Size doesn’t matter for IMG Academy RB Juntoku Koda

Several Division I college football recruiters were watching a bunch of 4- and 5-star players on both sides of the line of the IMG Academy Ascenders.

Yet, one of the smallest players on the spring roster, Juntoku Koda, provided the biggest play in the intrasquad scrimmage at the IMG Academy Stadium on Friday.

Late in the structured scrimmage that featured the offense against the defense, Koda made a one-handed catch on a pass thrown behind him, before he turned and ran forward against three bigger players.

Standing 5-foot-8 and weighing just 140 pounds, Koda caused a huge cheer from the stands and coaches along the offense’s sideline when he bounced off all three defenders before getting tackled for a 12-yard gain.

“He’s fearless and he’s not intimidated when he gets on the field,” IMG Academy head coach Kevin Wright said.

Koda’s journey to Bradenton and IMG Academy began in his native Japan, where he was given his exposure to American football through his father, Yuji, who played semipro ball in the Land of the Rising Sun.

The younger Koda started in flag football, never playing tackle in Japan. Then he arrived for a two-week camp prior to IMG even having a varsity or junior varsity football program. It was his first time seeing tackle football. The facilities, Koda said, drew his interest in coming to America for the football experience after IMG announced it was going to field a football program.

That’s when Koda became fearful, though. He was smaller than he is today, and he didn’t speak any English.

“When I got used to English and I could talk to (my teammates), and we got friendly ... that decreased my fear and now it’s zero,” said Koda, who learned English in about four months.

Koda’s role with the Ascenders, too, wasn’t placement on the varsity squad. Instead, he needed to keep working, improving and get to the point where he was on Friday: battling for the No. 2 running back slot behind starter Asa Martin. And in the inaugural season, Koda made an impression on defensive backs coach Adam Behrends. At the time, Koda was an eighth grader and Behrends was the running backs coach. Pre-game warm-ups ensued with all the running backs dressed, except for Koda, who arrived wearing shorts and a T-Shirt because he felt he could help the team the best getting them water.

“If you had a football team with kids like that, you’d never lose games with kids who are selfless like that,” Behrends said.

Now a rising junior, Koda blossomed without missing any spring reps in practice and with the highlight play of Friday’s game that saw recruiters from Florida, Michigan State, Baylor, Tennessee, Texas and Missouri in attendance.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Size doesn’t matter for IMG Academy RB Juntoku Koda."