Texas Tech football's Jacob Rodriguez Heisman Trophy watch, odds
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Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire has been campaigning for weeks for Jacob Rodriguez to be a serious candidate for the Heisman Trophy. He gave the Tech linebacker added visibility last week, letting him score on a direct snap out of the wildcat formation in a 48-9 rout of Central Florida.
“Everybody’s talking about quarterbacks for Heisman,” McGuire said in a post-game interview on FOX, “so we put him at quarterback today. He scored a touchdown.”
The fifth-year senior from Wichita Falls Rider has 100 tackles this season, but his more eye-catching numbers include an FBS-best seven forced fumbles, six pass breakups, four interceptions and two fumble recoveries, one that he returned for a TD.
Texas Tech backers have mobilized. Rodriguez leads the Heisman Trophy fan vote with 32.8% of the vote as of Friday, Nov. 21.
However, the fan vote counts as only one ballot. There are more than 920 voters, including 870 college football media members equally distributed with 145 across each of six geographic regions, plus former Heisman winners.
Latest Jacob Rodriguez Heisman Trophy odds
This year’s most high-profile face of Texas Tech football remains a long shot, according to the latest odds posted week.
Among the betting favorites, Rodriguez is tied for eighth at Fan Duel with odds of +10,000 and is ninth at Draft Kings (+12,000), Bet MGM (+12,500), BetOnline.ag (+7,500) and Odds Shark (+10,000).
At each of those, the top four in order are quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza of Indiana, Julian Sayin of Ohio State, Marcel Reed of Texas A&M and Diego Pavia from Vanderbilt. Three of the five have Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton as fifth choice, and two have Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love fifth.
If Texas Tech football’s Jacob Rodriguez can’t win the Heisman Trophy, what can he win?
On Thursday, Rodriguez was named one of four finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which goes to the nation’s top defensive player.
Rodriguez is scheduled to attend the Bronko Nagurski Awards banquet on Dec. 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina, then travel to Houston on Dec. 10 to attend the banquet for the Lombardi Award, which is presented to the nation’s top lineman or linebacker. He and Tech edge defender David Bailey are two of the four finalists for the latter.
Rodriguez also is a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award (top defensive player), the Butkus Award (top linebacker) and the Lott IMPACT Trophy (top defensive player).
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football’s Jacob Rodriguez Heisman Trophy watch, odds
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