\u201cI think she\u2019s the coolest,\u201d Rodriguez told The Dallas Morning News. \u201cI don\u2019t get on Instagram or Twitter much, but she\u2019ll call me and tell me what she said, and I\u2019m like, \u2018You don\u2019t have to put that out there.\u2019 She loves it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma Rodriguez is stationed in Fort Riley, Kan. She clarified that she didn\u2019t nominate her husband for the prestigious award\u2019s fan vote but is thankful for whoever did. She also won\u2019t apologize for the barrage of praise she spreads on her timeline daily. <\/p>\n
Sports Roundup<\/p>\n
By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s the greatest person ever,\u201d Emma said, \u201cand I think everybody should know him.\u201d<\/p>\n They do now. <\/p>\n Rodriguez, a Wichita Falls native, captains a No. 9 Texas Tech<\/a> (8-1, 5-1 Big 12) defense that has changed the historic narrative of what the program is known for. He\u2019s a Butkus Award semifinalist, the fourth-highest graded defender nationwide per Pro Football Focus, a potential NFL draftee and can help certify Texas Tech\u2019s College Football Playoff case vs. No. 8 BYU at Lubbock\u2019s Jones AT&T Stadium on Saturday<\/a>. <\/p>\n His family and coaches credit his natural athletic abilities, the determination to survive a position change and an innate leadership ability that now shines for one of college football\u2019s newest powerhouses. <\/p>\n He credits his wife. <\/p>\n \u201cDude, she\u2019s the best,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI love her with my whole heart. I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am without her.\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (center) hugs his wife Emma Rodriguez surrounded by friends and family.<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez \/ Courtesy: Emma Rodriguez<\/p>\n \u2018Teach me how to throw a football\u2019<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez admittedly doesn\u2019t remember her first alleged interaction with Jacob \u2014 which he claims was in the school chess club shortly after her family moved to Wichita Falls \u2014 but she can undoubtedly recall their first genuine connection. <\/p>\n The two attended First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls and were both members of the ministry\u2019s Oneighty youth group. They were at summer camp \u2014 the organization\u2019s \u201cBeach Week,\u201d specifically \u2014 after Emma\u2019s junior year and after Jacob\u2019s freshman year when she saw him toss a football around by the water.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew how to throw a football,\u201d Emma said. \u201cBut it was really cute, because Jacob was throwing a football, and I was like, \u2018Oh, my god, teach me how to throw a football.\u2019 That\u2019s how we met.\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (left) and his wife, Emma Rodriguez (right).<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez \/ Courtesy: Emma Rodriguez<\/p>\n She was the self-described \u201ctomboy\u201d in a family that included four daughters. Their father introduced her to sports early and taught her how to mow the lawn when she was 6 years old. Her interest in the military followed soon after and she developed a \u201clifelong dream\u201d to attend West Point when the university was introduced to her at a leadership camp she attended in middle school. The New York-based academy, she learned upon further research, appealed because it required strict conviction and bred leaders. <\/p>\n \u201cMy parents thought, whenever they had four girls, that they\u2019d missed the Army,\u201d Emma said. \u201cJoke\u2019s on them.\u201d<\/p>\n Her in-laws aren\u2019t strangers to the unexpected either. Joe and Ann Rodriguez had two daughters \u2014 Katie and Nicole \u2014 before they tried for a boy and welcomed twins Jeremiah and Joshua into the world. Jacob, the youngest of five, was born as a result of a failed vasectomy after his parents decided that four children were enough. <\/p>\n The family believed that God had other plans when Jacob arrived, and they consider his current path as certifiable evidence. Those plans also expanded the four-person family into a seven-person unit in a 17-month span and left a stay-at-home mother with three rowdy boys separated by two years. <\/p>\n \u201cThey needed to get into something,\u201d Joe Rodriguez said, \u201cbecause they were tearing the house apart.\u201d <\/p>\n The family, then based in Hastings, Minn., balked at the gaudy cost of hockey and settled on wrestling thanks to the favorable price point and because former football coach and broadcaster John Madden once said that grapplers can make good tacklers on the football field. <\/p>\n Rodriguez won multiple youth wrestling state championships before he transitioned to football. He played quarterback in little league because of the size and athleticism advantage he held over his peers \u2014 so much so that Ann carried her son\u2019s birth certificate around to prove his age \u2014 and did the same when he reached high school after the family moved south. <\/p>\n \u201cWe did not let him play defense very much,\u201d then-Wichita Falls Rider head coach Marc Bindel said. \u201cI\u2019m probably dumb for not doing it, but when he was out there on defense, he was a complete difference-maker.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez, whom Bindel compared to former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, also played safety. Once as a junior, in a late-season district game vs. Canyon Randall, Rodriguez identified a play pre-snap and sprinted past his linebackers and linemen to blow up a fourth-and-1 halfback dive behind the line of scrimmage. <\/p>\n \u201cHe picked the running back up and slammed him on the ground,\u201d said Bindel, who now coaches at Wichita Falls Memorial. \u201cWe sent that to the Texas Tech defensive coordinator and the next day he had a linebacker offer.\u201d<\/p>\n The Red Raiders were the first school to offer Rodriguez at linebacker three days after that tackle. Then-Baylor linebackers coach Joey McGuire was the second. Rodriguez, a three-star recruit in the 2021 class, clung to the belief that he could play quarterback at the Division I level. The opportunities afforded to him were split between offense and defense. <\/p>\n His parents believe he might\u2019ve seriously considered the Bears had they extended him an offer to play quarterback. Virginia did, and because head coach Bronco Mendenhall made four separate visits to Wichita Falls, Rodriguez and his family felt comfortable with the fit. <\/p>\n It helped, too, that Charlottesville, Va., is only a six-hour drive from West Point, N.Y. <\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez (left) poses for a photo with her husband, Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (right) ahead of the Red Raiders’ game against Houston at TDECU Stadium on October 4, 2025.<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez \/ Courtesy: Emma Rodriguez<\/p>\n \u2018Life decisions\u2019<\/p>\n The twist lies in the separation. The couple briefly broke up once both reached college. Emma Rodriguez had just taken the oath of affirmation at West Point \u2014 in which juniors commit to their final two years at the university and a subsequent active-duty obligation in the military \u2014 and Jacob Rodriguez had just begun his collegiate football career. <\/p>\n \u201cOne thing that we always talk about is that the breakup that we had is the best thing for our relationship possible,\u201d Emma Rodriguez said. \u201cIt allowed us to make our own life decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n His included a gamble that\u2019s shaped his life since. Rodriguez played several offensive positions in his freshman season at Virginia and entered the transfer portal after Mendenhall stepped down. His older brother Joshua had already walked on at Texas Tech and his preexisting relationship with McGuire gave him confidence that the Red Raiders were a fit. <\/p>\n At linebacker. <\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t really a conversation,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cIt was more, \u2018We have three really good quarterbacks in Tyler Shough, Donovan Smith and Behren Morton, and we don\u2019t have a need to take another quarterback, and if you decide to come this way, it\u2019s not going to be at quarterback.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t going to be as a scholarship athlete, either, though McGuire promised to rectify that as soon as one opened up. Until then, with what financial support his parents could offer, Rodriguez slept on the floor of Joshua\u2019s one-bedroom apartment, which was already occupied by four others. <\/p>\n Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen, bottom right, is tackled by Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (13) and defensive back Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, left, during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, in Lubbock, Texas.<\/p>\n Justin Rex \/ AP<\/p>\n McGuire offered him a scholarship before the fall semester ended. By springtime, when Rodriguez participated in his practices with the Red Raiders as a scholarship athlete, he turned heads. Texas Tech assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Kenny Perry called Bindel in the midst of it. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was like, \u2018Good lord, Jacob Rodriguez,\u2019\u201d Bindel said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh yeah, get ready, sir.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez was a backup in his sophomore season and reunited with his girlfriend that same year. He played just five games because of injury as a junior and was an All-Big 12 first-team honoree as a senior when he led the Red Raiders with 127 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and five sacks.<\/p>\n First-year Red Raiders defensive coordinator Shiel Wood experienced something similar to Perry\u2019s impression this spring. He was only familiar with Rodriguez from the tape he\u2019d watched and his head coach\u2019s praise. Then, in the team\u2019s first scrimmage, he watched Rodriguez track a wide receiver in coverage and punch the ball out from his hands after the reception. <\/p>\n \u201cGolly, this guy\u2019s really got a knack for that,\u201d Wood thought, \u201cI\u2019d seen it on the game film from last year and now I\u2019ve seen it in person. Now, lo and behold, I never could have imagined that I would be seeing what has transpired this fall in games.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez has forced a nation-high seven fumbles in nine games with what Wood describes as a \u201cviolent and intentional\u201d technique that allows him to aggressively thwack out balls and maintain his poise to finish a tackle if his now-signature strike doesn\u2019t work. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been around any defensive player that has been close in that regard,\u201d Wood said. \u201cThe cool thing is he is creating a culture here. Guys are seeing how he does it, we\u2019re working it in drills and they\u2019re feeding off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Red Raiders have the top-ranked overall defense, run defense and pass coverage defense in the country, per PFF, and Rodriguez is the highest-graded linebacker in the nation. He leads them in tackles (74), pass breakups (5) and interceptions (2).<\/p>\n Tech was the 89th-highest-graded defense among all FBS programs from the 2014-24 seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cTo flip it around and see where we\u2019re at this year,\u201d Rodriguez said, \u201cit\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n He credited Wood, too, who coached at seven different colleges and universities before he joined McGuire\u2019s staff this season. He was Army\u2019s defensive coordinator at the same time Emma Rodriguez attended the university. <\/p>\n \u201cThey produce great people and great leaders,\u201d Wood said of West Point. \u201cYou don\u2019t go there unless you\u2019ve already got a lot of great qualities about you in the first place. I see a lot of that in him.\u201d<\/p>\n His parents saw it when Jacob missed the kindergarten age cutoff by a single day, enrolled in a private school, became the \u201cteacher\u2019s helper\u201d and was named \u201cMost Likely To Become President\u201d at his graduation before grade school began. His high school coach saw it when Rodriguez, then a sophomore at Rider, interrupted Bindel\u2019s halftime speech to give a \u201cwe\u2019re not losing this game\u201d address of his own and when he secretly dressed up as Captain America to visit children at a local Wichita Falls hospital. His wife sees it in the ways that the curriculum she learned at West Point aligns with her husband\u2019s innate ideology. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery single book you read about leadership \u2014 Jacob has never read them \u2014 but he is those books,\u201d Emma said. \u201cI\u2019ve read a lot of those books, and any book you pick up that\u2019s like \u2018these are the key steps to being a good leader,\u2019 he is naturally that.\u201d<\/p>\n Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez speaks with reporters during Big 12 Media Days at the Ford Center, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Frisco.<\/p>\n El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve done my dream, let\u2019s go do yours\u2019<\/p>\n The couple was wed on July 1, 2023, in Houston. Emma had already graduated from West Point and pledged herself to a military career. Jacob had his own commitment he was prepared to make. <\/p>\n \u201cOK,\u201d Jacob said after the wedding, \u201cI really want to go to the NFL.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOK,\u201d Emma responded, \u201cLet\u2019s do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReally?\u201d Jacob asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to West Point, I now fly helicopters, that was my dream and I did it,\u201d Emma said. \u201cLet\u2019s go have yours. You now have the opportunity to go do this. Let\u2019s do it. I\u2019ve done my dream, let\u2019s go do yours.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez is an aviator with the Charlie 2-1 medevac unit, flies weekly for 4-6 hours each trip and serves as a platoon leader who oversees 20 soldiers who make up the larger 80-person company. Jacob Rodriguez is effectively a full-time football player with his own demands. The two largely communicate via FaceTime and visit each other when Emma Rodriguez has weekends off. <\/p>\n Bindel is familiar with both families. He thinks the strength of their relationship and ability to \u201ckeep the main thing the main thing\u201d derives from how both were raised. Jacob Rodriguez was 8 years old when his father was diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma cancer. His mother underwent five back surgeries because of a separate medical condition that same year. <\/p>\n \u201cI think that you could see the change in the kids when we faced adversity,\u201d Joe Rodriguez said. \u201cWe hated to go through it at the moment we were in it, but what I learned was to appreciate the little things a lot more, and I think that\u2019s where we probably got a lot of that.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s allowed the couple to navigate their dreams together from afar. <\/p>\n \u201cHaving somebody that supports you as much as she does,\u201d Jacob Rodriguez said. \u201cWho am I to not work hard during the week? If she cares about me this much, and if she believes in me this much, it would be wrong for me not to try as hard as I can and do everything possible that I can to be successful.\u201d <\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez (left) and her husband, Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (right).<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez \/ Courtesy: Emma Rodriguez<\/p>\n Last Saturday, after the Red Raiders beat Kansas State<\/a> with Emma Rodriguez in attendance, she quote-tweeted a Wildcats fan account that predicted a Texas Tech loss to say \u201cGive #JacobRodriguez the @HeismanTrophy.\u201d Two days later she posted \u201crise, shine and vote\u201d with a directive for fans to click the link in her bio that brings them to the award\u2019s fan vote website. She tagged the trophy\u2019s account one day later with the message \u201cI want to vote for #JacobRodriguez.\u201d Dozens of posts from Red Raiders fan accounts that praise her husband are reposted and scattered on her timeline between her own.<\/p>\n She\u2019s been shown on several television broadcasts of Red Raiders games and has developed \u201chaters\u201d because she believes \u201ca lot of people don\u2019t like seeing someone who\u2019s not affiliated with football in the slightest on their TV in a football game.\u201d <\/p>\n Her husband thinks that a large portion of his publicity \u2014 which has helped lead to name, image and likeness deals that allow the two to visit more often \u2014 is because of her. It\u2019s spread to the entire family. A Red Raiders fan asked Joe Rodriguez for a photo outside of a gas station on their drive to Lubbock prior to a win vs. Oklahoma State last month. Another asked Ann Rodriguez to sign their jersey during last Saturday\u2019s Kansas State game. <\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Me?\u2019\u201d Ann Rodriguez said. \u201cI thought they were talking to Emma.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez hosted Texas Tech\u2019s linebackers on a visit to the airfield while the team was in nearby Manhattan, Kan., for that game. They were \u201clike kids in a candy store\u201d around the planes, she said, in the same weekend that their defense totaled 12 tackles for loss in a pivotal conference win. <\/p>\n Rodriguez, for the record, is not listed as a candidate for the quarterback-friendly Heisman Trophy by any major oddsmakers. Michigan\u2019s Jabril Peppers was the most-recent finalist at the position nine years ago. McGuire pitched his captain\u2019s case last week and cited the difference in the team\u2019s abilities when he\u2019s on or off the field. Rodriguez laughed when asked if he could have ever imagined he\u2019d be close to the discussion. <\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up, I wanted to win the Heisman as a quarterback, I had my thoughts of being in the conversation as a quarterback,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cOnce I switched to linebacker, especially those earlier years, man I was just trying to make the team.\u201d <\/p>\n He\u2019s done that and then some. <\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing that would make it better,\u201d Ann Rodriguez said, \u201cis if Emma was with him all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez kisses her husband, Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, TX.<\/p>\n Emma Rodriguez \/ Courtesy: Emma Rodriguez<\/p>\n Twitter\/X: @McFarland_Shawn<\/a><\/p>\n There are over 100 tents outside Jones AT&T Stadium awaiting Saturday\u2019s showdown of top 10 teams.<\/p>\n Kirk Herbstreit was among those who donated money to support Maddie Ortiz, who was critically injured in a drunk driving accident on Oct. 16.<\/p>\n Panelists from The Dallas Morning News, The Ticket and NBC5 select outcomes for college football games, straight and against the spread.<\/p>\n![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NXGXV4KMGBHHFGPQL3SNBGTH5U.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/YUH3FJECWJCZNPNM63Y7EDPEJE.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Baylor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WY37SA4NZBDWDIKKI6WS43WQFE.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Emma](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RREE5U3LVRHGRAJWLQCEBPTVQA.jpg\")
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<\/a>Pair of Texas Tech students appointed \u2018Mayors of Raiderville\u2019 for BYU campout<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762446017_863_LWDIS4LZVVTDNH2A3FI3MF7C7I.jpg\")
<\/a>Texas Tech barber receives over $70K in medical support for wife from BYU, Red Raider fans<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Texas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762446017_358_I3NDIHGWM5AG7J3OZ4P6CFMLYA.jpg\")
<\/a>Week 11 college football predictions: Texas Tech-BYU, Texas A&M-Missouri and more<\/a><\/p>\n