The countdown to the 2018 college football season is on. Four FCS teams are in action Aug. 25 as Duquesne takes on UMass, Prairie View faces Rice and North Carolina A&T and Jacksonville State square off in ESPN’s FCS Kickoff.
[divider]
MORE FCS FOOTBALL:
FCS Home | FCS Rankings
Compare FCS Teams | Compare FCS Players
[divider]
HERO Sports is counting down each day by highlighting the best player in FCS football who wears the jersey number of the number of days to kickoff. You can find the running list of top players here.
*Note: Jersey numbers are from the 2017 season.
[divider]
8: Devlin Hodges, Senior Quarterback — Samford
Our Preseason All-American selection at quarterback is an easy pick for the best No. 8 in FCS Football. The rising fifth-year senior at Samford should terrorize the SoCon this year, en route to a third consecutive playoff berth.
What makes Hodges so worthy of his preseason status? Well, for one thing, he's thrown for 8,071 yards and 67 touchdowns over the past two seasons. SoCon defenses might not be Valley-caliber units, but they're not exactly pushovers, either. Regardless, the conference has voted him as the Offensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons; before that, he was selected to the All-Freshman team.
From a national perspective, Hodges has been a bit undervalued. As a sophomore, he earned third-team All-American status, but he was largely snubbed from national honors last year because of the depth at the quarterback position. Most All-America lists opted for Jeremiah Briscoe, Chris Streveler and Kyle Lauletta.
With all three of those guys gone from college football, the 2018 season appears to be a wide-open canvas for Hodges to make a big impact. Samford should aim to make the most of Hodges' talents with a December football game, before he's drafted in the spring.
[divider]
FCS Kickoff Countdown: The Best Player in FCS Who Wears Each Number, 1-99
CFB Countdown: The Best Player in FBS Football, 1-99
