SCOOBA — Less than five months ago, Rodney Groce Jr. could wake up and watch the sun rising over the desert.
Now, his view is much different.
“You can’t look out and see Tempe, Arizona, and the beautiful city no more,” Groce said. “It’s trees and woods.”
That’s Scooba for you.
The redshirt sophomore linebacker is in his first season at East Mississippi Community College, hoping to find a second — or perhaps a third — chance not far from his first.
Barely a year ago, a penalty cost Groce, then a redshirt freshman at Mississippi State, a whole lot more than 15 yards.
It set in motion a chain of events that landed Groce in Scooba, a place that for one-time Power Five players can feel a bit like rock bottom.
But maybe that’s why Groce is here.
“I love the challenge,” he said. “It actually shows me as a player that I’m really meant to do this.”
‘I didn’t know it was on me’
At EMCC, Groce isn’t far from home.
Either home.
A native of Pleasant Grove, Alabama — in the Birmingham area — Groce is less than two hours from his family.
And he’s just under an hour from Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville.
Despite an unceremonious exit from Mississippi State, Groce is still a Bulldogs fan. After an Oct. 6 game against Coahoma Community College, he even emerged from the EMCC locker room wearing a maroon MSU T-shirt.
“That’s where I started off, you feel me?” Groce said. “I still get a chance to go watch them. They’re right up the road. I’ve still got a lot of teammates I mess with who go there.”
The players he came in with as part of the Bulldogs’ 2020 signing class are beginning to shine. Quarterback Will Rogers is a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes has proven himself one of college football’s elite ballhawks. Running backs Dillon Johnson and Jo’quavious Marks are taking on bigger roles for the Bulldogs.
Groce could have been part of that.
He saw the field sparingly early on, seeing action in only the Bulldogs’ first game in 2020 against LSU.
It was against the Tigers in 2021, MSU’s fourth game of the season, where everything changed.
With Mississippi State trailing LSU 21-10 in the fourth quarter in Starkville, the Bulldogs forced the Tigers to punt.
Groce wanted to make a game-changing play.
“I was just really excited,” Groce recalled. “It was loud in Davis Wade.”
When LSU lined up to boot the ball away, Groce left his feet and tried to propel himself over the Tigers’ formation, hoping to block the kick. It didn’t work: LSU’s Avery Atkins got the punt away anyhow.
Then Groce saw the flag. He was confused.
“I didn’t know it was on me,” he said. “When I came to the sideline and I saw everybody … I was like, ‘Oh, God.’”
Groce was penalized for “leaping the shield,” a 15-yard foul that gave the Tigers a first down and a new opportunity to put MSU away.
Three plays later, LSU scored on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Max Johnson to Cole Taylor.
The Tigers held off the Bulldogs, 28-25.
“It kind of messed us up there at the end,” Groce said of his penalty.
He said he was unaware at the time of the rule he violated, which penalizes players who jump over the “shield” — the formation protecting the punter.
In 2017, the penalty was expanded to apply regardless of whether a leaping player landed on an opponent.
“That was something I should have known,” Groce said. “I should have been more locked in at that point in the game, where it was at that time.”
‘Hang in there’
The consequences of Groce’s penalty went far beyond its on-field impact.
As soon as he got access to his phone in the locker room, Groce saw the social media comments from fans. Some were sent straight to him; others just mentioned him.
“Don’t let him play another snap on punt team. Ever again. Ever.”
“He should never see the field.”
“The level of stupid on this team at times is outrageous.”
Groce said he took screenshots of some of the harsh words, using them as motivation.
“I was kind of shocked, but then I kind of came back to reality,” Groce said. “This is the SEC. This comes with it. They love you when you’re doing good. They hate you when you do bad. Just keep pushing. Keep your head straight.”
In a now-deleted tweet later that day, Groce shared one example of the online hate. By and large, Mississippi State fans backed him up, telling him to “hang in there” and that they could forgive his mistake.
He said his teammates and his coaches did their best to have his back.
“You educate the guy, and then you hopefully get him motivated back to come out and compete again,” defensive coordinator Zach Arnett said a few days later. “He played for us on defense and did some good things. … He knows, and I’ll bet you he doesn’t do it again.”
Groce did his best to push the play from his mind for the rest of the day. He spent time with his family, who was in town to watch him. They got dinner at Central Station Grill that night. Groce tried not to think about what happened — what he’d done.
That proved too difficult.
By the following week, Groce saw the writing on the wall: The miscue meant the end of what little playing time he had at MSU.
Groce said the Bulldogs’ coaching staff made that clear to him.
“It was more of their say-so than mine,” he said. “It was kind of a situation that I had no control over.”
In October, he left the team and withdrew from Mississippi State. In early November, he entered the transfer portal.
His time in Starkville was over already.
It was hard, Groce said, “but you’ve got to move forward and be where your feet are.”
‘I’m coming back’
Groce thought Arizona State was that perfect fit for him.
After spending much-needed time at home for the rest of the fall, he committed to the Sun Devils in December and joined the team at the start of the spring semester.
Groce got to play under former professional star Herm Edwards, ASU’s head coach. Former Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis was Edwards’ assistant.
“It was amazing, actually, being able to play for NFL legends and all that,” Groce said.
But what Groce termed “outside stuff” within the team caused friction.
In May, he entered the transfer portal for the second time in one school year. (Edwards was fired by ASU in September.)
“It was just time for a change,” Groce said. “It had a lot of things going on. It is what it is.”
When he entered the portal, Groce was intrigued by EMCC. He knew the Lions’ history of getting players back to the Division I ranks; the school has produced NFL players like Denico Autry, Quinton Dial and LeGarrette Blount.
EMCC assistant Brandon Deaderick, who had once recruited Groce to Tennessee, reached out on Twitter to check on the young player.
It was further validation for Groce to make a decision he remains happy with. He called the transition from Division I to junior college a “life-changer” — in a good way.
“It’s straight grind here,” he said. “You wake up, football, class, football, extra work, film. That’s all there is to do.”
But even in a remote location like Scooba, there are still reminders. And there are still regrets.
During game tape sessions at EMCC, the Lions staff reminds players not to do — well, what Groce did.
“A lot of times when we’re in film and Coach is like, ‘It’s illegal to jump over the shield,’ I kind of get the flashback in my head,” Groce said.
It takes him back to a “mentally tough” period in his life. The linebacker owns his mistake, but it wasn’t easy to deal with.
“I kind of went into a slump for a while. With the help of a lot of teammates, coaches, family, I was able to bounce back and get to where I need to be — which is where I am now, ready to go back,” Groce said.
That’s right: Groce again feels ready for Division I and all the highs and lows it comes with.
He’s gotten more careful ever since that penalty at LSU. Since that day, he started watching film more, poring over the rulebook, making himself aware in case such a situation arises again.
And it just might. Several D-I schools are interested in Groce. In late September, UTSA became the first to offer him a scholarship.
A second chance is on the horizon. Groce is ready to make the most of it.
“Watch,” he said. “I’m coming back.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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