Has Cody Mauch Already Maxed Out?
July 12th, 2023
Rookie guard Cody Mauch.
You hear this a lot about Alabama players and to a lesser degree college recruits from the state of Texas.
“Maxed out” means a player has reached his physical ceiling and the chance of developing into a better player is limited or impossible.
You hear this about Alabama players because the coaching is so top-shelf and the support system Alabama has in place for its players is second to none.
Joe has heard the same thing about high school players from Texas because they get the best coaching, the best conditioning, the best nutrition, you name it. It’s why Joe has heard schools are much better off tapping Florida talent than Texas recruits.
(There are two things Texans don’t fool around with: smoked animals and high school football.)
The reason Joe brings is an article from Charlie Campbell of Walter Football. Campbell had heard through his sources some NFL folks think Bucs guard Cody Mauch may be maxed out already because he put on so much weight as a college player.
Mauch has good run-blocking technique. When he gets his hands on defenders, he stalls them out and keeps them from making plays. However, NFL team sources said they felt that the 6-foot-6, 300-pound Mauch needs to get stronger, which was evident at the Senior Bowl. Mauch already put on a ton of weight during his college career, so some sources believe his frame was maxed out.
In pass protection, Mauch is reliable. He was steady for North Dakota State over the past few seasons, and he held his own at the Senior Bowl one-on-ones. Mauch could get into trouble when powerful defensive tackles knock him off track. That could give him some issues early in his career, but he is quick and athletic to block speed rushers. With his size and athleticism, he should be a good interior pass protector in the NFL. …
While Mauch may be maxed out and lack the strength to be a force, I think he definitely has the ability to be a solid NFL starter.
This is interesting to Joe. One thing about NFL rookies, especially linemen, is after their rookie seasons if they stay in town and hit an NFL weightroom consistently in the offseason, they return for their second seasons looking like grownarse men.
However, Mauch turns 25 in January (older the Tristan Wirfs) and may already have his man weight.
If, as Campbell suggests, Mauch has put on as much weight as his bodyframe will allow without becoming sloppy and slow, then what kind of a career can fans expect?
July 12th, 2023 at 12:15 am
Ffs… No one at his age is maxed out. That’s simply a ludicrous statement. If he’s serious about his craft and about weight training and nutrition, he can easily add size and strength.
July 12th, 2023 at 12:15 am
Can’t wait to see what the weight room will do for him.
July 12th, 2023 at 12:19 am
I’m not putting this on you Joe but Isn’t there any articles out there that are more positive and stop with all the negative vibes
July 12th, 2023 at 12:21 am
Charlie puts in a ton of effort & I appreciate his work…But he’s wrong as much as he’s right & I think he misses the boat on Mauch. That kid has several more levels of growth left in his game & will be a beast by yr3.
July 12th, 2023 at 12:28 am
Dude is 24. No way he’s maxed out. I would hope Bucs staff can get him to the size and strength he needs to be at an NFL level.
Look at his sack’s allowed stats for his career at NDSU the kid is a wall. I hope he works well in Canales’ outside zone and trucks LB/DB’s as a pulling guard like Marpet used to do
July 12th, 2023 at 12:42 am
With the exception of Buccaneers.com, where nary you will read a discouraging word no matter how accurate it may be, no.
Besides, Joe thought this story was balanced and interesting. But, Joe knows folks can read whatever they want to read out of a story. 🤷♂️
July 12th, 2023 at 12:45 am
If he was 6’ 2” or even 6’ 3” this would make more sense. Brad Culpepper is a example of someone who maxed out their frame. 6’ 1” 285 playing weight.
July 12th, 2023 at 12:52 am
While size and weight are specific, and strong grading points…. attitude and desire can be just as important.
This guy seems to have the attitude.
He’s got my vote.
July 12th, 2023 at 4:07 am
How exactly is “maxed out” determined? Is there some secret body fat formula that only a few privileged scouts and national media types know?
I call BS! Factual info from my corner of Bucville suggest that if a 6′-7″ dude gets in the weight room and continues to work out he can and will succeed. If… he has the desire!
Example… George Yarno 6′-2″ 260. Was not expected to make the roster. Played 8 years for us everywhere but center. Even kicked a field goal and returned a kick for 14 yards. These guys would have written him off. As “maxed out”.
July 12th, 2023 at 4:42 am
He started college at 220 pounds.
I have been saying this for weeks.
He is too tall and thin to MOVE big defensive tackles.
He would be better at RT because he is so fast.
I think Goedeke is a tweener. So is Mauch.
July 12th, 2023 at 6:02 am
Wasn’t this also the case for Ali Market…
July 12th, 2023 at 6:27 am
These stories are getting dumber the closer we get to camp, which can’t come soon enough!
July 12th, 2023 at 6:56 am
Why is it taking so long to sign him?
July 12th, 2023 at 7:03 am
He better be nasty! O’CYRUS TORRENCE was there when we picked. I had us taking him only to be shocked by this pick. I’m pulling for the toothless wonder though.
July 12th, 2023 at 7:33 am
I say the Bucs forfeit the season. I mean, there’s no reason we should show up and play. Let’s just skip the season and go straight to the draft.
@$%# that. Go Bucs!
July 12th, 2023 at 7:58 am
-sigh-
The kids got to NDSU weighing 221lbs and bulked up to 303lbs in 4 years, so what’s another 20-25/30lbs with NFL money and resources over the next 2-3 years?
July 12th, 2023 at 8:22 am
I do not totally comprehend this story. Maxxed out? 6-6 300lbs? He certainly doesn’t need to be any larger! Perhaps…no I can’t think of a single reason anybody would say he’s maxxed out.
If they’re saying he added the weight too quickly so he is yet to get the strength to power that frame? He can always get stronger.
Just a little perspective. The average NFL guard is 6-4, the tallest is 6-9, the shortest is 6-1. Seems like 6-6 is close to the sweet spot statistically.
The average weight of an average NFL guard is 315, the largest 370, the lightest 274.
This is a “silly season” story. I do not blame Joe or the other pundits he quotes. It is what it is! NO football means tons of speculation and searching for the thinnest morsel of a story.
July 12th, 2023 at 9:03 am
Haven’t the Bucs learned from last year’s Goedecke experiment?
Maybe Mauch ends up at guard but why not let Mauch compete with Goedecke at tackle?
Bucs need both a RT and a swing tackle.
Certainly the Bucs cc would find a RG from Hainsey, Stinnie and Leveritt.
July 12th, 2023 at 9:06 am
Cody just needs to put on 10-12 more pounds of muscle…
If you don’t know how to do this Joe meet me at Hooters for beer and wings and I will let you in on a little secret. lol.
July 12th, 2023 at 9:17 am
An interesting perspective but it does not even rise to the level of a projection. There is simply no data to work with, only suppositions. We don’t really know how Cody will turn out. We do know that his knowledge, skills and experience will improve if he chooses to work at them. That should be enough to give him a good career making more money in 10 years than 40 years of JBF. I think Licht was going for the possibility that he can also get much stronger (a person can get stronger without getting bigger) and improve significantly. Licht perceived the downside as less probable than the upside and I have no reason to disagree right now.
July 12th, 2023 at 9:54 am
Why is Jason Licht so enamored with small school olinemen, who clearly needs alot of work? Didn’t he see what happened to Goedeke last season? Mauch clearly needs to hit the weight room. He will struggle this preseason and Leverret will take over.
July 12th, 2023 at 9:57 am
It is more of a Texas attitude. They think they already had the best and don’t try hard enough.
The human body is not fully developed until 25-28 years of age. If Mauch is smart, as O-line guys are supposed to be, he will get more out of the conditioning and coaching.
That is if the freedom of an actual off season hasn’t hardened his arteries or something.
July 12th, 2023 at 10:41 am
Jensen did thirty and Cody did 29 bench reps …… not a great measure of pure football man strength but it’s not like he did 15 ……… his shuttle ,cone work , 40 and vert are STRONG !!! Prob the best small school numbers by far of the Lichthouse small school draft collection !!
July 12th, 2023 at 11:04 am
North Dakota State is no Texas or Alabama.
July 12th, 2023 at 12:20 pm
If the Bucs weightroom and trainers aren’t heads above North Dakota States, then we have a whole host of other issues
July 12th, 2023 at 12:50 pm
So I guess we should hire the trainers and staff from North Dakota State because they are obviously better than the Bucs staff and trainers. Yeah, right!
July 12th, 2023 at 3:02 pm
He’s a guard, so 300 is still fine there. I know what they’re saying about him putting on so much weight in college, I thought the same thing when reading about him. But looking at him, he doesn’t look like he’s maxed out his frame.
July 12th, 2023 at 4:14 pm
We are moving to a zone scheme which fits his skill set – anchoring against the bull rush was/is a huge transition-
Expect him to struggle with anchoring against stout DT’s in pass pro and getting any push in short yardage – exactly the issues we had with Goedke last year and Cappa his rookie year…
Small school kid that needs to hit the weights – Jason’s favorite type of interior lineman
July 12th, 2023 at 4:27 pm
you’re never maxed out until you’re all muscles AND big. this is ridiculous notion
July 12th, 2023 at 4:58 pm
It wasn’t that long ago a three hundred pounder was a rarity, now if you’re not three hundred pounds they consider you too small, I have no idea how far this will go but if you look at Japan where many of the men are quite small and they still manage to grow and develop 5 to six hundred sumo wrestlers, no telling what our linemen will look like in a few generations!
July 12th, 2023 at 7:11 pm
He might very well be maxed out. No one has even taken a preseason snap yet. He will probably be ok though, even if has quit growing.
July 12th, 2023 at 7:11 pm
catcard202 Says:
July 12th, 2023 at 12:21 am
Charlie puts in a ton of effort & I appreciate his work…But he’s wrong as much as he’s right.
I agree 100 percent with this.
July 12th, 2023 at 8:01 pm
Well we usually get a player every 3rd draft
I don’t think this his him.
He did look good blocking 200 pound dudes in college though
July 12th, 2023 at 9:26 pm
Another retarded article from joe i swear he likes the sound of his own voice relatively speaking you can always get stronger and build muscle so that means he can get bigger and stronger might have to work a little harder but of course it can be done Joe find a new hobby probably won’t post this like yesterday but here goes nothing
July 12th, 2023 at 11:27 pm
It’s a legit concern and it is something to wonder about. Overaged prospects are much closer to their physical ceiling than the younger ones. This is 100% fact. Fortunately, with many players taking COVID years, there are more overaged 5th and 6th year players that came out this year than ever before. March won’t be the only one.
Gaines Adams, Peria Jerry, Danny Watkins. These were all overaged linemen drafted in round one that had clearly met their physical ceilings in college.
July 13th, 2023 at 1:41 pm
“Mauch needs to get stronger, which was evident at the Senior Bowl.” What a joke!
“Mauch needs to get stronger, which was evident at the Senior Bowl”.
Is this a joke? Go and watch his Senior Bowl practice video. He was dominate at every position he played! Campbell needs to do a better job!