Collegiate Times

Along with several other key players, Virginia Tech seems to have found their quarterback of the future in Bucky Hodges out of Virginia Beach.

Hodges is a dual-threat quarterback, who stands at 6-foot-6, 225 pounds and runs a 4.6 40-yard dash. Rivals.com has him ranked the 10th-best player in the state and 10th-best quarterback in the country. Hodges was a high school district player of the year in 2011 and 2012.

Hodges made his first high school start at quarterback in second half of his freshman season and was the starter from then on. This past season he led his team to a 10-2 record.

Coming out of high school, Hodges was a highly-recruited prospect. He received scholarship offers from other major FBS football programs such as Virginia, Ohio State, Florida and West Virginia.

However, he knew he wanted to be a Hokie very early in the process. He gave his verbal commitment last April and officially signed with the rest of the recruits on Wednesday.

Hodges will come in with most of the other 2013 recruits this summer and will immediately compete for the back-up quarterback job. The Hokie’s current back-up quarterbacks, Mark Leal and Trey Gresh, are both redshirt sophomores with very little playing time.

Most likely, Hodges will redshirt so that he will gain a fifth year of eligibility. The Hokies put Logan Thomas in the same situation when he came to Tech. Then, Tyrod Taylor was the clear starter and they redshirted Thomas to give him a fifth year.

While Hodges may not see any playing time in the 2013 season, he will be able to gain valuable experience. Learning under Thomas, an NFL prospect, will greatly help him develop and get ready for the next season.

Even though he may not have an impact on the Hokies next season, Hodges will gain valuable experience and could turn into the next great Virginia Tech quarterback.

A version of this article appeared in the Feb 7 issue of the Collegiate Times.