HANKINSON, N.D. 鈥� Cody Mauch鈥檚 football career in the National Football League is grounded in his agricultural roots.
Mauch, a rookie right guard for the Tampa Buccaneers, grew up sweeping the shop, driving tractors and semi-tractor trailers and throwing seed sacks on his parents鈥� farm near Hankinson.
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On Sunday, Sept. 10, Mauch made his debut in the NFL, playing right guard at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis as his team beat the Minnesota Vikings 20-17. About 400 community members from Hankinson and surrounding towns joined Mauch鈥檚 parents, Joe and Stacey, and his seven siblings 鈥� one older than Cody and six younger 鈥� to watch the game.
Joe and Stacey raise corn, soybeans, sugarbeets and edible beans with their son Carter Mauch and Joe鈥檚 brother, Andrew Mauch.
Joe Mauch is the Northarvest Bean Growers Association vice president and represents the organization in the U.S. Dry Bean Council. Stacey teaches kindergarten at Hankinson Public 歪歪漫画s.
Cody has younger siblings still at home who are involved in a variety of extracurricular activities, so they're a busy family, and it's essential that everyone pitches in to help.
Teaching Cody farming skills and a work ethic was the Mauchs鈥� goal for him, like for his siblings, when he was growing up.
Raising an NFL player was not.
鈥淲asn鈥檛 even a thought,鈥� Joe Mauch said.
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However, the sense of responsibility, respect for others and the drive that Cody developed through doing his farm work transferred to the football field, his father said.
Cody Mauch also credits his farm upbringing for developing the skills that earned him a position as a starting offensive tackle with the North Dakota State University Bison after joining the team as a walk-on tight end, and in spring 2023, being picked in the second round of the NFL draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The farm chores that Mauch鈥檚 parents gave him and his siblings at a young age instilled in him a sense of responsibility, he said. As a boy, he was sweeping the shop and doing simple maintenance jobs on the farm equipment during summer vacation from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
鈥淭hey would give us a list of jobs to do and show us how to do them, and we would do them throughout the day," Cody said.
By the time he was a preteen, Mauch was driving a tractor, and when he got his driver鈥檚 license a few years later, he started hauling corn in the farm's semis.
The perseverance and ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances that he learned when he was growing up on the farm also carried over to the high school sports of football, basketball and baseball that he played, Mauch said.
鈥淓specially with how, as anyone who works on a farm knows, how things go bad all of the time, kind of adapting is something that translates well into the sports,鈥� he said.
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While Mauch knows firsthand that farming is far from glamorous, his teammates 鈥� many of whom are from the East Coast 鈥� are impressed by his background in agriculture and ask questions about how tractors and farm equipment work and how his family produces crops.
"My favorite thing is, you get these people from the cities and they don鈥檛 know how farms work, and you tell them you farm, and they鈥檙e like, 鈥極h, tree farms and fruits and stuff like that?' It鈥檚 kind of funny to explain to grown people what you think is just such a simple topic, and you鈥檙e explaining it like you鈥檙e talking to a kid,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hey ask, 'How much do you farm?' And you tell them how many acres and they鈥檙e like, 鈥極h my goodness, I thought 80 acres was huge.' They don鈥檛 really comprehend the size of farms around the Midwest,鈥� Mauch said.
He's adapted to living in a big city but misses his family. His siblings also miss him and the way he "bugs" them, Stacey Mauch said.
"They're always looking forward to when Cody comes home," she said.
Mauch, a rookie, doesn鈥檛 know where his football career will take him, but he does know that when he retires from the NFL, he plans to return to Hankinson and farm with his parents, uncle and brother.
Between now and then, his family plans to attend as many games as possible. Joe and Stacey Mauch plan to be at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday, Sept. 17, to watch Cody play in the Buccaneers' game against the Chicago Bears.
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During the remainder of the harvest season, the Mauchs鈥� attendance will be weather dependent. As of Monday, Sept. 11, they still had half of their black beans to combine and all of their soybeans, corn and sugarbeets to harvest.
鈥淲e鈥檒l watch the rain and see what happens,鈥� Joe Mauch said.
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