Official visit reaffirms Hodges’ pledge

Even though he committed to his hometown school, Curtis Hodges by his own admission was unsure as of late if he would stick to his Arizona State commitment. After spending time on campus with the Sun Devil players and coaches, there are no more in the mind of the Mesa Mountain View wide receiver.

“It went really good and I had a good time out there with my family,” Hodges said. “It’s been a while since I was on campus, but I did meet (wide receivers) coach Likens a few weeks ago, when he came to down to Mountain View. He’s a real high-energy guy and I like that. I think he’s the right guy to come in and coach all the wide receivers. I look forward to working with him and getting better and better.

“I really got to know the players and hear their perspective on how the off-season and the season will be. They told me that coach Graham expects way more from them than he did in the past. We also had a little sit down with Eno Benjamin and Ty Thomas. They told me that even though people think that coach Graham is hard on them, he’s just very passionate and wants all of his players to do well on and off the field. He loves you and always wants the best for you.”

As a senior, the 6-7 214-pound Hodges collected 733 receiving yards and seven touchdowns for the 7-4 Toros.

“Coach Likens sees me as a red zone fade receiver,” Hodges commented, “and he showed me some film work on what I can come in and be able to do.”

In terms of non-football aspects of the trip, Hodges said that he enjoyed seeing more of the dorms and the college of business, as he plans to major in Marketing.

In the last several weeks Hodges saw both wide receivers coach Jay Norvell and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey leave the program. This obviously caused some apprehension for the ASU pledge, losing the two main recruiting contacts he had with the Sun Devils.

“A lot of things were going through my mind,” Hodges said. “But when I thought about it more – I committed to Arizona State University, not to the coaches. That’s why I didn’t take any other official visits. Coach Norvell at Nevada told me that if anything changes I could call him and Washington State contacted me too. There were other schools that called me.

“Before the visit things will a bit in the air. But during the visit, I really saw myself going to ASU so I didn’t want to change anything. Coach Graham said that he wants me to succeed and to not only be a good player but also be a good person. He told me that he’s going to help me be successful and be a champion after I graduate.”

The Sun Devils’ 2017 recruiting class could have as many as ten in-state commits, which would be the largest number ever in the Internet era in school history. Hodges said that he does take pride in being part of such a unique group.

“It’s pretty big,” Hodges admitted. “I played Pop warner with Tyler Johnson and I’ve been around all these guys in high school football. It’s pretty nice knowing that once I get there I will be around a lot of local guys I know. It will be fun to go out there and compete and take advantage of every opportunity we are given.”