‘The best I’ve ever scouted’: The talent and work ethic that make Marvin Harrison Jr. special
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The tall tales of Marvin Harrison Jr.‘s work ethic have followed him throughout his Ohio State career.
They began with the predawn workout sessions as a freshman, which often were bookended by return trips to the facility that led to Buckeyes coaches tossing him out after midnight.
They continued with a practice temperament so fierce he once threatened to boycott team workouts after slipping in a speed workout and losing the top spot in an offseason competition. (He returned the next day and went 17-0 in his races to reemerge as No. 1.)
The crown jewel of Harrison Jr.’s competitiveness anecdote compilation came at the hotel lobby of a bowl site, when the staff set up a Jugs machine for him to get extra work.
Halfway through what’s presumed to be Harrison Jr.’s final season at Ohio State, he has taken his prototype wide receiver frame and the Hall of Fame tutoring from his father, Marvin Harrison Sr., and nurtured those gifts in the Ohio State wide receiver room, the country’s best incubator for future NFL pass-catching stars.
The confluence of raw talent, unmatched mentorship and elite collegiate coaching isn’t the reason Harrison Jr. is considered a generational NFL prospect, however. What has impressed throughout his three seasons in Columbus is the way he has maximized all the raw talent and inherent advantages of his father being one of the best receivers of all time.
“Many times, the more talented you are, the harder it is to develop discipline and skill,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day told ESPN. “And when you take somebody who has a lot of talent, who has a lot of discipline, that’s when you have Kobe Bryant. And you look at this kid, he’s got a lot of talent. He’s got a tremendous amount of discipline.”
Harrison Jr.’s 31 receptions and 604 yards so far in 2023 have lived up to the lofty expectations, and he’s expected to be the highest drafted wide receiver since Calvin Johnson went No. 2 in 2007.
His 6-foot-4, 205-pound frame cuts the archetype of a classic NFL outside receiver such as Julio Jones, an outsized version of his Hall of Fame father’s 6-foot, 185-pound frame. But his father’s genetics showed up in his hips, scouts and OSU coaches say, giving him the quick-twitch traits of a slot receiver in an outside receiver’s body.
That has all been honed by Harrison Sr. forcing his son to play against older kids growing up, orchestrating a high school transfer to a better program and steering him to be surrounded by the best wide receiver room in college football.
“Some kids are bigger and stronger and faster,” Harrison Sr. told ESPN. “Determination and competitiveness is the difference in him.”
How far can Harrison Jr.’s Mamba Mentality take him? Younger scouts don’t flinch when they say he’s the best receiver they’ve ever scouted, a full package of speed, hands, circus catches and smooth jazz routes aided by those loose hips.
“I think he’ll be with his dad in Canton,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, referencing the site of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, told ESPN before the College Football Playoff last year. “I’ve told people that, and there’s no point in keeping it a secret. That’s just reality.”
Harrison faces the reality of perhaps the biggest challenge of his career on Saturday — Penn State’s No. 1-ranked pass defense (121.2 yards per game) — when the No. 3 Buckeyes host the No. 7 Nittany Lions.
Those who’ve witnessed his rise remain confident: Marvin Harrison Jr. is built for these moments.
As the cacophony of Ohio State’s pro day unfolded around him, Harrison Sr. sat on a bench in the Ohio State football facility. He still found bracket coverage, even 15 years after retiring — old-timers came with items to sign, agents came in for a quick greeting and half-hug, and scouts and general managers paid their respects.
He watched his son put on a show in front of scouts. Even though Harrison Jr. wasn’t draft-eligible, he ran routes for C.J. Stroud to tease the dozens of NFL personnel gathered about what they could look forward to the following year.
When Harrison Sr. reflected back on his own rise at Syracuse to a first-round pick in 1996, he didn’t even remember the school holding a Pro Day. But he does recall every deliberate and calculated step to help hone his son into the top receiver in college football.
“You have to go where the competitiveness is,” Harrison Sr. told ESPN.
That began in high school. Harrison Jr. began his career at La Salle College High School in Philadelphia and transferred to St. Joseph’s Prep after his freshman year, in part to play with current Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord.
Harrison Jr. chuckles at the memory of La Salle students chanting “Overrated” at him before a game during his junior year. He took notice, and he happily recalls a performance that rendered the chanting observation incorrect.
“I was like, ‘Oh, all right, that’s not cool,” he said of the sing-song chants in pregame. “I think I only played a half a game and had like 222 yards and four touchdowns. So, I don’t think that’s overrated.”
Early on in his son’s high school career, Harrison Sr. got a call from then-OSU assistant coach Ryan Day. He was in charge of recruiting Philadelphia and claims no scouting genius when the coaches at La Salle gave an early scouting report. “They said, ‘You know, we have Marvin Harrison Jr.’ I said, ‘We want to check on that one.'”
Day laughs at the obvious interest because of the bloodline, but the early call to Harrison Sr. meant a lot. Day had been the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback coach in 2015 and was a familiar name when he first got on the phone with Harrison Sr.
“The biggest portion of the recruiting process was two words — Ryan Day,” Harrison Sr. said. “I’d heard of him, through multiple sources.”
Day was also recruiting McCord, who was one of the first big commitments after he took over the head coaching job in December 2018. And that meant the two eventual high school teammates took recruiting trips there and developed a comfort level.
To Harrison Sr., the big allure was the program’s NFL pedigree. He loved that wide receiver coach Brian Hartline played in the NFL and was in the process of developing six NFL draft picks at the position since 2019, including three first-round picks the past two years — Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Harrison Sr. appreciated Day’s NFL pedigree from his time with the Eagles and 49ers in 2015 and 2016, and chuckled like an old receiver when he noted his appreciation for a “greedy” offensive coach. (He compared Day to former Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore.)
Harrison Sr. also appreciated that Ohio State produced a steady stream of high-end defensive backs. The opportunity to get pushed by his coaches, his teammates and in practice every day provided the biggest allure for Harrison Sr.
“It’s a competitive development,” Harrison Sr. said. “He had skills when he got here. He knew the game before he got here. He’s enhanced it and got better as you get older. But it’s, ‘Are you going to get here and get in the back of the f—ing line? Or are you going to go in the front of the line and say, ‘I’m going to kick your ass.’
“That’s a credit to the university and the school. The better competition they recruit, the better the kids are going to make each other. That’s the difference.”
Harrison Jr. showed up in January 2021 after the COVID-19 lockdown having grown three inches and put on significant weight, because he’d had extra time to work out. Mickey Marotti, Ohio State’s veteran strength coach, chuckled as he recalled him “showing up like a different person,” the physical changes were so stark.
The stories of the work ethic came soon after, as Harrison Jr. ended up being so dedicated that his work ethic pushed the veterans in the wide receiver room. Marotti said Harrison Jr. would bring groups in to catch balls before 6 a.m. lifts.
Harrison Jr. earned a small role as a freshman, broke out as arguably the country’s top receiver last year with 77 catches for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns and likely would have been the first wide receiver picked in the NFL draft last year. (His teammate, Smith-Njigba, went No. 20 to the Seahawks with the first receiver off the board.)
And on pro day in March, Harrison Sr. smiled when he pointed out the full-circle nature of the relationship that started nearly six years earlier. He sought out Day for a simple message: “I want to thank you from Day 1 for recruiting my kid. Thank you for everything that you’ve done for me and my family.”
Bill Polian vividly remembered Harrison Sr.’s private workout with the Carolina Panthers in spring 1996.
At Manley Field House at Syracuse, Harrison Sr. lined up in front of Panthers officials for a crew that included Polian, then the Panthers’ general manager, and coach Dom Capers. An assistant drilled Harrison Sr. in a drill called “Around the World,” where he fired the ball at “full throttle” from 10 yards away at every point on Harrison Sr.’s body.
“Our mouths were agape,” Polian recalled in a phone interview this week. “We’d never seen anyone with hands that fast. I certainly hadn’t.”
Polian, who became the Colts general manager in 1998, recalls someone in the group remarking: “He looks like a major league shortstop with those hands, the quickness, agility and softness. That’s Derek Jeter.”
Harrison Sr. crafted a comparable career in a different sport, as he went No. 19 overall to the Colts and finished his career with 14,580 receiver yards and 128 touchdowns. The yards put him No. 9 all-time in NFL history, and the touchdowns place him No. 5 in league history. So it’s revealing that he views his son as well ahead of where he was at this stage in his career.
“Absolutely, not even close,” Harrison Sr. said. “Obviously, things get better in time. Everything is more technical. More of this. More of that. More of everything now than it was in 1996.
“He’s been blessed to be around myself, Ohio State and Coach Day and Coach Hartline.”
Harrison Jr. recalled his father drilling in the nuances of the position from an early age. He said young receivers tend to want the ball to fall “in front of you” on routes, but he grew up understanding that the key to ball tracking is not necessarily running under it.
“You need to track the ball on the outside shoulder,” Harrison Jr. said. “You have to adjust the route not only to catch it, which is hard, but to catch it at a very specific spot.”
Hartline said a part of Harrison’s game that goes unseen is his “mad scientist” ability to learn a concept or see something executed on film and immediately apply it to the field. “Marv’s ability to apply his mental makeup to his physical mechanics is awesome,” Hartline said.
That translates to a prospect scouts say could end up as a top 5 pick in the NFL draft, with the third spot behind USC’s Caleb Williams and UNC’s Drake Maye a possibility.
One veteran NFL scout compared his body type to former NFL star A.J. Green and said he’s the best receiver he has scouted since Johnson went to the Lions No. 2 in 2007.
“What the fan wouldn’t notice is that when he runs his routes, he can really sink his hips and get out of breaks and cut without losing speed,” the scout said. “It may look like he’s blowing by someone, but corners can’t read his hips and doesn’t turn on the blink, as they say, to signal where he’s going.
“It’s not as good as someone like Tyreek Hill, but it’s the same thing. They don’t have to gear down to cut. He separates very easily for a tall receiver, which you don’t see.”
Another NFL scout called Harrison Jr. a “once-in-every-10-years-type” player. He noticed the same thing about the receiver’s hips and called his torso “long,” which gives him a “special change of direction and agility.”
Polian said he notices Harrison Jr.’s loose hips, which are the key to changing direction. A third scout summed up Harrison’s unique movement for his size this way: “He’s the best I’ve ever scouted,” he said. “That guy should be 5-11, but he’s 6-3. You don’t see guys that big do that. Ever.”
At some point this spring, a struggling NFL franchise is going to have a pre-draft workout with Harrison Jr. and likely come away with a similar impression Polian had of his father in 1996.
As Harrison Jr. hits the back half of what’s assumed to be his final season in Columbus, he’s aiming to get the ending right.
The consummate competitor finished last season with the ultimate motivator — sitting on the sideline as the Buckeyes squandered a 38-24 fourth-quarter lead and lost to Georgia 42-41 in the College Football Playoff semifinals. Harrison Jr. took a vicious hit from UGA’s Javon Bullard, suffered a concussion and has spent the offseason pondering what could have been.
“I definitely wish I could have been out there,” he said. “I think I definitely could have made a big difference — rewrote history if you look back at that game. If I don’t get hurt, I think Ohio State wins that game.”
Instead, the Buckeyes came achingly close to spoiling Georgia’s back-to-back title run with Harrison Jr. on the bench for the comeback. Harrison lobbied to return, but he is appreciative of Day and the medical staff looking back. “They’re looking at my best interests, not just as a football player, but as a person,” he said. “I can’t thank them enough for that, as bad as I wanted to be out there.”
Harrison Sr. said the first call he received the next day was from Day: “I said, ‘Coach, for not allowing him to go back in the game, I want to thank you again for protecting my son as if he was your own.'”
The close loss to Georgia, which wasn’t sealed until a missed field goal near the stroke of midnight on New Year’s, set the tone for Ohio State this past offseason.
Day emphasized the inches of the game, staying consistent because you never know where inches will show up. For Ohio State, they won at Notre Dame with a Chip Trayanum 1-yard plunge to secure a thrilling win, which personified Day’s focus.
With Penn State and its top-ranked pass defense coming to town in what’s expected to be another close game, the determining factor will again manifest itself in the smallest details. And for Harrison, it’s the type of stage he has been built for.
“Look at the inches,” he said. “We lost that [Georgia] game by inches on the kick, obviously. It’s just inches away from the [championship game]. How do we find those inches everywhere? Everything is coming down to the smallest of details.”
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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.
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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.
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