Florida offers preferred walk-on spot to one-handed 2014 guard Zach Hodskins

By Adam Silverstein
August 15, 2013

Florida Gators head basketball coach Billy Donovan has made a career of recruiting the right players for his program, making the most out of underrated talent and turning top prospects into NBA Draft lottery picks.

He may have a new opportunity to smooth out yet another diamond in the rough if 2014 guard Zach Hodskins (Alpharetta, GA), a one-handed phenom, accepts Donovan’s preferred walk-on offer to join the Florida basketball team.

Hodskins was born without the bottom half of his left arm, which is cut off at the elbow and therefore missing a hand and forearm, yet is an incredibly skilled shooter (hitting 60 percent of his three-pointers) and passer despite only having one hand.

According to David Boyd, Hodskins’s former basketball coach, Gators assistant coach John Pelphrey presented the preferred walk-on offer, which would guarantee Hodskins a spot on the team for the 2014-15 season though not a full scholarship.

Hodskins (6-foot-3, 175 pounds) has not received a scholarship offer from a Division I program although Alabama-Birmingham and Birmingham Southern are both considering taking that step in their recruitment of the player, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Pep Rally blog, which first reported Hodskins’s offer from UF.

The opportunity to play – even as a reserve deep on the bench – for a program like Florida might be too much for him to pass up in the long run. While that may be the case, Hodskins is not expected to rush into a decision and will undoubtedly wait to see if a full scholarship offer arrives before agreeing to continue his career in Gainesville, FL.

“I know that people who don’t know me sleep on me when I walk on the court,” he told USA Today back in December. “They don’t think I can play or they don’t know what to think, but it’s when I hit those first few shots or when I go by them is when they wake up. That’s when they start playing me hard. That’s what I love. I know I’ve just earned their respect. That’s all I want.”

The Gators have a pair of four-star, Rivals100 guards – Brandone Francis (Jacksonville, FL) and Chris Chiozza (Memphis, TN) – already committed for 2014 but are expected to have at least two more roster sports available as the team is losing four seniors and potentially one or two underclassmen.

If Hodskins was to join the Florida basketball team as a preferred walk-on, he could potentially earn a full scholarship in the future.


4 Comments

  1. Joe says:

    Wow, this kid is a baller. Congratulations Zach!

  2. Danthefan says:

    Wow.

    Talent, heart, positivity, ball skills, natural shooter… hope Zach accepts, would be great.

    GO GATORS!!!

  3. Mr2Bits says:

    An absolutely amazing story and hope he joins the nation…truly inspirational!

  4. SC-Gator says:

    Damn, dude has got moves!

Join The
Discussion

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux