It was good weight. Really, it was just the program they had for me at NDSU.
What was your favorite meal? Favorite snack? Did you have a go-to?
Mauch: I liked PB&J’s for a long time in my life. Now, I don’t like them anymore. We ate so many of them at North Dakota State. That’s our protein powder. I don’t like to eat one thing too much because then you get sick of it. Especially with how much we frickin’ eat.
You can’t invent an appetite out of thin air. To eat that much, you’ve got to want to do it.
Mauch: Yeah, and God, there’s times even now I don’t want to eat. Now, your brain is so accustomed to eating even when you’re not hungry. Because you have to do it. You have to maintain. My body should be about 220, 230 pounds. I’m 80 or 90 pounds more than I should be. So I have to eat more than I probably should.
In high school, you probably didn’t even have an actual weight room.
Mauch: That was the craziest thing in going to NDSU. Our weight-room in high school — all the North Dakota gyms, I don’t know if it’s like this in other states, but we only had bleachers on one side of the gym and then the other side is a stage where you have plays and stuff like that. We’re not big schools, so you don’t need a lot of stands. You’d have the one side, the stage. And if this is the whole stage, there’s curtains going right here (demonstrates with hands), and then back here is our weight room (on the stage). So, not a whole lot of room. Maybe the width of the door to this wall here. One squat rack. One bench rack.
On to college, you can pair all this food you’re putting in with weight training.
Mauch: That’s what it was. I wasn’t just eating. I was lifting all the frickin’ time.
Even though you’re a fun-loving guy, you’ve got to love mauling the player in front of you. You weren’t really a lineman coming up. At what point did this switch happen: Now, I’ve got to be violent in the trenches.
Mauch: I probably always had the mentality. I think it’s the competitiveness of never wanting to lose. You need that in the trenches especially. I had it at tight end, too, but especially when I kicked into the O-Line and I was around the older guys. I really, really learned the mentality you have to have. Not a lot of people have my mentality where you’re going to crack jokes and stuff. It took my O-Line coach a while to come around to it. He hears me joking around and thinks I’m not locked in or not serious. But then you realize that’s how I am. I lock in that way. It took a while to get that mentality down.
You have it, though?
Mauch: I think so.
Any collisions you’re most proud of? Hits? Blocks?
Mauch: Any time we run Pin and Pull and any time I can get out — granted I’m going against smaller bodies. Outside linebackers. Corners. But absolutely punishing them when we get out in open space. Yeah, I’m an O-Lineman. We don’t get a lot of love. But you can make them give you love if you’re blocking out in the open space like that. You’re really on the stage there, and I love it. I love when the lights are on.
This is such an opportunity here with a team in transition, identity-wise. No Tom Brady around. New offensive coordinator. New offense. You can create something in your own image. What do you envision out there when you finally take the field?
Mauch: I’m just trying to come along best I can and learn from all the vets. I don’t have too clear of a vision. It’s an offense that’s going to run the ball and set up the pass. Those things will play off each other. Yeah, it’s everyone backing whoever our quarterback is going to be. It’s our offensive line playing as one unit, as one person and the whole offense morphing into one. So, it’s going to take a lot.
You can be a big part of getting this run game going. When you’re pulling — and you see a DB, and you have a chance to cream him — what’s going through your mind?
Mauch: I have to be smarter about that now because if you go cream one of the older guys when we’re in helmets only, they’re not going… I’ve got to practice a lot smarter. There’s so many good guys on this offensive line you can learn from. I’m trying to soak in as much information as I can.
You’re still learning how to play on the line.
Mauch: Yeah, it’s only been four years.
Are you watching any O-Linemen on film? Finding any unique ways to pick stuff up?
Mauch: Once I moved into the O-Line, it changed the way I watch football. The NFL. I played left tackle in college; I’m just watching the left tackle. If it’s a good right tackle, maybe I’m just watching that right tackle. My YouTube searches went from “Craziest Catches Ever” to like “Joe Staley Film” or “Best Blocks.” Just trying to study it as much as I can. Joe Staley was a guy that I watched a lot.
What a culture shock, the Dakotas to Florida. Do you like living here?
Mauch: I’m getting used to it. Today, you realize if there’s a little bit of clouds it can be a life-saver. But I’m getting used to it. Hopefully I can explore now.
Are you into anything off the field?
Mauch: I would do a lot of hunting in North Dakota. Pheasants, ducks, geese, deer, coyotes. I’m not sure what there is for that out here, but we’ll figure it out. Maybe I’ll get into fishing more.
Can you hunt alligators? I’m thinking back to that show, “Swamp People.”
Mauch: I looked it up. You can buy a tag for a gator but I think there’s a lot that goes into it. That’d be fun. I like to golf, too. So there’s a lot of good golf courses out here.
What would be a successful season for you?
Mauch: For me personally, I just want to play my best. I know it sounds political.
You don’t want to make yourself “the savior” for this run game. You’re still earning everything.
Mauch: Absolutely. If I do get that starting job, I just want to be a dependable guy. I don’t want them to have to think, “Oh, shoot. We’ve got a rookie at right guard. That’s a red flag.” I want people to know I can hold my own and lock it down if I have to.
Are you going to crack jokes out there? It’ll be a little different than facing Northern Iowa.
Mauch: That might take a little bit to get used to. We’ll have to see how it goes.
Our 2023 Kickoff series of features continues Friday with a detailed look at the Detroit Lions, exclusive to subscribers.
Bucs stories past, icymi:
‘We’re going to wreck shit:’ Carlton Davis bows to no man
Patrick Laird will make you think
Murder, cockroaches, belief: How Rachaad White bet on himself
