The long-awaited return of Chris Rodriguez to the Kentucky lineup has excited players on both sides of the ball this week.
While the star running back is expected to give a big boost to Kentucky's offense Saturday in a Top 25 road matchup with Ole Miss, the Cats' defenders also know the intangible value that Rodriguez brings to table.
Two of them -- former Rebels Jacquez Jones and Keidron Smith -- have faced the challenge of trying to bring down the bruising 5-foot-11, 224-pound back in a game.
"I'm definitely excited because the first time I tried to tackle him, he busted my lip," said Smith, a defensive back who faced UK's No. 6 all-time leading rusher in a 2020 matchup at Kroger Field.
Rodriguez rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns on just 17 carries, but Ole Miss left town with a thrilling 42-41 overtime win.
"I'm glad to see someone else have to tackle him," Smith said.
Jones, who had seven tackles at linebacker in that matchup, had a similar story.
"I think we played him the Covid year, and I tackled him (and) I ended up with a concussion," he said. "That was probably the first concussion I ever had because I ran into his knee. I laid down on the sideline. I didn't know where I was at. I didn't know C-Rod was that powerful. It kinda caught me off-guard."
The No. 7 Cats (4-0, 1-0 SEC) are hoping Rodriguez can provide a spark to a rushing attack that has been uncharacteristically slow getting out of the gates this season while he served a four-game suspension for an off-season DUI and a separate investigation regarding a campus job.
His presence cannot be understated. The SEC's leading returning rusher and first-team all-conference selection has 2,740 career rushing yards and 26 career touchdowns. He has 15 career 100-yard rushing efforts to his credit, which ranks third in school history.
Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops has stressed that Rodriguez does not try to do too much in his return to action.
"For Chris, he just needs to be himself," Stoops said. "He doesn’t need to come in and be our savior or anything like that or save our run game – any of that. We don’t need him to worry about that. We just need him to be him. And, we need the people around him, the other guys around him that are playing, to do their job and to strain and to do things better in certain moments.”
The Cats, who have consistently been among the SEC leaders in rushing yards during Stoops' time in Lexington, currently rank No. 13 in the SEC at just 81.5 yards per game and 2.41 yards per carry.
No. 14 Ole Miss (4-0, 0-0 SEC) allowed 262 yards rushing and more than 6.0 yards per carry last week in a 35-27 win over Tulsa.
“Obviously that’s huge for them,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said of Rodriguez's return. "(They) get a guy that's fresh at that position... fifth game of the year, hasn't taken hits, so you know, very challenging. We're going to have to play the run a lot better than we did last week."
