After playing a key part in a historic run with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Jacob Rodriguez has a chance to continue building onto his resume as he prepares for a shot in the NFL. As one of the most impressive linebackers in the country and a Heisman Trophy campaign that put him in front of the country, Rodriguez now can work to improve his NFL Draft Stock during the Senior Bowl.
Rodriguez is far from being the only former Texas Tech football player present at the 2026 Senior Bowl as a total of five Red Raiders ended up making the trip to Mobile to play a role on the National Team roster this year.
And while he didn’t actually get the Heisman Trophy, there are plenty of other awards that Rodriguez ended up earning this season. Like the Bednarik, Butkus, and Bronko Nagurski awards, which recognized and honored Rodriguez for the impact that he had on a Texas Tech defense that went from being one of the worst in the nation to one of the best.
Texas Tech’s stellar linebacker Jacob Rodriguez heads to Mobile as one of five Red Raiders to partake in the 2026 Senior Bowl
Rodriguez was great all throughout the season and played an incredibly important role for the Red Raiders defense.
This season, Rodriguez managed to record a career high 128 total tackles and a career high 11 tackles for loss. On top of that, he also sacked a quarterback, forced SEVEN fumbles, recovered two fumbles, picked off four passes, and defended six passes. He was seemingly EVERYWHERE making fantastic and impressive plays on a defense that had stars all over the field.
Oh, and he also ran for two touchdowns on goalline packages. Which is something to celebrate because not many linebackers get the opportunity to go run for a touchdown, but Rodriguez pulled it off on a couple of occasions.