Members of the Texas Tech football team spent much of the 2023 season wondering what they were missing without linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, and with good reason. In a season largely lost to injury, Rodriguez returned in time to be named outstanding defensive player of the Independence Bowl, and two games into this season he leads the Red Raiders with 20 tackles, two tackles for loss, a pass breakup and a forced fumble.

None of which he envisioned as a little kid way up north. In Hastings, Minnesota, near the Wisconsin border, he showed promise in wrestling before anything else.

Texas Tech football leader Jacob Rodriguez's first love

Jacob Rodriguez is the youngest of five siblings. Directly above him, 17 months older, are Joshua and Jeremiah. The twins started organized youth wrestling at age 5, and anything the twins did, the little brother had to do.

"They started, and I always wanted to be just like 'em, so I went out and started," said Jacob, who hit the mat at age 3. "Really enjoyed wrestling. It helped us control our emotions around the house. We knew we could just take it to the mat later on, and so we didn't really have to fight as much after that because we always knew that we were going to be so tired after practice."

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By their father, Joe Rodriguez's, recollection, Jeremiah and Joshua each won a Minnesota youth state championship at about age 7 or 8. Jacob did it twice. The little brother won state at age 5, finished third at age 6 and won again at 7, pinning every opponent.

The first four Rodriguez children, starting with Jacob's two older sisters, were born in Mississippi. Joe, working in the casino business in Minnesota, had accepted a transfer to Biloxi, where he was a blackjack dealer. Jacob was born after they moved back to Hastings, the hometown of his mother, Ann.

"All my kids are great," Joe Rodriguez said. "Don't get me wrong. They're pretty phenomenal in their own right, but Jacob is cut from a little bit different cloth."

Winning state titles in wrestling was just the start. These days, Rodriguez is 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, a team captain and the Big 12's fourth-leading tackler.

"When he got to the sixth or seventh grade," Joe said, "all of a sudden something changed and he was definitely a man against boys. Just crazy how big he was, how fast he was, how strong he was for such a young age. We had to take his birth certificate everywhere we went. It was funny all the dramaticism from the other parents: 'There's no way that kid's 10 years old!' "

Jacob Rodriguez caught Texas high school football fever after move from Minnesota

Jacob was 10 when the family moved to Texas, not at random to Wichita Falls. Joe Rodriguez said he served in the U.S. Army from age 18 to 21, including seven months with a Ranger battalion. Another military man, a close friend he met in Biloxi from Keesler Air Force Base, retired from Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls.

When the Rodriguez family wanted to leave the cold of Minnesota, the friend touted all the positives of Wichita Falls: warm weather, high-school sports and a good community with churches they'd like.

Blistering Wichita Falls summers were a jolt to Jacob, who enjoyed snowboarding and sledding.

"Loved the snow," he said. "That was one of the things I did miss in Texas was all the snow that we used to get."

Jacob quickly found a new love: Texas high school football. He made a name for himself as a quarterback and safety on good teams at Wichita Falls Rider. He signed with Virginia out of high school. When UVa underwent a coaching change after Rodriguez's freshman year in 2021, he transferred to Tech.

Even as a junior-high kid in Wichita Falls, Jacob would make his way to the sideline with the older teams, wanting to be a part of it, doing anything to help.

He didn't even need a Rider game to scratch his growing football itch. He'd hitch a ride with older friends or their parents to just any game.

"Oh, I loved it. Gosh, we tried to go to all the games possible," he said. "I went to a couple of Archer City games, some Holliday games, smaller schools around there. I just loved being around it."

Jacob Rodriguez's 2023 included marriage, season-wrecking injury with Texas Tech football team

Last year was an important time for Jacob Rodriguez. He got married on July 1, 2023. His wife Emma went to Wichita Falls High and West Point. She's now a U.S. Army second lieutenant, training as a helicopter pilot at Fort Novosel in Enterprise, Alabama.

Simultaneously, Rodriguez was trying to be a first-time starter for the Red Raiders and a new husband in a long-distance relationship.

"I feel like it's something we've done for a while," he said this summer, "so we kind of know how to do it. It helps that both of us are busy. It's really hard when somebody's busy and somebody's not. We both have extremely busy schedules and very demanding schedules. I think that's something that's definitely helped us is we can stay busy and live our own lives, but know that it's worth it being together throughout the distance."

On the football field, Rodriguez seemed to be making a linear progression with the Red Raiders. He showed promise as a top young backup in 2022, then elevated to the starting lineup for 2023. That opportunity vanished immediately. In the first quarter of the season opener at Wyoming, on a play in which he caused and recovered a fumble, Rodriguez's right foot twisted beneath him in the scramble.

He suffered a mid-foot sprain, a Lisfranc sprain and a bone bruise. The Lisfranc sprain "was probably the scariest thing," not quite severe enough to require surgery, Rodriguez said, and the bone bruise "made it hurt a heck of a lot for a long time."

He missed the next seven games and sat out the regular-season finale to stay within the four-game redshirt window.

"It was devastating. It really was," Rodriguez said. "I think we were having a really promising year. The game didn't turn out the way we thought it would, especially with the start that we had, and so I kind of blamed a lot on myself for that."

In weeks of rehab, Rodriguez knew the lonely isolation from teammates doing game prep. Time, though, gave him perspective.

"I think the greatest thing moving forward was as bad as it was, I was able to take a snapshot to step back and really look at the team and my life and my role and realize how grateful I am for the opportunity and how lucky I am to be in this position," he said.

"Looking back, I think the biggest positive out of it was, man, I'm so lucky to be here. I'm so lucky to be doing this, technically, as a job, I guess. I get to play a game, and not many do. I was just very grateful, very humbled by it. It was definitely hard to come back from, but the amount of relief I got once that finally came to fruition."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Success started early for Texas Tech football's Jacob Rodriguez