Junior running back Chris Rodriguez has been a weapon for the Kentucky offense in 2021.
In helping the Wildcats start 4-0, the 5-11, 224-pounder has rushed 85 times for 520 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The one downside for Rodriguez, a native of McDonough, Georgia, is that he as been prone to fumbles.
Rodriguez has put the ball on the ground 5 times this year, including twice in the red zone against Missouri.
And while the miscues haven’t cost Kentucky a game thus far, it’s a situation that Wildcats coach Mark Stoops is looking to see get fixed sooner than later.
“I’m not in a state of panic or anything,” Stoops said Monday in his weekly press conference. “But anytime you have an issue early in a season, you need to get it corrected.”
Stoops says he is confident that Christopher Rodriguez will get fumbling issue corrected. 'I'm not in a state of panic or anything, but anytime you have an issue early in a season, you need to get it corrected.'
— Mark Story (@markcstory) September 27, 2021
Stoops did, however, add that for a player of Rodriguez’s experience that the errors were unacceptable.
Said Stoops: “”Only thing I can say is we can’t make excuses, we’ve got to go back to work and correct it.”
Stoops asked about Chris Rodriguez's ball-security issues: It's unacceptable, and he's played too much football for us to do that. But they relied on him at the end and went back to him. "Only thing I can say is we can't make excuses, we've got to go back to work and correct it."
— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) September 26, 2021
Rodriguez and the Wildcats return to action on Saturday at home against 10th-ranked Florida.
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
