Chris Rodriguez joined the 1,000-yard club with a career day

After a career day in which he joined Kentucky’s 1,000-yard rushing club, Chris Rodriguez couldn’t help himself when he sat down to chat with reporters on Zoom.

“I’m just here so I don’t get fined,” Rodriguez said, borrowing a line from Marshawn Lynch before breaking into a huge smile. “Nah, I’m just messing with you.”

Rodriguez finished with a career-high 149 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries, an impressive average of 11.5 yards per carry. Typically known as a workhorse inside, Rodriguez busted free for a 74-yard scamper to put the Cats up by 17 in the fourth quarter, the longest run of his career.

2️⃣2️⃣ TO THE HOUSE 💨

A career-long 74-yard rush TD for Chris Rodriguez Jr. 😤 pic.twitter.com/Zrel7RC0vF

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 14, 2020

“It felt good,” Rodriguez said of his long touchdown run. “I don’t treat any run different. I run inside, I run outside. I prefer inside but that 74 yards, obviously it’s fun for me.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Mark Stoops said when asked about Rodriguez’s big run. “We feel like he’s a complete back. He gets very tough yards but he also can be explosive so it was good for him to get some big plays.”

Rodriguez now has 1,138 career yards, making him the 39th Kentucky Wildcat to rush for 1,000 or more yards in his career. To achieve that feat while wearing the No. 22 for Chris Oats had to be especially sweet. After his first touchdown, a three-yard rush to make it 31-14, Rodriguez put his deuces up to the sky:

Reminder: he’s only a sophomore.