This is not your average football player.

Damon Hodges, a 16-year-old with a pair of prosthetic legs, will suit up for the Liberty High School (Ohio) football team this fall.

Hodges had both of his legs amputated when he was two, after having been born without fully developed legs and the umbilical cord being wrapped around them. Hodges, whose twin brother died as a result of those complications, always wanted to play football, but his mother never let him.

Hodges persuaded the coaching staff to let him play and the Ohio High School Athletic Association had to sign off on the prosthetics, as well.

With his device, Hodges, a defensive end, stands six-foot-three and weighs 165 pounds. Coach Chet Allen says he is an example to the other players, too. “I want our players to do things the right way and I have never had a player want something as bad as Damon when it comes to his desire to play football,” Allen said. “He understood what he needed to do academically in order to realize his dream, then went out and made that dream come true. He’s a hard worker, has the heart and now he’s developing a football sense.”

As for Hodges, he wants people to learn from all he's been through to get to this point. "Always never believe anybody who always wants to put you down and do what you want to do," he says.

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