Steelers’ Devlin Hodges ready for December football
Sticking to character, Devlin Hodges knew exactly how to downplay the prospect of playing a football game in subfreezing weather for the first time in his life.
“Ducks like it when it’s a little bit colder anyway,” said the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback whose ubiquitous nickname, of course, is “Duck.”
It was a breezy 31 degrees, according to accuweather.com, as Hodges spoke just after Steelers practice ended Thursday. It is expected to be even a bit chillier come Sunday night when the Steelers (8-5) host the Buffalo Bills (9-4) in a game with heavy AFC playoff implications.
Hodges’ QB counterpart Sunday, Josh Allen, played in college at Wyoming and was drafted by the NFL team perhaps most synonymous with poor winter weather conditions. A native of Kimberly, Ala. who played in college at nearby Samford University, Hodges insisted the weather conditions won’t affect him.
“Once I get out there and get going and get active, I am not really cold,” Hodges said. “I am out there sweating and with the body heat and everything, so it’s going to be fine.
“I mean, as a quarterback I’ve still got to throw it, and the other quarterback has still got to throw it the same weather that I do. So, just go to go out and do it.”
“I’m working with him right now, saying, ‘Man if you can really tear it up in the NFL, we can come out with the Duck brand of camouflage, Duck brand anything.'”https://t.co/FpMwZihAcJ
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) December 8, 2019
Hodges said the coldest game he’s been a part of was a 2016 NCAA FCS playoff game between Samford and Youngstown State. It was 40 degrees with 5-10 mph winds in eastern Ohio that late-November day, and Hodges threw for 372 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, albeit in a 38-24 loss.
The average high in the Birmingham, Ala., area in December is 55.
The Steelers’ final three games are all in northern locales.
“We’ve had some cold days, (and) we have some cold days back home, too,” Hodges said. “Obviously it’s a little different. Just something to adjust to.”
Then again, it can at times snow even in Alabama, and as avid as a hunter as Hodges is, that surely never stopped him from spending the day in the cold. Hodges even traveled to Canada during the Steelers’ bye week earlier this season – to duck hunt, of course.
“Being a big hunter, I’m used to the cold,” Hodges said. “(Sunday’s game will be) no problem at all.”
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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