School: Souderton
Favorite athlete: Reggie White
Favorite team: New York Jets
Favorite memory competing in sports: “Playing my first varsity game as a sophomore, getting a sack, and also winning the conference championship last year with the team.”
Future plans: “Play football in college and take it as far as I can.”
Words to live by: “Never give UP.”
One goal before turning 30: “Make it to the NFL”
One thing people don’t know about me: “My favorite sport outside of football is hockey.”
Cody Muller, according to coach Ed Gallagher, is the glue that has held the Souderton football team together this season.
It’s a role very few players could have handled.
“We have faced a lot of adversity, and he’s been critical in keeping our team together,” the Indians’ head coach said. “He has really done a great job of holding the team together.
“I’m really thankful he has been able to do that. I’ve been trying to do the same thing, and it’s been rough.”
All teams experience adversity, but no one can argue that the Indians had more than their share. There was the teacher’s strike to open the season, and then came an injury epidemic that grew to the point where the Indians were playing without as many as eight starters.
“It was rough losing (Cory) Sholly first and then Carlos (Cicacci) and Derek Brown,” Muller said. “But a lot of young kids are stepping up. They’re starting to click.”
It’s the kind of positive spin that Gallagher has come to expect his senior star to put on things, but even Muller couldn’t find an upside to the team’s most recent tragedy – the loss of one of their own when former star running back Ronnie Powell – a 2007 graduate – passed away three weeks ago.
“I knew Ronnie,” Muller said. “I played with him throughout Braves and my sophomore year. Just knowing Justin (Powell) and their family – it was really rough to go through.
“Everyone was kind of down for the week, but after the funeral that morning (before the North Penn game), we realized, ‘This is what Ronnie would want us to do. He’d want us to play and take it to them.’”
This year’s team setbacks aside, Muller has had himself quite a career at Souderton. The three-year starter anchors both the offensive and defensive lines – at tight end and defensive end. On one side of the football, he’s a quarterback’s best friend – a big target with good hands. On the other, he’s a quarterback’s worst nightmare as he regularly finds his way into the backfield of opposing teams.
Muller is quite simply capable of dominating the line of scrimmage.
“A lot of teams have been game planning against him,” Gallagher said.
Muller has football in his blood. His father Chuck Muller – an assistant at Souderton – has been coaching the sport for 30 years, and when Muller put on a helmet as a seven-year old playing for the Souderton Braves 75s, he was hooked.
He also played soccer, basketball and track but gave up all three in favor of football. Muller caught the eye of his high school coaches playing for the freshman squad, and when he was a sophomore, he stepped into the varsity lineup . He’s never left.
“I knew he had potential to be very good talent,” Gallagher said. “We were thrilled to have him and watch him grow and mature. He’s an outstanding football player, and he’s a great young man.
“He’s a vocal leader, and he does it by example. He’s everything you could want in a captain.”
At 6-3 and weighing in at 228 pounds, Muller is an imposing figure.
“He’s a very quick rusher off the edge, “Gallagher said. “He uses his hands very well, and he has long arms, which gives him leverage when people are trying to block him coming off the edge. He’s just an outstanding football player.”
An impact player since he set foot on the field, Muller has worked hard to improve his game.
“His work ethic is outstanding,” Gallagher said. “He’s worked to get better every year. He goes to camp, and he works hard on his speed as well as his strength.”
Now he’s reaping the dividends.
Muller plans to compete at the collegiate level. He already has three offers on the table – from Akron, Monmouth and New Hampshire – with more undoubtedly still to come. In addition to those three schools, Muller is considering Pitt, Richmond and William and Mary. He just returned from an unofficial visit to Connecticut.
“It’s a mixed feeling,” Muller said of the recruitment process. “Sometimes there are disappointments, but when I got my first offer (from Akron), it was a big relief. It was like a weight was lifted off me.
“It’s a great opportunity. I get to play at the next level. Playing football is what I want to do for as long as I can.”
On Friday night, after Souderton lost a heartbreaker in its regular season finale at Quakertown, Gallagher asked his players if they wanted another game.
“I said – I can’t end my season like that,” Muller said.
The Indians received word on Sunday morning that they had earned a berth in the District One AAAA Tournament – the first 5-5 team to earn that distinction. While some might say a date with top-seeded North Penn is hardly a reward for the 16th-seeded Indians, Muller begs to differ.
“Everyone I talked to was excited,” Muller said. “Everyone was looking for another shot. Everyone is loving the chance.”
Muller knows it won’t be easy.
“Everyone has to focus and play their game,” he said. “Everyone has to play together, stay focused throughout the whole week of practice and play one of the best games of their lives.”
Whatever happens, it’s been quite a ride for the senior standout.
“I learned so much throughout the years,” Muller said. “I made lifelong friends. Everyone from Braves up until now – I played with kids from North Penn and Pennridge, and you make friends. It’s priceless.”
