What’s in a name? Everything for Wake Forest’s Justin Cody

WINSTON-SALEM – The name is new, the number is new; the player is the old part of this equation, but even Justin Cody’s emergence after it took a while to settle in at Wake Forest makes it feel new.

It was Cody’s new mindset that took him from afterthought to key player on Wake’s defensive line.

“He was overwhelmed when he got here. And it just took him a while to figure it out,” defensive line coach Dave Cohen said. “To his credit, he did figure it out and has worked as hard, if not harder, than anyone we’ve ever had here.”

Cody is formerly Justin Williams, who had worn No. 44 for the past five seasons — he’s now No. 11. He’s noticeable in spring practices for knifing into the backfield and being one of the Deacons’ mainstays on the interior defensive line rotation.

After spending four seasons unable to crack that rotation, Cody was a bright spot last season and is back for his final season of eligibility.

Everything before now has been as Justin Williams; the name change is a nod to his father, Moses Cody, who is battling cancer.

“We’ve been talking about it for a long time now, and we didn’t really get around to it,” Justin told Deacons Illustrated on Thursday morning. “So, for my last year, I wanted to honor him by taking his last name.”

Moses has been around Wake’s practices for the last two weeks, visiting with Justin. He moves with the aid of a walker and is headed back to Florida on Friday.

“He tries to limit the conversation about how it affects him,” Justin said. “I just try to spend every day with him, make every moment count because you never know. So, I just cherish every day that I have with him.”

The elder Cody is the reason Justin got into football in the first place — which heightens how much it’s meant to Justin that he’s been around the team for spring practices. Moses was a running back at Morgan State.

“At first, I wasn’t really too into it,” Justin said. “But I was like, ‘You know what? Let me try to follow my dad and see where this goes, and here I am.’”

Of course, he outgrew being a running back. Justin said when he was growing up, he wanted to play all sorts of different positions and it was Moses who suggested he stick to defensive line.

“He’s been there, he’s been my support system since forever, always had my back,” Justin said. “I just want to honor him, go out there my last year and play for him and my family.”

Cody had his most productive season for the Deacons last year.

It’s been an interesting career arc. The first snaps of Cody’s career were in the Pinstripe Bowl at the end of the 2019 season, maintaining his redshirt and providing the Deacons with a little more bulk against a power-run Michigan State team.

That didn’t lead to much.

Cody played in three games in 2020 and had two tackles. He played in four games in 2021, with 30 of his 34 snaps coming against Old Dominion and Norfolk State. It was another four-game season in 2022, with his only two tackles coming in the season opener against VMI and his snaps decreasing to 22 for the whole season.

Per Pro Football Focus, Cody had a combined 142 snaps in his first four seasons in the program. He passed that mark in Wake’s fifth game last year, playing 353 snaps and recording 13 tackles, two of them TFLs.

“The first 18 months, the first year — until they get their first birthday at the school, they’ve gotta just get used to it. They’ve gotta get their feet wet. That’s understandable,” Cohen said. “But when that was going on at the beginning of his third year …”

That’s where Cohen trails off and leaves it at, “really, you’d have to talk to him what went on.”

So, to hear it from Cody:

“I still had some maturing and growing up to do,” he said.

The 6-2, 282-pounder went into last season thinking it’d be his last one in the program. Being realistic about what his career had been to that point — “you know, I hadn’t really done much, playing time, just didn’t really know what was going to happen” — meant continuing to grind.

That’s where the breakthrough came.

“It was make or break, so I just put my head down, continued to work, I prayed and I just continued to grind, and here I am,” Cody said.

“My hat’s off to him,” Cohen said. “Honestly, I’ve been doing this for 36 years, I’m as proud if not proudest of him and his transition of anyone I’ve ever been around.”

Wake’s interior defensive line has some returning experience, with Cody joined by Kevin Pointer Jr. and Bryce Ganious. Pointer has had two solid seasons, and Ganious made a good impact as a transfer from Villanova last year.

The upcoming season will have Cody, new name and new number, using a familiar grinding mentality to squeeze the most out of himself.

“Even more focused mentally, physically on and off the field, just trying to get my mind right. Come out to every practice and make the best of it,” Cody said. “Like Coach (Dave) Clawson always says, ‘Don’t waste a day.’ Don’t waste a practice, don’t waste a rep.

“I’m just trying to approach every day like that, first-day mentality of being the best version of myself every day.”