A kid by the name of Zach Hodskins might be the best basketball player in the world.
At least of the players born with only one hand.
Several media outlets are reporting that University of Florida men's basketball coach Bill Donovan has offered the 6-foot-2 shooting guard from Milton, Ga., a preferred walk-on spot.
That means that Hodskins would be on the roster for the 2014-15 season but would have to pay for school himself. But he could eventually earn a scholarship with the program.
Hodskins's former basketball coach David Boyd confirmed the offer on Twitter:
"@scoutsfocus I spoke to (Florida assistant) Coach John Pelfrey of U of F, and he confirmed that Zach has been offered the preferred walk-on status. #awesome"
According to collegebasketballtalk.com, a birth defect left Hodskins, currently about to start his senior season in high school, with a left arm that ends just below his elbow.
"I know that people who don't know me sleep on me when I walk on the court," he told USA Today 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."
According to Prep Rally, Alabama-Birmingham and Birmingham Southern are considering a scholarship offer to Hodskins.
Collegebaskeballtalk.com reported that Hodskins wouldn't be the first Division I player with one hand if he accepts Florida's offer. Kevin Laue, a 6-foot-10 center who also was without his left arm below the elbow, played three seasons at Manhattan, most recently in 2011-2012.
Hodskins' story is reminiscent of that of Jim Abbott, a one-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who once threw a no-hitter for the New York Yankees.
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