A 1-2 start is no way to start a football season. There have been a lot of issues to reflect upon that need to be situated in the coming week for the Colorado Mesa University football team. However, one of the elements that the Mavericks can rest easy on is swagger filled running back core.
Isaac Maestas, Jesse Rodriquez and Trey Windham are a breath of fresh air amidst all the frustrations this season has brought.
“We got guys who can be playmakers,” Head Coach Russ Martin said. “I think we got three really really good running backs…I think we got a prominent combination at the tailback.”
Maestas had the best game of his career against Western Colorado University in which the redshirt sophomore rushed for 139 yards and one touchdown. So far this year, he leads the team with 260 total yards and three scores.
The Palisade graduate came into the year looking to be the featured back and in two out of the first three games, he has carried that role rather well. Against Western, Maestas broke a 62-yard run which is the longest on the year out of any running back.
Trey Windham was projected to be the number two back but has since been flushed in for 24 carries and 104 yards. He sits at 200 pounds, the same weight as Maestas, proving that CMU doesn’t have a power back they can utilize on third and shorts. However, Windham has proved that he can drop a shoulder and trudge or a couple of extra yards after contact if need be.
Both Windham and Maestas have rather expressive personalities, the third running back features this year seems to express himself just a little bit more. Jesse Rodriquez, the redshirt freshman, has come in and brought a sense of a confident psyche and personality that makes for a really good interview.
“I told Coach Martin when I came earlier this year that I’m bringing six championships. Four RMAC’s and two nati’s,” Rodriquez said. “
The Bennett native got to run the ball for the first time this season back in Week Two against Eastern New Mexico University in which Rodriquez carried the ball 16 times for 93 yards and a touchdown. That one touchdown being an impressive 14-yard dash that helped the Mavericks come back from being down by 20 points.
Rodriquez played both sides of the ball back in high school and was recruited out of Bennett High School as a defensive back and a running back. He spent the 2018 season as a redshirt and got the chance to perfect his craft while impressing people like Head Coach Russ Martin.
“High school ball’s just a joke kinda,” Rodriquez said. “I just ran wherever I wanted and ran over whoever I wanted, but I had to break things back down a little bit cause everything is way more fast-paced in college.”
Martin decided to play Rodriquez the majority of the game against the Greyhounds despite not seeing him run the ball in Week 1 against South Dakota School of Mines where Jesse was limited to special teams reps.
Rodriquez’s talents were recognized in high school on many occasions. While he was playing under Rick Jacoby for the Tigers, he ran the ball 102 times for 1,048 yards and 14 TD’s in his senior season alone. Rodriquez was a three-time All-State selection and a three-time All-Foothills League selection.
“He’s a guy that can make a lot of plays,” Martin said. “Jesse’s a dynamic player, and he’s capable of getting a lot of big yards. Against [Eastern New Mexico} he ran hard, he ran well and he made guys miss.”
The Mavericks did lose in Week Two, but it wasn’t to a total depletion of confidence. Rodriquez, alongside sophomore quarterback Aaron Howard, provided a pick-me-up in the CMU backfield that provided a glimpse of what the offense could look like for the rest of the season. Similarities have been made to David Tann and Eystin Salum from season’s past as two dynamic and run heavy players. However, Rodriquez is smaller than Tann was and Howard is more of a pocket passer than Salum was.
In the most recent loss against Western, Rodriquez was limited to two carries for five yards and was back on special teams for the majority of the game.
Rodriquez also has a certain swagger about him that is appealing but also comforting in a way knowing that the guy believes he can be as good as he says he is.
Jesse’s brother, Chance Rodriguez, won a National Championship with CSU-Pueblo where he played as an offensive lineman…and because of that, Jesse wants to get two national titles. Just to outdo his brother.
Rodriquez’s performance against Eastern New Mexico and Maestas’ outing against Western shows CMU can be offensively productive and win games if the rest of the pieces fall into place.
