Kirk Herbstreit names Texas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez as 2025 Defensive Player of the Year in annual Herbie Awards

Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, a Top 5 Heisman Trophy finalist, was named the 2025 Herbie Awards’ Defensive Player of the Year as selected ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit. The Herbie Awards were unveiled Friday night prior to ESPN’s Home Depot College Football Awards show.

“How much fun did we have watching this former walk-on quarterback at UVA, ended up having an incredible year and career — the captain of the Texas Tech defense, the Bronko Nagurski Award winner,” Herbstreit said of Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was also named Herbstreit’s 2025 Ultimate Herbie, in addition to elite individual honors such as the Chuck Bednarik Award as the top defensive player and the Lombardi Award as the top lineman in the nation during Friday night’s Home Depot College Football Awards show on ESPN. That’s in addition to taking home both the Butkus Award as college football’s top linebacker, and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy awarded to most outstanding defensive player in college football.

Rodriguez – a former quarterback at Virginia – anchored the Texas Tech defense this year and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting after a monster season. He totaled 117 tackles, including a Big 12-leading 61 solo stops, along with 11 tackles for loss, a sack, four interceptions and seven forced fumbles as a fifth-year senior.

In addition, he earned a spot on the On3 2025 College Football All-America Team.

“Rodriguez had a Heisman Trophy-caliber season, even though defenders are rarely considered for the award,” wrote On3’s Chris Low. “His story is amazing after starting his career as a situational quarterback at Virginia and then transferring to Texas Tech, where he led all FBS players this season with seven forced fumbles to go along with four interceptions and 117 total tackles.”

Rodriguez spent one year at Virginia, where he played situational quarterback for the Cavaliers before arriving at Texas Tech. He then transitioned to full-time defense, where he became one of the best players in the country and helped lead the Red Raiders to their first College Football Playoff appearance.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.