Jonathan Modica

[Tomhog™]

For those who like to keep up with former players, JM will graduate with a Master of Arts in Journalism this month. He has also been acceptd in the Higher Education Leadership doctoral degree program at the U of A. He will start that pursuit in January of 2009. His aspirations are to become vice-president or president at a University.

[DoggtownHog]

I loved watching Pookie. He would have been a helluva football player too. Great to see he has asperations other than athletics. Good luck to him.

[Oliver]

For those who like to keep up with former players, JM will graduate with a Master of Arts in Journalism this month. He has also been acceptd in the Higher Education Leadership doctoral degree program at the U of A. He will start that pursuit in January of 2009. His aspirations are to become vice-president or president at a University.

President Pookie?

Sweet.

[Hogtropolis™]

Man, he must be really motivated.  I didn't realize he was that good of a student while he was playing for us.

[Tomhog™]

Pookie was a good football player too. He was the Marcus Monk at Smackover, often going up high over the defensive backs to make catches.

[DoubleJ]

Man, he must be really motivated.  I didn't realize he was that good of a student while he was playing for us.

Very motivated.  Right after basketball finished, and his scholarship was up, he got a job at NWA Mall.

[Tomhog™]

Seems like a midwest school did offer him. It's been so long I am not for certain.

[HOG FANATIC]

I thought Modica was a quarterback in high school.

[Wildhog]

I thought Modica was a quarterback in high school.

I think he was a receiver.  Also played DB.

[Wildhog]

And this is very surprising...I'm glad for him.


I know he struggled MIGHTILY to get his ACT score high enough to be eligible.

[k.c.hawg]

JM was a QB....quit football after his jr season to concentrate on BB.  Had decent #'s as a jr...126/246 for 1650 yds and 13 TD, Rushed 80 times for 450 yds also caught 3 balls for 3 TD's.

[Table Rocker]

I had quite a few journalism classes with him and ronnie- didn't seem like he was really interested in academics, good to hear he is now though.

[Clint Alan]

I thought Modica was a quarterback in high school.

True. He has all the single season/career passing records at Smackover High School......

[Tomhog™]

Modica usually played QB.  But in certain red zone situations, they put him in as a wide out and the backup QB threw it up for grabs in the EZ.  It worked about 80% of the time.

[Tomhog™]

JM was a QB....quit football after his jr season to concentrate on BB.  Had decent #'s as a jr...126/246 for 1650 yds and 13 TD, Rushed 80 times for 450 yds also caught 3 balls for 3 TD's.

Was it only 3?  Gosh, I thought he had about 10 that year.  Maybe my 80% should be 75% hahaha...

[userpick]

Could have been a defensive star at UA. especially on this sorry a#% defense.

[olivebranchhog]

Great to hear about this. +1 if i could , great post.

[heathtits]

I think the ACT really had to do with Smackover and not Jonathon. My dad treated him regularly while he was student/athlete and said he was without out a doubt the "quickest" hog with words and thought he had treated since Todd Day.

He also liked him much more than Todd Day because he wasn't a pompous a-hole.

My favorite story about Pookie is hearing about him dribbling all over Smackover with a little hog ball and telling everyone he could "I'm going to play for the Razorbacks someday". His masters shows how hard of a worker he is and if anyone doubts his ethic off the court, look at his freaking biceps. He still works out at the HPER regularly and is friendly enough to still remember me and say hey.

He was so underutilized it's not even funny. That entire junior year snubbing by Heath really hurt his NBA chances. Anyone remember his 6 threes in 2 minutes or whatever it was? That was incredible.

Truly a great Hog, and got the post from Heath solely for being a Nolan recruit.

[Arazorbackguy1]

I loved Pookie!   Great Arkansan and will represent the state well! 

[StoernerJonesFan]

I've had several classes with Jonathon the past few semesters and he is without a doubt one of the most motivated and focused guys Ive met.  Definitely a classy guy and always trying to better himself in the classroom.  The fact that he is continuing his education this far only solidifies it. 

[oldfart]

athletes like modica and marcus monk should be more widely recognized for their success in the classroom... maybe it will motivate some young athletes in high school to work more on the academic side as well.....

[elksnort]

Nice to hear some good, positive news.

[L.A.]

He was so underutilized it's not even funny. That entire junior year snubbing by Heath really hurt his NBA chances. Anyone remember his 6 threes in 2 minutes or whatever it was? That was incredible.

Heath ruined his Junior year and as good as a player as he was I truly think he would've been an Arkansas legend had S.H. not been here.

[webbgem]

Great news....

[gutshot]

My favorite story about Pookie is hearing about him dribbling all over Smackover with a little hog ball and telling everyone he could "I'm going to play for the Razorbacks someday".

You could drive by the Elementary School here in Smackover any day of the week, and he would almost always be out there on the playground B-Ball court...most of the time he would just be out there shooting by himself.  I saw him out there in the pitch black dark a few times shooting while everybody else his age was out partying and raising hell. 

[wholehog92]

Congrats to Pookie.  As an Arkansan, I would say thank you for representing our Hogs and state with class, excellence, and pride.  Go Hogs.

[FaulknerHogfan]

What a great story....good for him and congradulations to him as well!