When taking up a journalism opportunity at Penn State, Rosie Langello was unaware she was about to meet her future husband. 

Langello, an Alabama sports reporter and newscaster, and former Penn State football wide receiver Cody Hodgens have a meet-cute story that can only be credited to the match-making powers of Happy Valley. 

Their story began in 2019, when following her graduation from Bloomsburg University, Langello took a job covering Penn State athletics for WTAJ, a local Altoona TV station. To ring in the spring season, she was eager to write a feature story highlighting the Penn State baseball team.

After hearing the inspiring story of a player named Blake Hodgens, her future brother-in-law, Langello was immediately interested in highlighting him for her spring feature. Blake was studying to be a doctor, so when his shoulder needed rehab, he designed and performed the recovery program himself.

However, after publishing the story, Langello had one viewer who had an overwhelmingly positive response to the piece. 

Proud mother Jenna Hodgens reached out to Langello and expressed her overwhelming gratitude and love for the feature on her son. Langello and Jenna kept in touch following the feature, messaging via social media, and their bond inevitably led to Langello’s first interaction with Cody at the Penn State Baseball Senior Day. 

“Jenna was so grateful that I did this story. She stayed in touch with me, and on Senior Day for Blake, I saw Jenna and wanted to go up and say hello, and then she introduced me to Cody,” Langello shared. “I didn’t know he worked for the football team or anything until his mom told me that he was a football analyst for the Penn State team and that he would be around all summer.”

Following their brief interaction at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Langello was hesitant to reach out. She felt her bubbly, journalist personality often didn’t translate to her love life, as she was very much an introvert when it came to the dating scene. However, it was the power of a podcast that motivated her to daringly make the first move. 

“I was listening to this podcast one day and this person said, ‘You should put yourself out there.’ I always thought he was cute, so I just went on his Instagram and messaged him,” Langello explained. “I was like, ‘Hey, I met you at the baseball game. Your mom said you were sticking around this summer. Here’s my phone number.’ Then I threw my phone across the room and I was like, ‘OMG, I can’t believe I just did that.’ I was so nervous but…then he texted me.”

From the initial slide into the DMs, the pair made time in their busy schedules to meet up throughout the summer. With Langello still reporting on college sports and Cody gearing up for the upcoming football season, making time for weekly dates grew challenging. However, Langello noted their shared work ethic brought the pair closer, as they fostered their relationship while remaining career-driven. 

“It took us a while to hang out because our schedules were so busy, and once you hit July and you work in college football… forget about it. We both were working constantly, so we saw each other once a week for six months, just to go out on a date or just to catch up,” Langello said. “But that was literally it just because we were busy and just so focused on where we wanted to go next in our careers. So it worked out because we are kind of the same person when it comes to that stuff.” 

At the time, Cody was working with the Penn State football staff as an assistant running back coach and analyst alongside assistant head coach Ja’Juan Seider. Before his time as a staff analyst for the team, Cody had the opportunity to walk on as a wide receiver for the 2016-2017 seasons while getting his master’s degree at Penn State. With his family history of Penn State alumni, including his mother’s past athletic career in Happy Valley, Penn State was always in the cards for Cody and his brother. 

“I grew up Penn State. My grandmother went to Penn State, and my mom also swam at Penn State from 1980 to 1984, and she was around for the football national championship. So we were kind of brainwashed in the sense that Penn State was going to be the school for us,” Cody explained. “Football is always what I wanted to do in college, and Penn State was always the place I wanted to do it at.”

Cody’s opportunity to return to his alma mater that summer placed him in the prime position to be struck by Cupid’s arrow. The couple’s weekly dates turned into a blossoming five-year relationship. With both Cody and Langello traveling for work, they finally settled in Alabama, and this past November, the couple got engaged. Langello shared the special moment with her family and friends via social media. 

I met Cody while covering Penn State. I did a feature story on his brother who was on the baseball team and Cody was a coach on the football team. After the story aired, I met his mother and she introduced me to Cody. I’ll never forget the day I met him and I’ll never forget… pic.twitter.com/mE0dsRvruH

— Rosie Langello (@RosieLangello) November 12, 2023

With the wedding planning process underway, the couple is planning to tie the knot in spring 2025. While the couple aims to get married by the water, their busy schedules may lead to a local Alabama wedding.

The pair’s love story is not only remarkable due to their first interaction taking place at University Park but also how Penn State sparked their mutual love for football and led them directly to their careers today. 

Currently, Cody continues his passion for football, fostered in Happy Valley, by holding the offensive coordinator position for Montgomery Catholic, a preparatory K-12 school. Cody is grateful for the opportunity to continue working in the sphere of football and his appreciation for the different perspectives he can gain from being in this coaching position is always growing. 

Langello, on the other hand, never saw herself in the college football scene growing up. It wasn’t until her first experience shooting and covering the Penn State White Out that she knew reporting on college football was the right fit for her.

“The reason I love college football so much is because my first TV job ever was [as] a sports reporter covering Penn State,” Langello said. “I will never forget my first White Out experience covering Penn State football. I remember the atmosphere and thinking, ‘This is insane.’ I was filming it, and you could see the eyes of the Michigan team as the stadium was roaring. I was standing on the field and it was shaking, and I was like, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.'”

One Penn State White Out game later, and Langello now is a full-time reporter and newscaster covering SEC football in Alabama. She is a trailblazer at her station, WSFA, as she is the first female sports director in the history of the network. Langello not only covers Auburn and Alabama football but also reports on local high schools in the Alabama area, including Cody’s Montgomery Catholic football team. 

When Cody’s team won the national state championship this past fall, their two worlds collided: Langello reported live on the game while Cody was on the field coaching.

“You don’t really hear of a local sports reporter’s fiance winning the state championship. It happens, but not often,” Langello said. “It was so neat. I got to see the whole game and report on it, and I got to give him a hug at the end and say congrats.” 

One of the staff members on Cody’s team snagged a wholesome picture of the couple’s post-win embrace. 

Despite their initial introductions on the baseball field, football will always continue to bring the pair closer together. 

“We will always be centered around sport,” Cody said. “Wherever we go next, whether we stay here for forever or move on, I think it will definitely be centered around the game of football for me and sports for her.”