Julius Hodge might be the guy from "Unbreakable"

We hate to use the term, but Julius Hodge is a soldier.

"Soldier" is a term that scares us off, especially - no, let's say specifically - when talking about athletes. A soldier is someone putting his or her life on his line. A soldier is not a tight end going over the middle, no matter what Kellen Winslow says.

So when an athlete gets dubbed a soldier, he better deserve it.

Julius took at least three bullets to the legs this Saturday while driving on a Denver highway, and apparently there was no provocation at all. Just a completely random shooting. The dude got lit up from the waist down for no good reason.

The Denver Nugget rookie was released today, and is expected to make a full recovery in about three weeks. Not just a regular recovery, though - George Karl said he expects Julius to be playing in under a month.

Damn, Julius. That qualifies you as a soldier in our book.

At least to us, Julius Hodge's name will always conjure up images of a relentless, sprited, cutthroat baller during his days at NC State (and getting sucker punched in the balls by Chris Paul, which has Paul on our eternal shit list). He just willed his team to wins. We can't picture him any other way than screaming and flexing his nonexistant muscles after a clutch late-game bucket - especially when the Wolfpack knocked off UConn to go to the Sweet 16 last year.

He may be struggling as a rookie on a serious contender, but something tells us he's going to be a good one someday. You heard it here first.

So here's to a full recovery for Point 23 favorite Julius Hodge. God's speed, homie.

(Oh, and Kellen - that's what a soldier is.)