It’s official, folks. The best defensive player in the country happens to reside in Lubbock, Texas and play for Joey McGuire’s Texas Tech Red Raiders. How is it official and something that we can set in stone? It’s pretty simple, actually.
The good folks who are responsible for presenting the Chuck Bednarik Award to “the best defensive player in college football” happen to believe (and rightfully so) that Jacob Rodriguez (Texas Tech’s linebacker who should actually also be in New York right now so that he could be present for the Heisman Trophy Ceremony) is deserving of this recognition.
And so, Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez is now officially crowned the best defensive player in the entire country this season.
Jacob Rodriguez recognized as the best defensive player in college football, presented with the Chuck Bednarik Award
The Bednarik Award has been presented every season since 1995, when then Northwestern linebacker Pat Fitzgerald was the first to earn the award (he was also the second as he got it again in 1996). In total, a linebacker has been on the receiving end of this award a total of 20 times now that Rodriguez has earned it.
This is the second consecutive season that a player from the Big 12 has earned the award as Travis Hunter won the honor last year for his incredible performances with the Colorado Buffaloes. Prior to that, the only other Big 12 recipients have been Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh in 2009, Oklahoma’s Teddy Lehman in 2003, and Texas A&M’s Dat Nguyen in 1998.
So far this season, Rodriguez truly has been remarkable. Looking exclusively at his work on the defensive side of things for Texas Tech this season, Rodriguez has managed to rack up a total of 117 combined tackles, 11 tackles for loss, one sack, four interceptions, two fumbles recovered, and seven fumbles forced.
And there’s still more football to be played for Rodriguez and the Red Raiders as the College Football Playoff is up ahead for the Texas Tech football team.