Wednesday Quickies: Chris Rodriguez Edition

Eddie Gran said he wants to work the RS freshman into the rotation more

By Zac Oakes@ZacOakes Sep 25, 2019, 6:40am EDT

At the beginning of the season, it appeared that Kentucky had three running backs in their rotation with AJ Rose, Kavosiey Smoke, and Chris Rodriguez.

But after Kentucky’s opening week win against Toledo, it became just Rose and Smoke with Rodriguez not seeing any carries in weeks 2, 3, and 4. Rodriguez finished that game with 5 carries for 34 yards, but the concern was the two fumbles he had in the game.

Now though, it sounds like Eddie Gran wants to get Rodriguez involved with the Wildcats rushing attack, but with two talented backs in front of him, Rodriguez is going to have to fight hard to get some carries.

Gran applauded Rodriguez in practice yesterday for some big plays he had in practice and said he will have to work Rodriguez in somehow.

I’ve thought for a while that Rodriguez could be part of the solution to Kentucky’s short-yardage and red zone woes, but I can’t be certain. Rodriguez has the build and strength to be a back that Kentucky can use on third-and-one situations where it seems they have been struggling. However, Rodriguez also can’t afford to lose the football in those situations either.

It’ll be hard to pull Rose and Smoke off the field. Smoke stringed together multiple strong performances to start the season and while Rose has been off to a little bit of a slow start, he seemingly found his groove in Starkville last Saturday and hopefully he can carry that forward this weekend into Columbia, South Carolina.

Rodriguez probably will see half a dozen or fewer carries on Saturday, but hopefully he can gain some confidence and be part of what should be a dangerous trio of backs in Lexington.