“I told my son last week when they made it, ‘Do you realize that Michael Hoecht will be playing in the first play the Super Bowl?’” Oakwood boys basketball coach Paul Stone said. “Because he’s on the special teams unit for kickoff and kickoff return, so he will be on the field. He’ll be on there. How exciting is that? As an Oakwood community we get to watch that, and I mean, he’s just unselfish on special teams and just gives us body up does a great job.”
Hoecht, who spent his freshman and sophomore years in his family’s native Canada, was a star for the Lumberjacks on the football field and the basketball court from 2014-16.
As a senior, he rushed for 1,567 yards and scored 17 touchdowns as a 250-pound fullback in coach Butch Snider’s triple-option offense, and he logged 50 tackles for the Oakwood defense.
The 5-5 ‘Jacks were part of log jam in the rugged SWBL that fall, but better days were ahead.
Hoecht averaged 12.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as Oakwood went 19-6 and shared the Southwestern Division basketball title with Franklin.
Did he take his physicality from football to the basketball court?
“That would be an understatement,” Stone said. “He was very quick on his feet for being as big as he was — and he was wide. So people just couldn’t do anything with him because he was so physically strong.”
What he might have lacked in pure basketball skill, Hoecht made up with effort.
“Combined with his intensity, that made him really, really good,” Stone said. “What a great teammate he was — that’s probably one of the best times I’ve had as a coach is the fact that he just took control of the team himself and kind of just kind of made it his.”
Hoecht earned conference player of the year honors in both sports, but his athletic future turned out to be in football.
“He kind of flew under the radar as far as his recruitment, but I know Brown was very interested in him because he was a high academic kid,” said Snider, who became coach of the ‘Jacks in 2015. “His grades are off the chart. He’s he’s a very bright young man.
“I think he really liked Brown right out of the gate, and it was kind of meant to be.”
Snider admitted he could not have projected seven years ago he was coaching a future NFL player, but he did know suspect Hoecht could do some damage in college.
“Those type of kids carry themselves a little bit different, like they’re a little more mature for their age,” Snider said. “They’re very respectful. They’re very positive people, and that was Michael to a ‘t.’ I mean, that kid was just a great young man. He was one of the leaders of our football team. He just had that human spirit, that positive spirit that he was outgoing and he loved football and was just a great person to be around. And I think that he had that infectious attitude that a lot of our younger kids were drawn to, and he was a great role model for them.”
After putting on about 60 pounds, Hoecht was a captain for the Bears and led them in sacks as a junior and a senior, earning second-team All-Ivy League honors in his final year.
But 2020 was not exactly a great time to try to be breaking into the NFL.
The start of the COVID-19 pandemic scrambled pre-draft plans throughout the country, forcing him to get creative.
Hoecht, whose concentration at Brown included entrepreneurship, told the Rams team website he ended up having to make his own workout tape at Brown, one to mimic pro day workouts and even show off his ability to potentially play tight end.
“I was making sure that if they wanted to see something, they would have that film without having to come see me in person,” he told TheRams.com.
That hustle ultimately worked, getting him a shot with Los Angeles. He spent last season on the practice squad before making the active roster this season.
The 6-4, 310-pound Hoecht has played 112 defensive snaps according to Pro Football Focus and logged five tackles and two quarterback hurries.
He saw his most action in Week 6 at the New York Giants, when he played 27 snaps.
Hoecht may not get many — or even any — snaps on defense on Sunday, but that is more a reflection of the man he backs up than it is on him.
Aaron Donald, a five-time All-Pro and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is widely regarded as one of — if not the — best players in the league so he rarely comes off the field.
However many snaps Hoecht gets, they’ll be watching closely at his alma mater (even if most are still rooting for the Bengals to win).
“There’s a few kids with Hoecht jerseys on, and we have a Rams Hoecht jersey in the boys locker room, which is pretty cool,” Stone said. “It’s a neat thing. I mean, it’s not something that’s ever happened before.”
Hoecht is not the only area connection for the Rams.
They are coached by Sean McVay, who was born in Kettering but grew up in the Atlanta area, and their head strength coach is Beavercreek High School graduate Justin Lovett.
Lovett joined the Rams in March 2020 after three seasons as director of football strength and conditioning at Purdue.
The University of Findlay grad previously worked at Western Michigan and Georgia, among other stops.
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