In this year’s recruiting, Dave Salo and USC have already earned a verbal committment from one of the country’s best young sprint butterfliers, Maclin Davis. Now, Dave Salo has added another one in the form of former Auburn Tiger Dakota Hodgson, who has announced that he will be transferring to USC.
Hodgson, who hails from the same Nashville Aquatic Club as Davis does, had a rough first season at Auburn. He appears to have only swum in one significant meet for the Tigers (the Georgia Invite in December), and didn’t compete at SEC’s. He was ranked by collegeswimming.com as the #8 recruit in the class of 2010.
He should have three years of eligibility left at USC, and Dave Salo has shown that he can quickly get transfers up to speed (ask Lyndsay DePaul and Presley Bard, both of whom were transfers) with what his program is about.
Hodgson will actually serve as an almost perfect complement to the sprint-oriented Davis. His 100 fly is a decent, but not great, 48.6, but his 200 fly best is an outstanding 1:46.0 that would have put him in the top 25 at NCAA’s last year. He’s also pretty decent through the middle-distance frees, with a 500 best of 4:21.1.
The newest USC Trojan made his decision after visiting several schools in the last month. It’s been confirmed that he also took a trip to Arizona.
Hodgson told us that he will begin class at USC in the fall. He is taking this year off to train at home in Nashville for the Olympic Trials with his father, Charlie Hodgson, who was a member of the 1984 Olympic coaching staff.