Bucky Hodges will flaunt his dance skills in Blacksburg next season.
Hodges tweeted Wednesday evening, "Staying another year in Blacksburg let's make history!!!"
Staying another year in Blacksburg let's make history!!! #hokienation pic.twitter.com/H7iWDHLDED— bucky hodges (@Bucky757) January 13, 2016
The 6-7, 241 pound Salem (Virginia Beach, VA) product has two years of eligibility left at Virginia Tech. Hodges caught 45 passes for 526 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2014. He added 36 receptions, 492 receiving yards and 6 TD grabs in 2015.
This is an excellent re-recruit for head coach Justin Fuente and his staff.
Fuente added he didn't talk to Kendall Fuller about decision to declare for draft, but has tried to convince #Hokies Bucky Hodges to stay.— Alex Koma (@AlexKomaVT) December 16, 2015
Hodges is far from a polished player, but had his eye on the NFL. His athleticism, stature and versatilely signal matchup issues at the next level. Throughout his time at Tech, Hodges spent plenty of snaps aligned as a receiver rather than as a traditional tight end. Former offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler divulged Hodges was Tech's No. 1 target 90 percent of passing plays, and Bucky frequently drew the attention of two-or-more defenders.
Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout.com wrote about Hodges after Virginia Tech's Techmo Bowl win.
Hodges, technically eligible for the 2016 NFL draft as a redshirt sophomore, boasts an exciting combination of size, speed and power which helped him stand out regardless of whether the Hokies lined up as a traditional in-line tight end or split him out wide.
While young, it was easy to envision Hodges playing in the NFL. Compared to former New England Patriots' star tight end Aaron Hernandez for his unique blend of size and athleticism by Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler earlier in the year, Hodges drew all kinds of attention Thursday night, including from Georgia Tech's top NFL prospect, senior cornerback D.J. White.
On December 5, 2015, WalterFootball.com ranked Hodges as the No. 6 TE in 2016, and as a round 3-5 pick in 2017.
Sources say that Hodges should go back to school and develop before going pro, but there are rumors that he will declare for the 2016 NFL Draft.
Comments
Bueno.
This is the best news I've heard all day, after disappointing news from Wall Street and Powerball.
EDIT: But to be fair, the win over Wake Forest was also pretty welcome.
HYPE TRAIN AT MAXIMUM CAPACITY
If Lawson or Evans looks good in spring practice, expectations will be unreal
If Lawson or Evans looks good in spring practice, expectations will be unrealWhere is the 2016 hype train photo?
Choo Choo.
I'm on that train, where's my picture? I mean it man, I'm on that train.
This'll have to do for now until the QB competition transpires this spring. Then, the hype train will really be chugging down the tracks.
This actually made me laugh out loud
Great news. Now, who's going to throw to him?
The QB, a WR and a FB.
Wait, I thought TE's throw the ball?
...this the beginning to a joke??
This is going to pay enormous dividends for both Bucky individually in the long run, and for the hokies next year as a team.........i for one am VERY stoked.......
So, those are your top three WRs in Hodges, Phillips, Ford. Rogers is the H. Maybe Chris Cunningham can spell him? Cline and Burke will work the Y when Fuente uses a TE.
Now- they need health at running back and SOMETHING from this incoming group of freshmen at WR. Spring will be huge for them. CJ Carroll is the next man up until then.
Are you sure CJ Carroll isn't Danny Coale?
VT and Michigan are both on the rise, in another 3 years it will be the NCG and this time the referees and the rest of the world will see that Danny JR caught that ball!
It would be pretty sweet to see Harbaugh meltdown over the future catch.
Elements of his game remind me of Willie Byrn, Danny Coale, Don Hutson, Steve Largent, Wayne Cherbet, Chris Collinsworth, Lance Alworth, Raymond Berry, Fred Biletnikoff, Tom Fears, Elroy (Crazylegs) Hirsch, Dante Lavelli, Don Maynard,Tommy McDonald, Pete Pihos, Ed McCaffery, and Wes Welker.
French, man I love ya, but you forgot to mention one of my all time old time favorites, Nat Moore!
One of my favorite Hokies was Shawn Witten. That guy had the best hands. I always thought he could be a Welker type flanker in the NFL.
Do you have this response ready to go on a sticky note or something?
CJ Carroll reminds me of Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, Ed McCaffrey, Jordy Nelson, Steve Largent, Dwight Clark and Joe Jurevicius. If you notice a trend, obviously it means you're racist /s
Wasn't Joe Jurevicious like 6-4? Isn't Nelson 6-3? Dwight Clark a 6-4 TE? I think you are just lump on a bunch of white players together.
This was by far the most epic in-game interview by Musberger ever.
I remeber Herbstreet laughing his ass off in the background!!
Shhhhhhhhh!! Maybe they won't "it's a catch" on.
Danny Coale is easy to recognize, he's the one who's open.
Deon Newsome is back on the Hokiesports.com roster. Does this mean he is back on the team?
Hopefully he can make some big strides and contribute.
I'm hoping that Bradshaw steps up.
If Carroll can play like the kid for Clemson did on monday night that'd be great.
So is this saying that Hodges will be more of a wide receiver next year? I haven't watched any Memphis film closely enough, but do their tight ends run routes or even get on the field very often, and if not is that more a product of scheme or just not having anyone with Hodges' kind of ability?
I'm trying not to board the hype train on next season too early, but, damn... this retention of talent, the influx of experienced JuCo talent, and the young, returning talent we still have...?
Wow. In the words of the late, great Johnny Cash: "I hear the train a comin'..."
Are you the hype train conductor? Because if so I am on board, season tickets will be in mine and my wife's hands later this year!
I'm 100% staying off the hype train. We still have no idea about QB, the most important position. Plus, we are sketchy at the defensive front four and I'm not at all confident at LB.
But, the potential is there if we shore those up, WR and RB should be good, and the secondary I think will be nice.
If young ends step up, I'm not worried about the front four. Should have lots of depth and size this season, hopefully we can rotate guys in and out to keep everyone fresh.
Woody Baron was really good at DT when Marshall was out, Ekanem and Mihota is pretty darn good tandem at DE, and we have Nigel Williams at the other tackle along with Sobzak, Ricky Walker, and Settle
Ekanem and Mihota is nice, but we have no depth which is my issue. Like, if they are out of the game for a breather, I have no confidence that the backups are gonna make a big play. Great teams have playmakers in their 2nd and 3rd string guys.
Outside of teams that consistently recruit in the top 10 there is usually very little depth at certain positions, and sometimes the dropoff is noticeable even with teams that recruit very very well
Don't forget there are a few r-Fr at DE.
If Trevon Hill comes back healthy, that will be huge.
I've forgotten about him, hopefully he does get healthy.
Fuente is already winning on the recruiting trail and his two biggest gets were already Hokies. This should be fun...
Christmas in January.
Lmao, that is hilarious.
GODS GIFT that keeps on giving.
This is bigggg for Fuente.
I had already tried to soften the blow that he was gone by telling all my non-Hokie friends that I'd be shocked if he returned. Makes this so much sweeter
Oh thank goodness. Please let 2016 be something special.
Wasn't 2016 ALWAYS going to be the year?
Going to change may diaper.
So you're telling me just about every offensive weapon we had in 2015, will be available for our offense this year?
I cringed at the Aaron Hernandez comparison
I didn't, he isn't comparing characters.
Gettin lucky gettin Bucky
What time is it?
This is great for both VT and Bucky. Hodges is a talented player but needs a little more experience to really blow the scouts away and get picked in a round that is more commensurate with his abilities. Against UVA he had a HUGE block for Ryan Malleck. You have to love the Walking Deadesque lean he's got on this crazy block.
and let's not forget this monster block in the Tulsa game:
Ugh, are we seriously doing this stuff again, just like on the David Wang missed block? Good lord, watch the clip. Bucky, running full speed to lay the blocker out, misses because the defender, instead of moving towards the play as Bucky is clearly anticipating, stutter steps to avoid the block. Isaiah could have still followed Bucky and potentially broke that for a TD. Had he done that instead of going backwards, we wouldn't be talking about this. Instead, you're going to try to draw out a negative. How about instead look at the key block he made to spring Ford open on the longest TD of his career on a WR screen. Everybody is going to have a bad play, but seriously, in a game where we won and this miss didn't cost us anything at all, this is something that really doesn't matter.
Imagine writing 2000+ words on how great of a player Isaiah Ford has turned himself into... and half of the comments are about Bucky Hodges missing a block.
Funny, sad and true. When did that become such a point of contempt amongst the fanbase? People treat Marcus Davis like he was the devil incarnate because of his somewhat lazy blocking, but we probably don't make a bowl game without him in 2012 and he was almost our first 1000 yard receiver.
edit: I understand that downfield blocking is key to breaking big plays, but the narratives that we develop on here (and other message boards/forums) can be a little ridiculous sometimes.
Disagree about Marcus Davis 100%. He should have been benched and Corey Fuller should have been playing more.
People complain about Marcus Davis because he took plays off, it wasn't just a blocking thing. He was our "Randy Moss." If the ball wasn't coming to him he wasn't interested/engaged in the play at all. Supreme waste of talent there, the guy had all the tools and none of the work ethic.
I think comparing someone to Randy Moss in a negative light is a pretty bad example. Despite his off-field instances, he was extremely productive in college and the pros and is likely a hall of famer.
And I'm aware he took plays off and that didn't sit well with me, but people created this horrible narrative where he was this selfish POS that only cared about himself and discredited all he did for us. My point lies in the creation of these negative narratives about players' motivations and they often lack credibility and spread like rumors so quickly that people start to believe them despite there being no hard evidence to support it.
I agree with not faulting Bucky on that block. Watching that play makes it clear neither he nor the defender were sure what was happening. He had way too much momentum (and no being smaller wouldn't have helped) to alter his direction and make a different block.
I think another season will do him good. That and finding a coach willing to accept him as a project QB
oh sorry I just copied and pasted my post from the last big TE we had go to the NFL
What if Bucky Hodges -> Logan Thomas 2.0?
*just throwing that out there
I still think we should add RichRod to the staff.
This appeared over my house.
Motley is excited about his return.
We did not see nearly enough of that play last year.
Hopefully we can avoid any sanctions from this investigation by the NCAA. It seems Bucky might be guilty.
Relevant /s
1. Look above you.
2. Drink...drink a lot.
Can't believe I missed that, off to go hide in shame now
Hey, the good news is your shame will be blanketed in alcohol!
