"He's been around here four years," Talley says. "He should know what he is doing."
If that is not a ringing vote of confidence, Hodge accepts it as all the vote he needs. "The team is mine right now," he says. "I expect I can handle the job."
What's holding Hodge back is that he's had two knee operations in seven months.
"It's been awfully tough on his knee," Talley said. "He hasn't come back quite as quickly as we thought he would."
Hodge's competition to replace four-year starter Kirk Schulz this season comes from sophomore Tom Colombo and Maryland transfer Dan Taylor.
With a quick, hard-hitting group of defenders - "my best defense ever," Talley says - a full squadron of tailbacks and a fast, sure-handed contingent of wide receivers, Talley feels certain almost all the pieces are in place for Villanova (8-4) to have another successful season. If he can find a quarterback.
"Quarterback is the question mark," Talley says.
"I don't have any questions," Hodge says later. "I'm ready for this job."
In his sixth year as Villanova's head coach, Talley thinks he has the football program right where he expected it to be.
Last year, the Wildcats had their best season since Talley took over in 1985, when the program was restarted after a four-year hiatus. They were tri- champions of the competitive Yankee Conference, received an invitation to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, then acquitted themselves better than expected in a 52-36 loss to Georgia Southern, the premier Division I-AA team in the nation.
"That game really gave us some confidence," Hodge says. "We realized we could play with the best. It was our first playoff game, at a really crazy place, and we weren't embarrassed."
If the Wildcats make that return engagement, it will probably be due in large part to the defense.
Talley calls junior tackle Willie Oshodin (6-foot-4, 240 pounds) "the premier defensive tackle in the league."
