Overview

Position: LB

College: Texas Tech

Class: Senior

Age: 23

 

Measurables

Height: 6’1 3/8”

Weight: 231 lbs.

Arm length: 30 7/8”

Hand size: 9 1/4″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: 4.57 sec.

10-yard split: 1.60 sec.

Vertical jump: 38.5”

Broad jump: 121.0”

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: 6.90 sec.

Short shuttle: 4.19 sec.

 

Strengths

Great overall instincts. Quick filtering into the hole. Quick strafing into position for a tackle. Very effective wrapping up. Gets low tackling in the hole and on the second level. Gets off blocks to tackle with the ball-carrier coming at him. Quick hands to shed smaller blockers. Excellent lateral quickness tracking ball-carriers towards the sideline. Tremendous play recognition on outside runs. Gets to the spot and positions himself to tackle. Controlled and very effective breaking down for tackles on runs to the edge. Very good speed and rangy towards the sideline. Smooth side stepping blockers in space. Aggressive tackling from behind as the backside defender.  Will force the quarterback inside with outside contain on zone reads. Always hustling to the ball. Helps to clean up tackles in space. Strips the ball away from runners. Great ability to punch hard at the ball to force fumbles in space. Extremely effective run blitzer. Aggressive run blitzing up the middle. Good burst blitzing off the edge. Senses screen passes as a blitzer. Diagnoses screen passes in general. Gets his hands up to deflect passes blitzing up the middle. Quick feet tracking scrambling quarterbacks. Terrific reaction time and anticipation in zone coverage. Reads the quarterback’s eyes and gets in passing lanes. Fluid flipping his hips and transitioning in general in coverage. Sticks with running backs and tight ends in man coverage. Very aware running through traffic in man coverage. Comfortable defending running backs on wheel routes. Smooth carrying tight ends down the seam. Experience playing man coverage on the perimeter. Tremendous ball skills and concentration playing the ball in the air. Former quarterback and saw time on offense with two rushing touchdowns in 2025.

 

Weaknesses

Could be better avoiding engagement from offensive linemen. Effectiveness shuffling rather than running towards the edge can lead to faster ball-carriers capturing the corner. Could have better vision/awareness avoiding blocks on his outside shoulder when in pursuit on outside runs. Sometimes not as fast pursuing ball-carriers with a head of steam to the sideline. Has too many missed tackles in space. Shows some sluggishness at times with sudden change of direction if reacting. Not much natural twitch shown as a rusher.

 

NFL comparison

Drue Tranquill

 

Conclusion

Overall, Rodriguez is an all-around, playmaking linebacker with a nose for the football and making tackles. He should immediately push for playing time based on his ability in coverage and should thrive cleaning things up behind a strong defensive line.

 

Big Board ranking: #59 | Positional ranking: #6