UCF Coach George O’Leary confirmed Monday there’s a new competitor for the Knights’ starting quarterback spot.

Brett Hodges, a Wake Forest grad who received an NCAA eligibility waiver to play for the Knights, will compete with sophomore Rob Calabrese for the starting job.

“Right now, it’s Rob’s job,” O’Leary told the Orlando Sentinel. “But I’m going to play whoever has the best preseason. Right now, what I brought Brett in to do, was to have an opportunity to win the job but also give us some stability.”

Hodges, who played high school football at Winter Springs not far from UCF, got the waiver because he’s planning to pursue a master’s degree at UCF that wasn’t available at Wake Forest.

According to Hodges’ bio page at Wake Forest, he turned down offers from UCF, East Carolina and USF when he originally chose to attend Wake Forest.

O’Leary told the Sentinel Hodges brings fieldsmanship to the team, and added that he was impressed with his knowledge of the game.

Last season Calabrese won the starting QB job over Michael Greco, who transferred to UCF from NC State in hopes of being the Knights’ starting QB.

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