Kody Russey

Classroom

Russey graduated from Louisiana Tech with a bachelor’s degree in sustainable supply chain management with a 3.695 overall GPA in March 2020 and is currently pursuing a master’s in business administration with a 4.0 GPA. He has been named to the President’s List five times and the Dean’s List four times. He has also been named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Character

Russey is a team leader on-and-off the field. He is a two-time captain, as voted on by his teammates, earning the captainship as both a junior and a senior. During head coach Skip Holtz’ eight-year tenure at Louisiana Tech, only three players have been selected a team captain twice. Russey has earned the respect of both his teammates and coaches for his leadership abilities and when he speaks, people listen. Russey is also a leader on the field as he has been LA Tech’s starting center for the past 41 games.

Community

Russey is an active member of his community where his volunteer work includes serving on the Louisiana Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, time spent with the Boys and Girls Club, and visiting the Children’s Home. Russey has also spent a lot of time helping out with tornado relief after Ruston was hit by an EF3 tornado with winds up to 150 mph on April 25, 2019. The tornado destroyed many homes and buildings, including Louisiana Tech’s soccer, softball and baseball complexes.

Competition

After redshirting his freshman season, Russey has started in all 46 games, including 43 straight starts on the offensive line and 41 consecutive starts as LA Tech’s center.

Russey has been named to both the Outland Trophy and Rimington Trophy Watch Lists as a senior, while earning preseason All-Conference USA first team honors by Athlon Sports, Phil Steele and Conference USA. So far this season, Russey leads an offensive front that ranks first in C-USA and 13th in the nation fourth down conversions at 83.3 percent and has helped the offense score on 88.9 percent of its redzone attempts (24-of-27) this season to tie for third in C-USA and rank 43rd in the nation.

In 2019-20, Russey led an offensive front that produced a 1,000-yard rusher in Justin Henderson and the C-USA Offensive Player of the Year in J’Mar Smith. Russey was an All-Conference USA honorable mention in 2018-19 and 2019-20, an All-Louisiana honorable mention in 2018-19 and was named to the Conference USA all-freshman team in 2017-18.