Kirk Herbstreit names Texas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez as 2025 Ultimate Herbie in annual Herbie Awards

Texas Tech senior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez was named the 2025 Ultimate Herbie during Friday night’s Herbie Awards unveiled by ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit for his all-around top dog in college football. Rodriguez won the honor over Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love and Michigan State defensive back Armorion Smith.

“Starting his career as a walk-on gave him great appreciation. Sitting down with him in production meetings, he had a confident smirk — in a humble way — about what his team was capable of doing this year,” Herbstreit said on ESPN. “I think he had a lot of confidence in his defense, and leading this defense, and I think the best way to say it, championship teams are player-led, and when you get around the Texas Tech team, you kind of sense something is different about this team. … There’s a togetherness and (Rodriguez) along with (quarterback) Beher Morton are kind of right in the heart of that.”

The Ultimate Herbie wasn’t the only win for the superstar Texas Tech linebacker on Friday night. Rodriguez also won 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.

“This is an amazing honor,” Rodriguez said, via the Houston Chronicle’s Jon Poorman. “Everything that the Lombardi Award stands for is something very important to me.”

This season, Rodriguez led the Big 12-leading Red Raiders defense on and off the field with a team-high 117 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, four interceptions and a 69-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown against Oklahoma State on Oct. 25. 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.

“Unbelievable season, of course his wife Emma is a blackhawk helicopter pilot — that’s all you need to know about him and his family,” Herbstreit said of Rodriguez. “If you think he’s tough, you’ve got to meet his wife, Emma.”

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.