Ranking Tennessee football true freshmen by potential early impact

Hometown: Maryville, Tenn.

When Jeremy Pruitt first took over as Tennessee football’s head coach, he made it clear he wanted to run a four-back set. There would be two all-purpose backs who make the big plays, one fundamental running back who makes the necessary plays, particularly on third down, and then a power back who can help them convert on short-yardage plays.

Last year, he was lacking in the power back department. With Eric Gray and Ty Chandler as the two all-purpose backs and Carlin Fils-Aime as the one standard back, replacing the recently-dismissed Tim Jordan in the process, the move is now to find the power back. Pruitt recruited two guys at that position, and one of them is bound to fill that role this year.

Hodge, a three-star out of Maryville High School, clearly provides the size to do it, and he’s familiar with playing the position. As a result, he’s got a great chance to play, and that’s why we put him on this list. However, there are questions as to how ready he’ll be.

As just a three-star who may need to add a bit more weight to truly be a power back, Hodge not only has competition with another freshman, but he also has competition with Pruitt’s and Jim Chaney’s willingness to not use a power back. Last year, they just ran Quavaris Crouch there. It helps, though, that he has a great new running backs coach in Jay Graham.