Chris Rodriguez Jr. named On3's SEC Player of the Week

After posting his career-high in rushing yards during the most important game (thus far) of the young 2021 season, it was only right that Chris Rodriguez Jr. earned some high praise.

The Kentucky Wildcats junior running back was named the SEC Player of the Week by our friends over at On3. Rodriguez ran all over the Missouri Tigers in the ‘Cats 35-28 win on Saturday night, racking up 206 yards on 27 carries for three rushing touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown from Will Levis to put him at four scores for the day. His two fumbles still left something to be desired, but averaging 7.6 yards per touch sure did help make up for it.

Here’s what Mike Huguenin had to say about the Georgia native.

SEC

RB Chris Rodriguez, Kentucky

The buzz: Rodriguez rushed for 207 yards and three scores and also had a scoring reception in the Wildcats’ 35-28 victory over SEC East foe Missouri. Despite sharing time last season, Rodriguez ranked fifth in the league in rushing; he is UK’s feature back this season. Rodriguez is a fourth-year junior and it was the first 200-yard game of his career; it also was the fifth time in his past six games that he rushed for 100 yards. He also has 11 rushing TDs in his past five games. The TD catch was the first of his career and it came on just his fifth reception.

On3

Rodriguez was near-perfect all evening long for Kentucky. The Missouri defensive frontline stood no chance of stopping him at the point of attack. The only hiccups in his performance were two fumbles, one of which proved to be costly in the moment.

At the time of his first fumble, which happened at the goal line as he was about to step into the end zone, Kentucky was ahead 21-7 in the middle of the second quarter and looking for the kill. Unfortunately, Missouri would recover and quickly scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession to head into the halftime locker room down just seven.

“We knew we had a lot more work to do. I blame myself,” Rodriguez said. “I told everybody in that locker room, ‘I shouldn’t have fumbled the ball, but that’s on me. We shouldn’t have even been in that predicament, but we were. So that’s on me.”

The second fumble would ultimately end up in a touchdown after offensive lineman Eli Cox fell on the ball in the endzone to save the ‘Cats. Even still, two fumbles are unacceptable for a player of Rodriguez’s caliber, which should tell you all you need to know about how well he performed throughout the entire game.

Even with those fumbles, he broke 200 yards, recorded four total touchdowns, and plowed right through the Tiger defense all evening long. Clean up those minor miscues and Rodriguez is looking at a special season ahead of him.