Rodney Michael Hood was born on October 20, 1992, in Meridian, Mississippi — a small city in the eastern part of the state, deep in the heart of the Deep South. Basketball was in the blood on both sides. His father, Ricky Hood Sr., was an undersized post player who played at Mississippi State from 1978 to 1980 before transferring to finish at Murray State. His mother, Vicky, also played basketball at Mississippi State. His brother Ricky Jr. and his sister Whitney both played at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where Whitney was an All-Southern Conference performer. His mother later became the principal at Newton High School and also coached a team — three-year-old Rodney would sit in the stands watching her coach. He was a student of the game, his father said, all along.
At Meridian High School, Hood was a two-time Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year and the Clarion Ledger’s Player of the Year. As a senior, he averaged 24.0 points and 8.0 rebounds, leading Meridian to a 29–2 record and the Class 6A state championship — scoring 24 points in the title game victory over Vicksburg and 27 in the semifinal. He was a five-star recruit ranked 16th nationally by Rivals. In a detail that has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with Meridian: his childhood neighbor was Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore. Hood didn’t know this until March 2021.
Hood followed his parents to Mississippi State, committing in October 2010. As a freshman in 2011–12, he averaged 10.3 points and 4.8 rebounds and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. He was at home in Starkville. Then head coach Rick Stansbury retired. The coaching change unsettled everything. Hood wanted more.
Duke had recruited Hood out of high school but backed off early, assuming the Mississippi kid would never leave the state. Coach K was wrong. When Hood became available as a transfer, Krzyzewski pounced. We recruited him out of high school and followed his progress, Coach K said. Hood became the fourth transfer Mike Krzyzewski ever accepted at Duke, following Roshown McLeod, Dahntay Jones, and Seth Curry. He sat out the 2012–13 season under transfer rules, bringing chitterlings and pickled pigs’ feet back from Thanksgiving in Meridian and introducing his Duke teammates to the Deep South one plate at a time.