Redshirt sophomore Jesse Rodriquez has stepped up in the wake of Isaac Maestas’s injury.
Rodriquez came into the game on the second play of the game, after redshirt junior Isaac Maestas came out of the game due to a shoulder injury.
Rodriquez scored the only touchdown for the Mavericks in the home opener against Chadron State College. The touchdown run for Colorado Mesa University (CMU) came in the first minutes of the second half and was a 63-yard run.
“Once I saw the end, I was like alright I’m going and I just didn’t run back,” Rodriquez said.
Rodriquez had a 61-yard run to start off his 2020 season and completed the game by rushing 176 yards.
“You know, not knowing when your number is going to get called even though he knew he was going to play but not knowing that it was going to be that early. I thought he did a good job of stepping in play two and getting going,” Head Coach, Tremaine Jackson, said.
The Maverick running back is coming off of a season where he rushed 508 yards and scored three touchdowns over 11 games.
Rodriquez has high goals and expectations for a season that has three more games left. His goals include rushing 1,000 yards over five games this season.
“I plan on finishing with 1,000 rushing yards. That is a big goal of mine and I just want to come out every game and just be the best man on the field,” Rodriquez said.
In the first two games of the season, the Mavericks offense has seen big runs from the redshirt sophomore early in games. He continued to have long runs in CMU’s victory over Black Hills State University (BHSU) as he ran the ball for a 72-yard touchdown three minutes into the game.
He finished the game against BHSU with 158 rushing yards.
Rodriquez sees his confidence in his gameplay going up but knows that he always has something to work on and is always trying to get better.
Jesse Rodriquez finds his hole as he breaks off a 61-yard run against the Eagles | Mike Ritter for The Criterion
“As a running back you just have to have a lot of confidence because you have to be able to squeeze through holes that are 12 to 18 inches,” Rodriquez said.
Rodriquez will be one of the primary running backs over the course of the next few weeks while Maestas will be recovering. He will continue to get opportunities in the future as well.
“[Rodriquez] will continue to play running back. He will be the primary back and we will kind of do some creative things with him but he will be the tailback for us,” Jackson said.
The Maverick football organization wants each player on the team to take a leadership role. Jackson hopes that Rodriquez can be a leader on and off the field.
“Hopefully, that puts him in that group from a field standpoint where he can now be vocal and be a leader but in order to be a leader you got to be right so he has to work on himself first,” Jackson said.
Rodriquez continues the hunt for 1,000 yards as the Mavericks return to Stocker Stadium on Oct. 24 to take on South Dakota Mines at noon.
