The Three Lions continue their World Cup preparation at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami and, after training on Tuesday, Hodgson revealed his plans for the Manchester City man.
Milner, 28, will win his 47th cap - overtaking his record tally at Under-21s level. And though he's in the squad as a midfielder, Hodgson acknowledges his versatility and will try him out as potential cover for Glen Johnson.
England v Ecuador
International match
Sun Life Stadium, Miami
8pm Wednesday 4 June 2014
Live on ITV1
"He is going to play right-back because I think he has got the qualities to play there and at the World Cup there may be moments where we would like to use him there," said Hodgson.
"The chance to use him tomorrow and give him some experience there is perfect as far as I am concerned.
"He is in the squad as a midfield player and that is where we see him mostly, but thanks to his ability to do other jobs we think it will be interesting to see how he gets on a right-back.
"There might be times in the game or in the World Cup adventure where Glen Johnson, who played on Friday, gets injured and a good alternative might be James Milner."
Meanwhile, the Manager also confirmed Frank Lampard will lead out the team for the seventh time as he collects his 104th cap. Ben Foster will start in goal and Wayne Rooney will also figure once more.
"Frank is captaining the team, Wayne Rooney and Ben Foster will start the game. And I am pretty sure you will look at the team against Peru and you will start looking at some guys that didn’t play and you will put some of them in the team - and you won’t be too far wrong.
"I am not trying to fool anybody but I do not want to name the exact team until I have had a chance to tell the players."
Lampard will captain England for the seventh time
And Hodgson says Rooney's inclusion in the side, after playing just over an hour on Friday night, will give him chance to get more football after sitting out the end of Manchester United's Premier League campaign.
"It is quite simple. He only played 60 minutes the other day, he didn’t play many games before he came to join us. We think that he is recovering his match fitness and we think that starting the game and playing a part will be to his advantage.
"We will see how long he will play and that will be based on how we think his fitness is progressing."
He added: "Wayne can play in several positions and he will play in the position which we think will suit the team and which he is capable of playing.
"I think Wayne is a very useful player in the sense you don’t have to pin him down and say this is his only position he can play. We have seen him play centre forward, play behind the centre forward and we have seen him play wide.
"So if he has done all of those things at the very top level for Manchester United there is no reasons I can’t use him in those positions as well."
Watch England v Ecuador live on ITV on Wednesday from 8pm – or follow the action on Twitter by following @England.
