Former Ole Miss transfer commit Justin Hodges lands at new school

Butch Jones has added a former Ole Miss transfer commit to his team at Arkansas State.

Cornerback Justin Hodges has joined the Red Wolves roster, he confirmed on Instagram.

Hodges, who who began his college career at UCF, committed to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss in May but didn’t end up joining the Rebels. He essentially became a free agent again in late July and has now ultimately landed in Statesboro, Arkansas with Jones, the former Tennessee head coach who is entering his third season at Arkansas State.

The Red Wolves were 3-9 last year after finishing 2-10 in 2021. They were recently picked to finish sixth in the Sun Belt’s West division in the Sun Belt preseason poll. They open this season with a road game against Oklahoma Sept. 2 before facing Memphis in Week 2.

Jones will now have some additional help at defensive back, though.

Hodges was a starter at UCF the last two years prior to being dismissed by the Knights in January after being arrested on multiple charges, including home invasion robbery with a firearm and mask. He later entered the NCAA transfer portal. The case was dropped in May, according to online court records.

Hodges recorded 40 tackles and an interception for Gus Malzahn’s UCF squad last season. At Ole Miss, he would’ve been one of a few transfer additions for the Rebels at defensive back. At one point, Ole Miss was set to add the combination of Hodges, Tulane transfer Jadon Canady and FAU transfer Teja Young. The Rebels ended up landing Miami cornerback transfer Chris Graves after everything fell through with Hodges.

Graves, a Class of 2022 four-star recruit, was ranked by On3 as the 15th-best and 118th-best overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. He was the fifth-highest ranked player in Miami’s 2022 recruiting class that ranked 13th-best nationally according to the On3 Team Recruiting Rankings.

Canady, meanwhile, was a two-year starter at Tulane before suffering a season-ending knee injury last year. Young had 160 career tackles and seven career interceptions at FAU, including four pick-sixes.