Sometimes the truth hurts, even when it comes wrapped in a compliment. Jacob Rodriguez has been doing things this season that linebackers simply aren’t supposed to do. He is leading the nation’s best defense and racking up forced fumbles like he’s playing Madden. But when Heisman-winning quarterback Matt Leinart weighed in on Rodriguez’s chances this week, he delivered a dose of reality that stings precisely because everyone knows it’s probably true.​

“Another guy who’s definitely, he’s not going to win the Heisman Trophy. But he should be invited,” Leinart said on Big Noon Kickoff. “Jacob Rodriguez, the linebacker for Texas Tech. We don’t see a lot of defensive players get invited. Seven forced fumbles this year. That’s one of the best defenses in the country. I think Texas Tech is a legit national championship team. This dude is all over the field. He’s the best player on the field all the time. I think he’s got to at least get an invite.”

It is an endorsement that simultaneously validates everything Rodriguez has accomplished while acknowledging the cold, hard reality of how the Heisman actually works. Leinart knows better than most. He won the award in 2004 while playing quarterback for USC, a position that has won the award 17 times in the last 20 years.​​

Rodriguez’s numbers this season are genuinely absurd. Through 10 games, he’s compiled 91 total tackles (49 solo), leads the entire FBS with seven forced fumbles, and has added three interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and a defensive touchdown for good measure. 

After his 14-tackle, interception-and-fumble-recovery performance against then-No. 7 BYU, Rodriguez struck the Heisman pose and the internet exploded. When asked about the attention afterward, Rodriguez kept it humble: “I just give glory to God. I think that, you know, I have a bigger purpose in life and that’s to be glorifying Him with everything I do, and I hope I can show that with how hard I play.”

However, here’s the problem, and it’s the same one that has plagued defensive players for decades. The Heisman is an offensive award in everything but name. Charles Woodson remains the only primarily defensive player to ever win the trophy, and that was back in 1997. And even then, Woodson boosted his case with brilliant plays as a punt returner and occasional receiver for Michigan’s national championship team. Travis Hunter won it last year, but Hunter was a true two-way player who starred at both cornerback and wide receiver for Colorado, essentially building two Heisman cases at once. 

Since Woodson, the closest a defensive player has come was Michigan edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson finishing second in 2021, Ndamukong Suh fourth in 2009, and Manti Te’o second in 2012. All of them runners-up, none of them winners. 

The cruel irony is that Rodriguez might actually be the most outstanding player in college football this season. But unless voters suddenly decide to start rewarding dominance on the less glamorous side of the ball, Rodriguez will have to settle for what Leinart said he deserves: an invitation to New York, a spot on stage, and the acknowledgment that he’s one of the best players in the sport. 

When your teammates make you strike the pose

The Heisman pose wasn’t exactly Rodriguez’s idea.  And that somehow makes it even better. Rodriguez tipped a third-quarter pass to himself for an interception against BYU. Then he found himself surrounded by teammates who weren’t taking no for an answer.

 “My guys, they wanted me to hit it. Just a rush of adrenaline,” Rodriguez said afterward, explaining how he ended up striking the iconic stiff-arm stance that immediately went viral. 

Patrick Mahomes, watching from the stands during the Chiefs’ bye week, immediately tweeted, “Get him to New York! @HeismanTrophy,” and suddenly the conversation Rodriguez and his coach had been having privately became very, very public. 

Joey McGuire, meanwhile, has zero interest in being humble about his star linebacker. The Texas Tech head coach has been beating the Heisman drum for Rodriguez long before that BYU game. “I’m 54 years old, I’ve grown up a football fanatic, I’ve probably watched every Heisman that I can remember,” McGuire told reporters after the win. “But guys, the Heisman is given to the best football player. It’s not given to the best quarterback, they’ve got awards for that. And you can’t say that Jacob Rodriguez, at his position, is not playing at that level, at an elite level, as good as any guy in the country.”

McGuire has called Rodriguez an “absolute machine” and made it clear the two have discussed the trophy “a lot,” with Rodriguez appreciating that his coach has his back. Whether Rodriguez gets invited to New York or not, McGuire’s going to keep making the case until someone proves him wrong.​