Albert Pujols joins 700-HR club: The best stories from those who played with and against him
Twenty-two years. Seven hundred home runs.
Albert Pujols achieved a level of greatness only three other players in the history of the game have matched when he hit No. 700 on Friday night — his second homer of the evening at Dodger Stadium. He joins Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth as the only players in the exclusive 700-home run club.
As the St. Louis Cardinals slugger made his march for history, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, Buster Olney and Alden Gonzalez asked current and former teammates, opposing pitchers and other greats in the game to describe their favorite moments and what it has been like playing with, pitching to and simply witnessing an all-time great home run hitter during Pujols’ two decades in the majors.
The home runs we just can’t forget
Mike Trout: ‘This is for 600. This is gonna be sick right here’
“The grand slam, when he hit 600. Just the situation. I mean, it was a big spot in the game, and everyone was thinking the same thing. ‘This is for 600. This is gonna be sick right here.’ And then he hit it. He loves the moment. And that’s the thing — people kept asking me, ‘Hey, do you think he’s going to get it [700]?’ For sure. The way Albert prepares himself — he doesn’t change his approach, doesn’t try to hit a homer. He’s just trying to put a good swing on the ball. That’s big.”
Manny Machado: Game 3 of the 2011 World Series? ‘You could even throw the rosin bag and he was probably going to hit it out’
“That was just incredible. I mean, he was not missing. You could throw him whatever and he was going to hit it. You could even throw the rosin bag and he was probably going to hit it out. Just that sweet swing. Even all his homers, going back — his first home run. I just admire that swing, how smooth it is, how long it stays in the path. It’s impressive.”
Tony La Russa: ‘That gave us life’
“In 2006, we had a big lead and everyone got hurt, so it came down to September and we were struggling to get into the playoffs. San Diego came into town and it was a Wednesday night, we had lost the first two games of the series, down a run in the eighth inning, the Padres brought in a real good sinkerball pitcher [Cla Meredith], and he hit a three-run homer and won the game. That gave us life.
“His true claim to fame is he is a high-average hitter who has extra-base power. He plays the scoreboard. With a runner on second, he’s trying to hit a line-drive single and then he may get all of it for a two-run homer. He’ll go foul line to foul line and he hits all different pitches. When he gets that underspin with his swing, he gets that carry.”
Paul Goldschmidt: ‘If you wrote it up perfectly, this is what you would write’
“There’s been three or four home runs I’ve been absolutely amazed at. The [Drew] Smyly one at his eyes was impressive. The one in Pittsburgh. That one passed A-Rod (on the all-time home runs list) and was a game winner. There was another game winner when it was 0-0 and he homered. And then the ones against the Padres. A two-homer game … kind of like storybook. That’s what I’ll remember. If you wrote it up perfectly, this is what you would write: Albert with the game on the line — and he actually comes through. Amazing.”
The secret to hitting 700 home runs
Nolan Arenado: ‘He doesn’t think about hitting home runs’
“I’m probably going to say something people don’t like, but he doesn’t think about hitting home runs. That’s what he tells me, and I believe him. With the way he swings, the way he works, talking to him, he says he never thinks about it. And he’s not going to change what’s worked for him. It’s about getting on top of the baseball, backspinning the baseball, and wherever it goes, it goes. He talks the talk and walks the walk with saying those things. And I really believe him.”
Mark McGwire: It’s all in the hands
“I’m a true believer in the bottom hands being the key to swinging the bat. You watch Albert. He never lets go of that bottom hand until he has to run. To me, that’s the driving force in his swing and why he’s one of the best ever.”
Chris Carpenter: The Machine calls his own shots
“There were multiple times he would go up there for his first at-bat and come back and tell us he was going to hit a homer the next time up. I couldn’t tell you how many times that happened and he would do it. It happened a lot because he understood after one time how they were going to attack him. He was amazing to watch play.”
Matt Holliday: And he’s earned the right to admire his home runs
“When you hit 700 home runs, you know when it’s going out and when it’s not. The guy that bothers me is the guy who [has three career home runs] and it hits the wall and he gets a single. That guy needs to run. But when you hit 700, you know what it feels like. If anyone can give advice on when a ball is going to go over the wall or not, he’s right at the top of the list.”
Mike Matheny: ‘He walked up … like his family wasn’t going to eat unless he made a pitcher pay’
“You run out of ways to describe how unique, different and special he is. He’s relentless. I’ve never seen a hitter who would not, could not give away an at-bat. It didn’t matter if he had four [hits] that night, he walked up to that fifth one like his family wasn’t going to eat unless he made a pitcher pay. The intensity he was able to maintain from Day 1 of spring training until he got sent home at the end … the consistency sticks out.”
Jim Edmonds: ‘If Albert doesn’t get hurt, we’re talking 800 or 850’
“If Albert doesn’t get hurt and plays three-quarters in Anaheim of how he played here, we’re talking about 800 or 850 [home runs]. When he first got back here, your brain is telling you what everyone is telling you: ‘You can’t hit righties anymore and you’re swinging for the fences.’ Well, he’s turned back into a pure hitter.
“He won’t back down. I’ve seen him take a knuckleball out to right field and I’ve seen him take a 102 mph fastball out to left field. This guy is just relentless about his approach at the plate. He took Kyle Farnsworth deep in 2004 on 100 mph and I’m sitting on deck thinking, ‘Wow.'”
“What’s been interesting is watching him grow this year: from leg kick to overswinging to chasing pitches to turning back into a hitter. When he did that, he started hitting home runs … He’s got another year in him, for sure. I know he’s not going to play, but he could.”
What it’s like facing Pujols
Brad Lidge: ‘I made a mistake — and it wasn’t super surprising that he didn’t make a mistake’
Lidge broke into the big leagues the year after Pujols, and initially, he had some success against the Cardinals slugger. But somewhere around his second or third year in Lidge’s career, teammate Roy Oswalt mentioned that there had been an evolution in the challenge of pitching to Pujols — the holes that you could attack as a pitcher were no longer available.
“All of a sudden, it started to feel like he knew what you were going to throw before you did,” Lidge recalled. “You felt like you had to be perfect … He had so much plate coverage, whether you’re throwing a 97 mph fastball or a slider down and away, you had to be perfect.”
Lidge says that this is the part of Pujols that is often not fully comprehended. He was strong, had great hands, great eyes — but he also could anticipate what the pitcher was going to try to do against him with a high degree of success. “If there was one thing I know from facing him, it’s that he’s going to win the chess match far more than he should,” said Lidge. And if the pitcher was able to execute a big-breaking pitch, Lidge said, Pujols was adept at fouling the ball off to continue the at-bat. Or, if the pitcher was doing something with his glove or his hands to tip off the identity of the next pitch, “he’d be the first guy to see it,” said Lidge.
The Astros bore in on the National League title in 2005, leading Game 5 of the NL Championship Series, and Lidge, the Houston closer, was called on to finish off the Cardinals. With two outs and two on, Lidge spun a good slider and Pujols chased it.
“I tried to come back with [the slider],” Lidge recalled. “I made a mistake” — the ball was down in the strike zone, but over the heart of the plate — “and it wasn’t super surprising that he didn’t make a mistake.” Pujols rocketed a three-run homer over the train tracks in left field in Houston, the ball loudly crashing against the protective glass.
Lidge bumped into Pujols from time to time after that home run, saying hello at All-Star Games, without talking about the home run. What he feels about Pujols now is that he was a hitter “hard-wired” for greatness, physically and mentally.
Greg Maddux: ‘He hit it over frickin’ Waveland Avenue’
“The first time I faced him, I threw him a changeup that he missed by 2 or 3 feet. And I’m going, ‘Wow, OK, maybe we got something here.’ Next time up, I threw the exact same changeup and he hit it over frickin’ Waveland Avenue. And I went, ‘Oh s—, maybe they have something here. This guy is pretty good.’
“If you walked him or gave up a single, you won the AB. He covered the middle of the plate as well as anyone. My game plan with him was to give up a single or less.”
Glendon Rusch: ‘He was the best slugger I faced’
“He was the best slugger I faced that could do the most damage in the most different ways. He could hit a homer off any pitch — a mistake in or off-speed out over the plate the other way, he could do it all. When I was facing him, he was in his prime-prime. He’s the guy that you had to be careful of unless you had a big lead or were down by a bunch because he would take you deep at any time. He was a threat if you made a mistake and if you didn’t make a mistake.”
Ryan Dempster: ‘There is no … more of an expert on how to give up home runs to Albert Pujols than me’
“There is no one out here that’s more of an expert on how to give up home runs to Albert Pujols than me.
“People have talent, people work hard, people are prepared. He coincided with all three probably better than anyone I ever watched or faced. Always diligent about his cage work, his BP, everything. So when the game started, he was like playing a video game with a cheat code. He knew what pitch was coming. If a pitcher fell into patterns, he would take advantage of it. He never gave at-bats away. It could be 10-0 in the ninth and he would give you the same AB as if it were tied. He could hit any pitch out that wasn’t executed, and he could hit the pitches that were executed.
“This has been a perfect storm. They put him in a position to have success against all these lefties, then he goes to the HR Derby and gets locked in. And now he’s feeling really good, so when he faces righties, it’s just carrying over.”
Mike Hampton: ‘I should be thankful … that he didn’t go deep’
The Cardinals’ Opening Day lineup in 2001 was stacked with big names such as Mark McGwire and Jim Edmonds, sluggers who most concerned Mike Hampton. He didn’t know anything about the guy plugged into the sixth spot in the lineup that day, a rookie left fielder named Albert Pujols, who was set to play in his first game.
Hampton recalls that there really wasn’t a lot of information available on Pujols, so the left-handed Hampton figured he’d pitch Pujols the same way he had pitched other right-handed batters. “Sink it away, cut it in,” said Hampton, whose start that day was his first with the Rockies after signing a $121 million deal. He shut out the Cardinals for 8⅓ scoreless innings. “It went down pretty quickly after that,” Hampton joked of his short, rough tenure with Colorado.
One of the five hits that Hampton scattered was a seventh-inning single to Pujols, the first of Pujols’ career. “I should be thankful that it was a single through the 6-hole,” he said, “and that he didn’t go deep.”
There’s nobody else like The Machine
Alex Rodriguez: ‘It was like he was a mad scientist’
Albert Pujols inhabited the NL Central in the first half of his career, and it was because of that history that Alex Rodriguez called Pujols about a pitcher from that division. Rodriguez figured that Pujols would have some observations about the pitcher, about his repertoire. “Usually, that kind of conversation will go on for five minutes,” Rodriguez. “Forty-five minutes — it went on for 45 minutes. He’s telling me about the movement of his curveball, his sinker, his passion coming out of the phone. He gave me the greatest scouting report I’ve ever had.
“If the count is 0-0, he’ll throw you a curveball,” Pujols told Rodriguez. “If he gets ahead in the count, he’ll throw two fastballs inside — but because he wants to get to his changeup.”
Rodriguez thinks back on that conversation now and says, “It was like he was a mad scientist. He was walking me through at-bats with very specific information on what the guy was going to do.
After the game, in which he recalls hitting a double off the pitcher — “The accuracy of the scouting report was incredible,” Rodriguez remembered — Pujols texted Rodriguez immediately. “He wanted to know everything about how it went, what he threw to me, the counts, everything … It’s not only about what the pitcher throws, but he wants to be a chess player, too.”
Dale Scott: ‘He was there to do a job’
There were days when Albert Pujols would pause briefly, as he ran or off the field in between innings, and compliment longtime umpire Dale Scott on his work calling balls and strikes in the previous game. “It might be a situation where he catches your eye and says, ‘Good job,'” said Scott. “But it didn’t happen every time.” Yes, there were days when Pujols wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t say anything, leaving Scott to wonder if he had struggled with his strike zone.
This was all in keeping with Pujols’ intensity, says Scott, who shared fields with Pujols over the past 17 seasons of the umpire’s career. He was gregarious, Scott said, offered a smile and a greeting when he stepped to the plate, “but he was there to do a job.” Pujols didn’t complain out loud about ball-or-strike calls, but if he had an issue with the home plate umpire, he would be passive aggressive — maybe a quick grimace, maybe a step back out of the batter’s box. “If the bench saw it, then they would react to it, or the fans,” said Scott. “He reminded me of Cal Ripken. He was serious … The aura around him was that he was there to work.”
Joey Votto: ‘I’ll never be at that level. I’ll never be that guy’
Votto has a crystal-clear memory of the moment when he recognized the preeminence of Pujols, an at-bat that distinguished him from other hitters — including Votto. “It stands out to me in how it represents how skilled he was, and is,” Votto said.
The Reds first baseman was in his second full season in the big leagues and Cincinnati was hosting St. Louis. The Reds had a 3-0 lead, and Dusty Baker summoned longtime reliever David Weathers from the bullpen.
“Nothing rattled Weathers,” Votto recalled. “He had two-pitch command, a running fastball [inside to right-handed hitters]. He knew how to manage big situations. You knew there was either going to be a ball in play or a strikeout.”
As Votto watched Pujols launch the ball toward left-center field, a monstrous grand slam in a pivotal situation, he remembered thinking: That’s a really good swing — a really good swing on a pitch that looked to be in a good spot.
When he watched the at-bat again on video to see if his initial reaction was correct, Votto saw Weathers attempt to work off the outside edge of the plate, with a backdoor sinker — the ball starting out of the strike zone, zipping toward the left-handed hitter’s batter’s box, before veering back toward the plate. It was a good pitch by Weathers, a good spot, because right-handed hitters had to be cognizant of how his sinker would cut inside. But somehow Pujols had the acumen, the balance and the swing to get to the pitch — and blast it into the seats well beyond left-center field.
“I already viewed him at such a high level,” said Votto. “But after watching it, I realized: I’ll never be at that level. I’ll never be that guy.”
-
Mark Schlabach
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said he doesn’t have interest in other jobs.
DeBoer, who has a 19-6 cumulative record and is in his second season with the ninth-ranked Crimson Tide, had been linked to Penn State‘s coaching vacancy.
“We’re extremely happy at Alabama,” DeBoer said Thursday ahead of this weekend’s SEC championship game against No. 3 Georgia.
“We’re extremely happy here, love the challenge, love the grind, love this place. There’s never been any link, there’s never been any conversation, there’s never been any interest either way. So I’m glad we can put that to bed right now.”
The Nittany Lions’ coaching search is ongoing after they fired James Franklin on Oct. 12. Penn State, which had national title aspirations for this season, started 3-3.
Other coaches who were linked to Penn State’s search, including Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key and BYU’s Kalani Sitake, agreed to contract extensions with their current schools.
Meanwhile, DeBoer said starting defensive end LT Overton and reserve defensive tackle Kelby Collins won’t be available to play against Georgia in Saturday’s contest (4 p.m. ET, ABC) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
DeBoer wouldn’t specify their injuries, calling them “illnesses, medical conditions — whatever you want to call it.”
Overton, a senior from Milton, Georgia, was listed as out on the SEC’s first availability report Wednesday. Collins was not included.
“Just trying to get through these next couple days here and kind of see,” DeBoer said. “Obviously, Kelby’s just popped up, too. Just trying to get through this weekend and kind of see where that’s at. We’ll understand more details when that time comes.”
Overton has 33 tackles and four sacks this season. He had six tackles and a half-sack in the Tide’s 24-21 win at Georgia on Sept. 27, which ended the Bulldogs’ 33-game home winning streak.
DeBoer added that running back Jam Miller, tight end Josh Cuevas and guard Kam Dewberry remain questionable for Saturday’s game.
The Bulldogs will be without starting center Drew Bobo, who injured his left foot in last week’s 16-9 victory against Georgia Tech.
-
Max Olson
LUBBOCK, Texas — In December 2021, Jacob Rodriguez felt lost.
The young quarterback had just ended his freshman season at Virginia. Coach Bronco Mendenhall had unexpectedly stepped down. Rodriguez decided to transfer but had minimal tape as a college passer and few options. He had a creeping doubt, too, that maybe it was time to give up his quarterback dreams.
Texas Tech was willing to take a chance on him under two conditions: It didn’t have a scholarship available, and it didn’t need a QB. If Rodriguez wanted to come home to Texas and play for new coach Joey McGuire, he would have to learn to play linebacker.
Rodriguez took out a student loan to pay for school. He couldn’t find an apartment when he arrived in January 2022 and moved in with his older brother at the University Pointe apartments. He slept on the floor of his brother’s bedroom, on a foam queen mattress topper folded in half for a little more cushion.
He started sixth on the linebacker depth chart. He lifted weights twice a day to bulk up and watched film to figure out a position he had never played in high school. Back then, Rodriguez wasn’t envisioning someday becoming the All-America performer he is today.
“My biggest concern was not really trying to get a scholarship,” he said. “I was just trying to make the team. I’m fighting to survive.”
Four years later, Rodriguez is the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and the best linebacker in college football. His No. 4 Red Raiders are about to play for a Big 12 championship. Then, they’ll advance to the College Football Playoff. Surreal doesn’t even begin to describe it.
The mustachioed, cowboy hat-wearing captain married to a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot is enjoying a historic senior season and experiencing a new level of fame this fall as Texas Tech pushes him for Heisman Trophy consideration. No other college defender over the past 20 years has put up the stats he has with more than 100 tackles, seven forced fumbles and four interceptions.
And Rodriguez is ready for more as the Red Raiders prepare for the program’s first Big 12 title game against No. 11 BYU on Saturday (noon ET, ABC).
“Man, it’s such a great story,” McGuire said. “In the age of all this money, which is great — I mean, I’m all for it, obviously — this is one of those great stories for college football.”
Rodriguez always had his believers as a record-setting quarterback coming out of Wichita Falls, Texas, but Heisman good? No, even those who know him best say this is getting ridiculous and see it as pure proof of his determination. If Rodriguez could tell his 19-year-old self where he’d be standing today after his humble beginnings?
“That was a long time ago,” Rodriguez said with a smile. “But I’m very proud of that. I think it’s something that I’ll hang my hat on for a long time.
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here, doing what we’re doing.”
HIS CHILDHOOD DREAM was to become the starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings.
“Oh yeah, you betcha,” his brother Joshua Rodriguez said with a chuckle.
Jacob Rodriguez was born in Hastings, Minnesota, the youngest of five siblings in a family that competed in everything, from croquet to UNO to holiday pancake decorating. Joe and Ann Rodriguez signed up Jacob and his twin brothers Joshua and Jeremiah for wrestling at a young age because “we were breaking everything,” Joshua said.
Jacob got started at age 3 and won two youth state championships by the time he was 7, pinning every opponent he faced during his second title run.
“That’s one reason why he’s so good at tackling: all those single-leg and double-leg takedowns,” Joshua said.
When the family moved to Wichita Falls in 2010, the boys were eager to start playing tackle football. The twins would play linebacker at Rider High School. Jacob, a four-sport athlete, played varsity as a sophomore and went on to break school records with more than 10,000 career total yards and 106 touchdowns.
“He was the guy, the talk of the town,” Rider teammate Jed Castles said. “He was signing autographs when we went out to restaurants.”
Rider coach Marc Bindel occasionally let his star quarterback play safety, but Rodriguez was a QB first and foremost with a playing style that evoked Tim Tebow comparisons.
“We always called him Captain America,” Bindel said.
Rodriguez was an ESPN 300 recruit, but recruiters were split on his college projection: Should he play offense or defense? Then-Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein gave him his first FBS offer in 2019 and saw his potential as an athletic quarterback.
But others saw something else. In a game against Canyon Randall during his junior year, Rodriguez made a fourth-and-1 play on defense they still talk about to this day. He burst through the line, grabbed the running back by his legs, lifted him in the air and slammed him on his back for the stop.
Bindel had a coach on his staff send the clip to then-Texas Tech defensive coordinator Keith Patterson. The next day, the Red Raiders offered Rodriguez a scholarship as a linebacker. Baylor would end up doing the same after McGuire became its outside linebackers coach in 2020. Rodriguez ultimately received more offers for defense than offense.
But Mendenhall and his Virginia coaches made Rodriguez a priority — and convinced him he could be their next Taysom Hill. His plans to fly out for a spring break official visit were canceled by COVID-19. Rodriguez still committed and enrolled without ever visiting campus.
“I think we all knew his best chance to make it big was going to be on defense,” Bindel said, “but in his heart, he wanted to play quarterback. And why would you not want to try to play quarterback in college?”
Virginia had an established starter in Brennan Armstrong, who broke single-season school records in 2021. But the Cavaliers also had a way to get Rodriguez on the field as a freshman. He agreed to back up Keytaon Thompson at their FBP (football player) position, a hybrid role in Robert Anae’s offense that could entail pretty much anything.
Rodriguez wore No. 98 and Thompson, a former quarterback at Mississippi State, wore No. 99. They lined up at slot receiver, outside receiver, tight end, running back or behind center. They would motion all over the field before the snap and throw blocks, run routes or take handoffs. It was intentional chaos, aimed at confusing opposing defenses.
“It was pure creativity,” Thompson said. “A lot of the stuff [Anae] came up with, I don’t even think he knew it would work. If it looked good, we’d go with it.”
It was an awful lot of running, so much so that Rodriguez said he went from 215 pounds to 185 during the season. He played 169 snaps but only four at quarterback. The rookie didn’t expect to become a Swiss Army knife on offense, but he embraced it.
“I was having a blast,” Rodriguez said. “I was just happy to be on the field.”
All these years later, Rodriguez believes he would’ve finished his college career at Virginia if Mendenhall hadn’t surprised everyone by resigning that December after a 6-6 season. Thompson called it a “totally unexpected curveball.”
“I loved it there and loved the people there,” Rodriguez said. “But I kind of went there to play for him.”
He made the 1,300-mile trek home to Wichita Falls, unsure what his future might hold. And his phone wasn’t ringing.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of buzz,” Bindel said.
TEXAS TECH ASSOCIATE head coach Kenny Perry excitedly called Bindel the morning after Red Raiders’ first spring practice in 2022.
“Jacob Rodriguez is a bad motherf—er,” Perry told him.
The high school coach’s reply?
“Yep, and he’s playing for free right now…”
After leaving Virginia, Rodriguez had asked a few people to reach out to McGuire on his behalf in the hopes he could join the Red Raiders. Two Rider teammates, Castles and E’Maurion “Dooda” Banks, played for Texas Tech. One of his former youth coaches, Dudley McAfee, is a Tech grad and knew McGuire well. All three vouched for Rodriguez to the new head coach.
“Dooda was like, ‘Coach, if we can get this guy on our team, we need to get him,'” McGuire said.
McGuire vowed he would put Rodriguez on scholarship as soon as one became available. These were the early days of NIL before collectives helped take care of walk-ons. Tech could provide him two meals a day, but he would need to take out a student loan to cover his classes and books.
“It was kind of one of those deals where, well, I got to go somewhere,” Rodriguez said.
More importantly, Rodriguez had to accept his future was on defense. Texas Tech already had three starter-caliber quarterbacks in future second-round pick Tyler Shough, Behren Morton and Donovan Smith.
Bindel has no doubt Rodriguez could’ve made it as a tough dual-threat QB such as Georgia Tech‘s Haynes King had he found the right opportunity. Rodriguez doesn’t fault other coaches for missing on him during his month in the portal, especially given his role with the Cavaliers.
“I really didn’t have any quarterback film,” he said. “I just had a whole bunch of other stuff.”
Ann Rodriguez suspects if he hadn’t gone to Virginia to play quarterback, he would’ve regretted never trying. He had received plenty of advice that linebacker was his best path to the NFL. It still wasn’t easy to give up his childhood dream.
“There were a lot of tears shed and a real thought process about it,” his mother said. “It took a lot of him really looking inward and deciding, ‘You know what? I’m going to do whatever it takes.'”
It was Joshua’s idea for Jacob to move in and save money. The brothers lived in a four-bedroom apartment with three random roommates they initially didn’t know. The bedroom was certainly tight quarters — the brothers had to share a bathroom and closet — and Jacob would sleep near the foot of Joshua’s bed. Eventually, they squeezed in a twin-sized mattress for him.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t even know if those guys would be able to say, ‘Yeah, I lived with Jacob Rodriguez,'” Joshua said. “He was never there. He’d go to workouts at 5 a.m. and was gone before they woke up. He’d come back at 9 p.m. after classes and film.”
Rodriguez said he’d go in for the 8 a.m. lifting session and come back at 2 p.m. for another while working to get back to 220 pounds for spring practice. His offensive knowledge helped, but learning to play his new position was a completely different challenge. Former Texas Tech inside linebackers coach Josh Bookbinder said Rodriguez had all the right traits coming out of high school to be a great linebacker — he just hadn’t played the position.
The hardest part early on was the physicality of Texas Tech practices. Quarterbacks never get touched in these settings. Rodriguez had to get the hang of hitting and getting hit day after day. “I’m like, ‘Dude, how can I sustain this?'” he said. If he were to queue up his 2022 practice film today, Rodriguez expects it would probably look “awful.” He barely had a clue.
“The one thing he showed really early was his effort was nonnegotiable,” Bookbinder said. “He may not have known exactly what he was doing at linebacker, but he was running his ass to the ball.”
Texas Tech coaches loved the potential they saw in the spring of 2022. When McGuire called Rodriguez into his office before August preseason camp, the linebacker genuinely didn’t know why. The head coach asked him to call his parents and let them know he was on scholarship.
“There was a lot to learn, but Jacob is a football dude,” McGuire said. “He was raw, but he picked up stuff so fast because he’s really intelligent. Football makes sense to him.”
All the little details — his footwork, hand use, the angles he took in tackling, how he struck ball carriers — came with reps and time as he graduated from playing on instincts to processing and better understanding formations, sets and situations. After playing backup snaps as a sophomore, Rodriguez’s development accelerated throughout his second offseason in Lubbock to earning a starting job entering 2023, but a foot injury sustained in the season opener sidelined him for most of the season.
“It’s like you had all the ingredients on the counter,” said Bookbinder, who’s now coaching at TCU. “You just had to mix them up and let it cook for a little bit.”
The Jacob Rodriguez who returned in 2024 was finally ready to put it all together with an All-Big 12 season, finishing second among all Power 4 defenders with 127 tackles. And the one who returned for his senior year in 2025?
“He’s the best player in college football,” Perry said.
SESI VAILAHI TOOK the handoff and ran up the middle. Rodriguez met the Oklahoma State running back in the hole and stood him up. But this wasn’t your typical tackle for loss.
Vailahi staggered backward, attempting to break free. Except the veteran linebacker wasn’t going for a takedown. No, he was thinking theft. Rodriguez ripped the football right out of Vailahi’s grip and ran the other way for a 69-yard touchdown.
Literally took it away and took it to the house.
Best defender in the country.
📺 @ESPNU | https://t.co/G56N3v07Kv https://t.co/SKua435dYH pic.twitter.com/1FGuLyRaEt
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) October 25, 2025
He has been filling up the Heisman highlight reel week after week. Like the two Kansas State fumbles he punched out. The one-handed interception at Utah. The pick he deflected to himself against BYU, or the screen pass he jumped in front of against UCF.
“Every time you look up, he’s at the ball,” Morton said. “The way he can cause and flip momentum in a game, there’s not another player in the country who can do that.”
Rodriguez has created seven turnovers by himself. His FBS-leading seven forced fumbles are more than 53 teams have all season, including Georgia, Ole Miss and Notre Dame, and he’s four away from breaking Khalil Mack’s FBS career record of 16.
McGuire has plenty of respect for Indiana‘s Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt‘s Diego Pavia and Ohio State‘s Julian Sayin, the trio of quarterbacks currently leading the Heisman race with one week to go. But he’s not going to relent in campaigning for Rodriguez.
“The thing for me is there’s nobody at the quarterback position that is having a year that we haven’t seen before,” McGuire said. “He’s having a year at the linebacker position that we haven’t seen.”
For comparison: Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o finished with 113 tackles and seven interceptions but zero forced fumbles during his Heisman runner-up season in 2012. Te’o was the unquestioned top player on the No. 1 team in the country.
Rodriguez points to Texas Tech pass rusher David Bailey, their projected first-round pick with 12.5 sacks, as the best player they’ve got. His answers in news conferences offer praise toward teammates and coaches. But among his peers, there’s no question.
“This is a talented football team,” Morton said, “and it’s led by Jacob.”
McGuire shook up Texas Tech’s defense after an 8-5 finish in 2024. He brought in defensive coordinator Shiel Wood from Houston, splurged in the portal with a rebuilt defensive line that cost more than $7 million and inked arguably the top transfer class in the country.
Rodriguez considered going pro at the end of last season and went through senior day ceremonies before the home finale. But he put his trust in McGuire and watched as his coach and general manager James Blanchard assembled the kind of roster that could finally compete for a Big 12 championship.
“You could tell as soon as we put pads on for spring ball: Hey, we’re going to be a special group,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve never had this much fun playing football ever.”
Texas Tech’s determined efforts to make Rodriguez a Heisman finalist took a creative turn two weeks ago. Ahead of its home finale against UCF, McGuire texted Joe Rodriguez to break the news: Offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich was working on a Wildcat package to utilize Jacob at quarterback.
“I said, ‘Coach, that’s so freaking awesome,'” his dad said. “I’ve been pushing that for four years. I told him, ‘Be careful, because you’re going to let that beast out.'”
Joe did not warn his wife that this was in the works. Jacob’s wife, Emma, was the one who told her inside Jones AT&T Stadium, a few plays before the moment arrived in the first quarter. She asked her to try to stay calm. Texas Tech running back Cameron Dickey said he got goosebumps when he overheard Leftwich ask, “Is J-Rod ready?”
“He goes out there,” Ann said, “and we both immediately started crying.”
The home crowd got so loud that Rodriguez worried he might mess up the snap cadence. But his offensive line paved a wide-open lane for an easy 2-yard score. He got to go in and do it again Saturday at West Virginia.
Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez with his FIRST CAREER OFFENSIVE TD for @TexasTechFB ‼️
And he hit the Heisman as his celebration 👀 pic.twitter.com/zzOWSXR1Qr
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 15, 2025
“Just like old times, man,” said Thompson, his former Virginia teammate.
It was all so cathartic for those who know Rodriguez best, who watched how relentlessly he worked to turn into the linebacker he is today and know what he gave up getting here. The dream had to change along the way, but he wouldn’t change a thing now.
“We couldn’t have dreamt this up,” Ann Rodriguez said.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024