Chris Rodriguez had a true breakout season as a redshirt freshman last year. But it didn't always look like that was going to happen.

No. 24, one of Kentucky's top running back options, is next up in Cats Illustrated's Roster Rundown.

Background: Jared Zito, high school coach at Ola High School, told Cats Illustrated during Rodriguez's recruitment that he's not the kind of back that will jump out on tape but he will grow on you. That proved to be a prophetic description of Rodriguez to anyone who watched him last year.

Rodriguez had some fumbling issues at the start of the season and all but lost his spot in the rotation for weeks. But by mid-October he was working his way back into the lineup. Over Kentucky's last five games, during which the 'Cats went 4-1, Rodriguez totaled nearly 400 yards on the ground with five touchdowns on just 48 carries.

For the season the 5'11, 220-pound back rushed for 533 yards.

Before arriving at Kentucky he was a three-star prospect from Georgia. Not exactly an afterthought in recruiting circles, but also not one of the more coveted running back prospects in the South so far as Power Five programs go.

During the 2018 recruiting cycle Kentucky seemed to get off to a slow start recruiting running backs but the addition of Rodriguez and later Kavosiey Smoke gave the 'Cats a nice duo from that class.

2020 Outlook: We've said or written this a million times, it seems, but the situation seems clear. The carries will be split between Rodriguez, AJ Rose, and Chris Rodriguez. Of those group Rodriguez is perhaps the best short yardage option. He's a physical runner between the tackles, able to move the pile, drag defenders, and break tackles. He doesn't have the home run speed of the other two but Kentucky thrived just fine with that in the form of Benny Snell from 2016-2018 and the coaches didn't seem to mind.

It's tough to assess a player's durability after only one season of play but Rodriguez has some workhorse qualities. He won't have 200 carries because UK has a three-headed backfield but there could be some games when Rodriguez gets a lot of carries as the feature back because of his quality as a grinder who can beat a defense up in the third and fourth quarters.