AP Photo Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman Cody Mauch stretches during the NFL football team’s rookie minicamp, Saturday, May 13, 2023, in Tampa, Fla.

Making it to the NFL is extremely difficult. Getting there by way of 9-man football and coming from a smalltown of 900 people makes your odds even slimmer. For Cody Mauch, however, he never let that discourage him.

Mauch was a star at Hankinson High School before making his way to North Dakota State to play for the Bison. Following a successful and decorated collegiate career, Mauch was drafted in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He learned a lot on his journey, especially looking back on when he played 9-man football.

“Throughout my time in junior high and high school I got exposed to all these different positions, at least that’s the way it was for me. You get to play both sides of the ball, you are on special teams, and you get to play so much football,” Mauch said on what was valuable about his 9-man football experience with Hankinson High.

He added, “Looking back, it’s crazy to think that you are literally not taking a snap off the entire game. Even when you score a touchdown, you are the kicker on the kick-off team. You don’t take a play off and it’s crazy to think about now.”

After shining on the gridiron at Hankinson, Mauch earned the opportunity to take his football career to the next level, which he did by committing to North Dakota State. With a Bison program that has a rich history of success, the decision for Mauch was an easy one.

“The biggest thing for me was I wanted to win. At that time, NDSU had won five or six national championships. Growing up 50 miles away from Fargo, why would you not want to go play for a team that has that kind of success? I didn’t really do it to have any plans of playing further or anything, I just wanted to go and join a team that was going to win a lot.”

Success continued to follow Mauch when he got to Fargo, where he won three FCS championships with the Bison. Initially, he came to NDSU as a tight end, but a position change to the offensive line was a decision that paid off tremendously for his football career.

While playing for the Bison, Mauch learned a lot about the process of developing his body, as well as ways to take care of it through diet and recovery. Learning from a good group of guys ahead of him and a good coaching staff was integral in helping Mauch with his two and a half years of transforming from a tight end to an offensive lineman.

The process paid off, and it paid off in a big way when Mauch was taken with the 48th overall pick (second round) of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With such a special moment taking place and seeing the culmination of all his hard work over the years, Mauch made sure he was with those closest to him during the draft.

Packing the Hankinson Community Center on draft night, friends, family and community members came out in droves to show their support for Mauch, making the moment even more special.

“That meant the most. I always loved it when I got a chance to go back home because you are so close to everyone in your town,” he said on seeing the support he received.

He added, “We were debating on if we should do a small draft party with family and friends, but then everyone is so close we didn’t know where to cut the line. We just kind of figured that as tight of a community as we are in Hankinson, we wanted to open it up for everyone to come enjoy it with us.”

When the time came for Mauch to be selected by the Buccaneers, he felt like there was a chance they could be the team. Through a variety of meetings and Zoom calls leading up to the draft, Mauch felt like there was always a possibility he could end up in Tampa Bay.

After waiting around all night to hear his name called, he finally did with the 48th overall selection. The Hankinson Community Center went wild, with Mauch claiming, “it might’ve been the loudest roar of the crowd I’ve ever heard when my name got called.”

Immediately after learning he was a professional football player, Mauch spent time taking a few phone calls from Buccaneers personnel and did a quick press conference in the attic of the community center before spending the rest of the night with family, friends and those that came out to support him.

Since then, Cody Mauch has gone through rookie minicamp and is now in main camp as he adjusts to life in Tampa Bay and gets ready for the regular season to begin.

“It’s been great so far, just trying to get familiar with the area a bit and make it feel like home. It’s been fun to start to mesh with the guys a bit as well. I’m just trying to learn as much as I can from the older guys in our room like Tristan Wirfs, Ryan Jensen and Matt Feiler,” Mauch said.

He added, “These are the guys who have been doing it for a little bit and have had so much success. I’m just picking up habits from them however I can, or picking their brain on how they do things recovery wise. They have been doing it the right way and Ryan [Jensen] has been doing it for a long time now. Those are the guys you want to learn from I think.”

Recently, it became official that Mauch was a Buccaneer when he signed his four-year rookie contract with the team at the end of July. While acknowledging that this is hopefully the beginning of a long NFL journey, he shared that it was a surreal feeling when put the pen to paper.

“It’s such a great feeling being able to finally sign and knowing that all the hard work you did to get to that point paid off. Also, in the back of your mind this isn’t the destination, it’s the starting point. You hope to have many more contracts on top of that. But still, you can’t help but feel a little satisfied just because you’ve done so much work to get to this point. You are allowed to enjoy it a little bit.”

With the regular season right around the corner, Cody Mauch has a lot to look forward to as a rookie in the NFL. Aside from living out a dream, what he is most excited for involves getting the chance to play in front of the great fanbase that they have in Tampa Bay.

“I’m excited to go play some games at the stadium. Going out in public and seeing all the Bucs shirts and how great our fans are. Doing autograph signings for fans and they know so much about you. I’m just excited to go play in front of all these die-hard fans who will notice you when you walk around the mall. Just finally being able to go out and play football in front of such a big fanbase is the thing I’m looking forward to the most.”

On Sunday, Sept. 10, Mauch will officially begin his NFL career in a place close to home and close to where he found so much success with the NDSU Bison. The Buccaneers are set to open their 2023 season in Minneapolis, Minn. when they take on the Vikings at noon that day.