Chris Rodriguez had a school-record 20 100-yard rushing games at UK. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky’s offense struggled to score points with both quarterback Will Levis and running back Chris Rodriguez on the field together. Now the Wildcats will have to try and find a way to beat Iowa in the Music City Bowl Dec. 31 without either one of its star players in the game.
Levis, a projected first-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft, announced Wednesday he would not play in the bowl game. On Thursday, Rodriguez did the same thing.
“Thank you for everything!” Rodriguez posted on Instagram. “I can’t tell you how much your support this past year has meant to me. Although I’m going to sit out the bowl game to focus on my health and prepare for my lifelong dream of playing in the NFL, I’ll be in the Music City to support my brothers and I hope to see you there!”
While Rodriguez is not projected as a first-round draft pick, he’s projected as a future NFL player. He rushed for 3,644 yards in five seasons at UK. Only Benny Snell (3,873) and Sonny Collins (3,835) are ahead of him on UK’s all-time rushing list. His 32 career rushing touchdowns rank second in school history behind Snell (48). His 20 100-yard rushing games is a program record.
His best year was 2021 when he ran for 1,379 yards — fifth most in a single season at UK — to lead the Southeastern Conference. He likely would have broken Snell’s record this season but he was suspended for four games by the NCAA for a NIL-type issue that never seemed to merit that type of punishment to me. He still ran for 904 yards and six scores on 175 carries this year even though he seldom got to the line of scrimmage before he was hit.
He also missed two games in the 2020 COVID-shortened season due to illness when he ran for 784 yards and 11 scores to earn all-SEC honors.
One of his best games came this year when he ran for 197 yards and two touchdowns in a must win over Mississippi State this season. He also ran for 207 yards and two scores against Missouri in 2021.
Kentucky will be short-handed in the backfield against Iowa. Running backs Kavosiey Smoke and Michael Drennen have both entered the transfer portal. That leaves JuTahn McClain and La’Vell Wright as UK’s only experienced backs against Iowa.
3 Responses
No problem. Thanks C-Rod for all you did for UK football, and good luck in the future. McClain and Wright are all UK needs for this sort of game.
CRod has been on and off of my S____ list all season. 1st is that dumb driving stunt with the cops at the beginning of the season and then coping attitudes when asked to perform. His heart just was not in it this season. His pocketbook was but not his heart. Anyway, we won’t be fine without him but we have to make the best of what we do have.
I don’t have any inside contacts with the Cat’s locker room but things just have not been right all season. IMO it has a lot to do with NIL. These are kids and they are very aware of inequity. When the special kids remind everyone else that they are special it does not do much improve team cohesiveness.
You can’t blame him for not wanting to play. An injury would have ruined his draft stock. I saw a report stating that Liam Coen is coming back to KY as OC again. Good move and good timing on the move. Now he can start working the transfer portal. It would be nice to win the Music City bowl, but have bigger fish to fry to get ready for next season.