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It’ll end up on giant screens and promotional posters and videos before they fight. When ring announcers welcome them at the beginning of the fight, and call them out as the winner at the end, it’s all part of it.

It’s what made Marvin Hagler “Marvelous,” Ray Leonard, Ray Robinson and Shane Mosley three lumps of “Sugar” and Muhammad Ali simply “The Greatest.” Names are names, but a nickname is a moniker that becomes part of a fighter almost as much as the way they attack in the ring.

It’s a descriptor that follows them throughout their career and their lives. Yes, other sports have players with nicknames, but in team sports it can get lost, outside of a few rare exceptions.

But in boxing, where there are only two fighters in the ring, it becomes something more — especially when it’s emblazoned on a fighter’s trunks.

“It describes your alter ego,” Claressa Shields said. “I think people get confused when they feel like fighters are the same person they are inside the ring as they are outside the ring. A lot of us are completely different.”

Nicknames mean different things for everyone and cover a spectrum — from the ludicrous to the meaningful, to something random that just kind of stuck. They can be used as differentiators for people with common names, and as a way to try and create excitement and brand recognition for fans.

“Money” became a way of life for Floyd Mayweather — his lifestyle brand is called “The Money Team,” or TMT for short. “Golden Boy” enveloped a lot of Oscar De La Hoya’s persona, and became the name of his boxing promotions company. “Raging Bull” became more than a nickname for Jake LaMotta — it turned into a 1980 classic movie nominated for eight Academy Awards and nabbed Robert DeNiro the Oscar for Best Actor.

We spoke to some of today’s fighters to understand the origins of their nicknames.

Teofimo Lopez: “The Takeover”

Teofimo Lopez and his sister, Andrea, were sitting at home in Las Vegas in 2017, kicking around ideas. Trying to think of a catchphrase more than a nickname — something to describe Lopez’s lofty career aspirations.

“I think it has a statement or a stamp on it that that is yours,” Lopez said about having a nickname. In thinking of fighters like Mayweather and “Iron” Mike Tyson, they were certain that Lopez needed something.

“I was like, ‘Let’s do ‘The Takeover.” She said, ‘We taking over the world,'” Lopez said. “I said, ‘Say that again.’ And I put ‘The.’ And she put ‘Takeover.’ And we just put it together, man.”

By 2018, Lopez and his team started really pushing “The Takeover” as a concept, not knowing if it would actually stick. They thought it might, but Lopez put on the full court press as he tried to mention it in every conversation and social media post he could.

By osmosis, it became his nickname — a transition from “El Brooklyn.” He still likes “El Brooklyn,” as it ties into where he comes from. Lopez fought as “El Brooklyn” in New York. But as he grew, “The Takeover” made a lot more sense.

It serves a dual purpose. Besides sticking with fans, it sends a message of what he’s trying to accomplish.

“When you think of ‘Takeover,’ it’s everything. The world and everything in it,” Lopez said. “And that’s what it comes to, and that’s what I’m trying to imply. Teofimo is not just going to be a name that you only hear once.”

Tyson Fury: “The Gypsy King”

The King of the Gypsies is real and, as Tyson Fury tells it, he has lineage on both sides of his family who were once “The Gypsy King”: Uriah Burton and Bartley Gorman. They fought bare-knuckle. While Fury does not, he said he earned the title of “The Gypsy King” after beating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to win the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles. And, unlike the titles he did let go for a period of time, he hasn’t relinquished the nickname since.

“I always knew I’d become ‘The Gypsy King’ and that’s the ultimate nickname,” Fury said. “I always aspired to be the best, always wanted to be the heavyweight champion of the world. And there’s a lot of honor and respect that comes with my inherited title because there’s gypsies in every country in the world.

“I don’t know if you notice, but they always come and support me. Whatever country I go to in the world, there’s gypsies there and I am ‘The Gypsy King.’ So they all come to support me.”

Fury said he’s declined other awarded British titles of nobility because of his respect for the honor of being “The Gypsy King.” And it’s a title he doesn’t plan on giving it up for a long, long time.

Fury also wants to have the star power of someone bigger than a boxer — rather that of a crossover star or even a musician, mentioning Elvis and one of his personal favorites, Tom Jones.

Boxing, he says, is merely the beginning of a journey.

“Gypsy King is a badass mother—–,” Fury said. “That’s what you should know. He’s a bad man. He’s taking over.”

Claressa Shields: “GWOAT”

Claressa Shields finally decided it was time for a change. For years, since she was a kid starting out in boxing, Shields had gone by “T-Rex.” It was on her gear. Heck, it was the name of the 2015 documentary made about her life.

But things have changed. She is one of the best, if not the best, female boxer in the world. She won her professional MMA debut with only months of training. So she saw the need for an update.

“GWOAT, Greatest Woman of All Time, goes into like I’m boxing now, I’m two-time undisputed, three-time division world champion,” Shields said. “I’m [a] MMA fighter, 1-0 with one knockout. I just felt GWOAT fit me better now because really I can handle any boxing style, any weight class, any sport.

“You got MMA, you got boxing. And I’m just kind of like, great, all around. So I just thought it was time to go ahead and just change it permanently and just let ‘T-Rex’ go.”

Shields said she made the decision on the switch after her fight against Marie Eve Dicaire in March on a pay-per-view card she headlined. The win made her a two-division undisputed champion and a three-division world champion, as well as the first boxer in the four-belt era to hold undisputed championships in two weight classes.

She believes her longtime fans saw the process and had waited for her to make the switch. It’s also a nickname she coined and trademarked in 2019 for use on clothing and other gear.

“It’s definitely been picking up a whole lot of momentum in the past year,” Shields said.

Her now-former nickname, “T-Rex,” came from the start of her career when she was age 11 and described her fighting style — a kid at the time, she was tall and lanky with fairly short arms. So the guy she sparred with called her “T-Rex.”‘

“He said, ‘Because your arms are short and you be looking like a little dinosaur when you trying to get us,'” Shields said. “He kind of did a little T-Rex arms and his mouth open and I just started cracking up.”

Childhood laughter led to a realization there was a catchiness to it, turning it into one of the most known nicknames in boxing. Throughout her career, that includes headlining her own pay-per-view card earlier this year, she kept her T-Rex moniker.

But she knew at some point it would be going away. That as her career progressed, she would want something a little different.

While she won’t have an issue being connected to “T-Rex,” she feels like she’s in a situation similar to when Floyd Mayweather switched from “Pretty Boy” to “Money.”

“I’ll always have ‘T-Rex’ inside of me,” Shields said. “But I just felt like ‘The Greatest Woman of All Time’ is ‘T-Rex’ times 10.”

Sebastian Fundora: “The Towering Inferno”

It makes sense that the then-20-year-old Sebastian Fundora had never heard of ‘”The Towering Inferno”‘ when it was suggested to him as a nickname in 2018.

The 1974 Paul Newman-Steve McQueen film came out 25 years before Fundora was born. But when he signed with promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, there was talk of a nickname.

Fundora is 6-foot-6, so Lewkowicz suggested “The Towering Inferno.” Fundora wasn’t really looking for a nickname, but four years later, it remains.

“I didn’t know what it was,” Fundora said. “It was just another nickname for my height. I didn’t really care for it that much, but people really started to like it. So if it works, it works.”

It was a stroke of ingenuity. Fundora feels his fighting style fits the name, despite still never having seen the movie. He feels his high punch rate makes sense with the moniker that first grew on him when he started fighting on television.

Now one of the rising junior middleweight prospects, he’s comfortable with the name and doesn’t mind it. “Why,” he says, “change a good thing?” So good, in fact, he might even decide to see a movie that’s considered one of the better disaster movies of all time.

“That gives me more of a reason to watch it,” Fundora said. “No one tells me that. They just tell me that it’s an old movie.”

Gabriela Fundora: “Sweet Poison”

Freddy Fundora tried to give nicknames to all of his boxing children, other than Sebastian. When he saw his daughter take to boxing, he was struck with an idea: “Sweet Poison,” because it fit her personality.

There’s a connection to the comic book villain Poison Ivy, and the play-on names went from there.

“Outside of the ring I’m a girly girl and I’m always very feminine,” Fundora said. “But then when I go inside the ring, I’m a beast and I’ll destroy whoever goes in my way.”

The 19-year-old junior bantamweight had initially considered “Twisted Sister,” but then decided that would work better on her younger sister instead.

So far, it’s worked. The 5-foot-9 Fundora, who turned pro in May, has won her first four fights.

Danielle Perkins: “Skippity Paps”

Perhaps the weirdest nickname in boxing came from videos of a cat. Seriously. Danielle Perkins, a heavyweight who used to play college basketball at St. John’s, started saying “Give ’em the Skippity Paps” after watching videos of cats on their hind legs moving their front paws.

Fellow USA boxer Naomi Graham was aware of Perkins’ infatuation and called Perkins “Skippity Paps” for the first time. Perkins laughed. So she went with it, even starting to wear t-shirts with cats on them while sparring.

Then she started wearing cat t-shirts for sparring.

“They are all different cats,” Perkins said. “When I go to spar. It just keeps it light.

“I do try to break people’s jaws when I hit them. The least I can do is show up and be friendly.”

Jared Anderson: “The Real Big Baby”

When Jared Anderson was at the Toledo Power gym starting out as a boxer, others would come in, see his size at that time — almost 6-feet, 200 pounds — and wonder how old he was. When they were told he was 13 or 14, most people didn’t believe it.

Since it was a gym that was as much a boxing training center as it was a place for average humans to try and lose weight or gain mass, they would continually be taken by surprise.

“It’s like, ‘Wow, this kid is huge, but he’s still a baby for real,'” Anderson said. “So it just kind of stuck. They always used to say it. I really didn’t like it in the beginning, but it was a good name.”

It followed him through his time with Team USA. When he turned pro in 2018, Anderson considered changing it. He even floated out some possibilities on Facebook — one being the “T-Town Bully.” For the quasi-contest on social media, he had different logos made up by a friend’s cousin and then let fans decide.

“A lot of my older fans told me the bully wasn’t a good look,” Anderson said. “Nobody really likes a bully and I understood it and where it was coming from. I kind of liked the name at first, being young-minded, but it’s good for promotional reasons and everything.

“Plus, I was never like that, I was never a bully in school or anything, so it’s not good to pretend to be something you’re not.”

And so “Big Baby” still won out. Anderson said he’s done shopping for nicknames. It might not be the most original name in the world — former NBA player Glen Davis and fellow heavyweight Jarrell Miller are nicknamed “Big Baby,” too — but he’s “The Real” Big Baby, and it works for him.

Jamel Herring: “Semper Fi”

Herring’s nickname is self-explanatory. As a former Marine, it just made sense — even if at first he didn’t care whether or not he had a nickname at all.

“It just fit,” Herring said. “‘Once a Marine, Always a Marine’ is what we go by, and ‘Semper Fi’ means ‘Always Faithful.’ I took it as I always stayed faithful to the Corps, always stayed faithful to my craft in boxing.

“So that’s why I’ll continue to stick with ‘Semper Fi’ as my nickname.”

Herring sees parallels in his time with the Marines — two deployments to Iraq in 2005 and 2007 — and his career in boxing. He credits how he mentally handled fighting to his time in the Corps, where he dealt with difficult situations constantly — enough to have a book written about his life.

He thought about changing his nickname at one point in his career, but then Herring saw it mattered for reasons bigger than himself. When other current and ex-Marines heard the nickname, they knew he was one of them. He found Marines began rooting for him because of it. They felt connected to him.

And even though he’s the WBO junior lightweight champion, he prefers “Marine” to “Champ” when people call out to him.

“I don’t have to say much. They just know,” Herring said. “Sometimes they’ll say ‘Hey Marine,’ before ‘Hey, Champ.’ That tells you right there, where I came from.”

Josh Taylor: “The Tartan Tornado”

Taylor was sparring with experienced pros before his debut and was dominating, so much so that people in the gym started calling him “The Tornado.” Taylor liked it, but being Scottish is part of his pride, part of his soul. So he wanted something clearly Scottish in there as well.

“So I said, ‘What about ‘The Tartan Tornado,'” Taylor said. “And we stuck with that.”

While that’s the public nickname, there is another one his friends call him with a deeper backstory. Sometimes, Taylor goes by another name: “Hank.”

“Hank” is derived from the 2000 Jim Carrey comedy “Me, Myself and Irene,” where Carrey played a Rhode Island state trooper with dual personalities — Charlie Baileygates, and his alter-ego, Hank.

“Hank” doesn’t necessarily describe Taylor’s personality, but rather a combination of what he does in the ring and some poor decisions with his locks.

“In one sparring and training camp, I went and got a haircut and the barber butchered me and gave me a ‘Hank’ haircut,” Taylor said. “Went back to the gym and was shadowboxing and [former two-division world champion] Carl Frampton came up with ‘Hank.’

“It kind of stuck. Sometimes in the gym, I’m hyperactive and a bit crazy sometimes …”

Taylor prefers to go by “The Tartan Tornado” — “Hank” is more of an inside joke — but he doesn’t mind it. It suits his boxing style, how he moves and, yes, the haircut he still has to this day.

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Sumrall hires Kentucky’s White as Florida DC

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December 4, 2025

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Sumrall hires Kentucky's White as Florida DC

  • Associated Press

Dec 4, 2025, 03:10 PM ET

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Jon Sumrall made his first official hire as Florida‘s football coach Thursday, bringing aboard Kentucky‘s Brad White as defensive coordinator.

The 43-year-old White spent the past eight years in Lexington, including seven of those in charge of the Wildcats’ defense. Sumrall and White overlapped on that side of the ball between 2019 and 2021, including working their final year together as co-DCs. Sumrall left Kentucky to become Troy‘s coach in 2022 and spent the past two years at Tulane.

Under White’s direction, Kentucky fielded defenses that ranked in the top 25 nationally in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. His unit ranked sixth nationally in 2018 thanks in part to edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen. Hines-Allen recorded 17 sacks and five forced fumbles as a redshirt junior.

He went on to become the seventh pick by Jacksonville in the 2019 NFL draft and now owns the franchise’s sacks record with 59 and counting.

“First of all, they’re getting a great person, a great communicator, a guy that wants the best for his players,” Hines-Allen said. “He was my positional coach when I had him, and the time we spent together helped me develop and be where I am today. I give him a lot of credit and a lot of respect and love.

“He’s done a lot of good things for that program. Hopefully he continues to have that success at Florida.”

Current Jaguars coach Liam Coen, who was Kentucky’s offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2023, faced White’s defense daily and called him “one of the smarter guys I’ve been around at any level.”

“True teacher of the game,” Coen added. “I learned so much from Brad in terms of the way that he saw the game. He is one of the more detailed, organized coaches I’ve been around in terms of his process throughout the week, his checklists throughout the week and then his game plans to be able to go and cause issues for people.

“It gave me problems every day in practice. It’s multiple. He knows how to scheme people up.”

Sumrall is expected to install a 3-4 defensive scheme at Florida, with an emphasis on linebacker play that would accentuate the talent and depth of a position group that includes standouts Myles Graham, Jaden Robinson and Aaron Chiles.

Sumrall’s more important hire will come on the other side of the ball, where Georgia Tech‘s Buster Faulkner is one of a few candidates to be Florida’s offensive coordinator.

“I may be a defensive guy, but I want to be more of a defensive guy like … Bob Stoops,” Sumrall said. “I want the scoreboard to light up.”

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Nits nixed again: DeBoer denies PSU job interest

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December 4, 2025

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Nits nixed again: DeBoer denies PSU job interest

  • Mark SchlabachDec 4, 2025, 03:25 PM ET

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    • Senior college football writer
    • Author of seven books on college football
    • Graduate of the University of Georgia

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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J-Rod’s journey: From sleeping on floors and taking out loans to Heisman contention

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December 4, 2025

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J-Rod's journey: From sleeping on floors and taking out loans to Heisman contention

  • Max OlsonDec 4, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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    • Covers the Big 12
    • Joined ESPN in 2012
    • Graduate of the University of Nebraska

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.

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.

“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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