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Ogden — Earlier in the week, Adam Rodriguez talked about how his performance in earlier games in the season wasn’t up to his own personal standards for himself.
One thing the coaches at Weber always say, according to Rodriguez, is that “big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games.” He was ready to make those big-time plays against Montana.
All week long he watched film and studied, and boy did a big-time player show up. Rodriguez also happened to make some big-time plays that helped Weber State win a big-time game.
With eye black covering most of his face, Rodriguez was all smiles after the Wildcats victory Friday.
“It feels great,” Rodriguez said. “I think the whole defensive line was in at 5:45 a.m. for film, so I think that gave us a little bit of an edge. We were just in his face all day and somehow I got lucky and got four.”
Rodriguez had four timely sacks in the Wildcats' 17-10 come-from-behind win over Montana on Friday night. It tied a school record and puts him fourth in Weber State school history with 22 on his career. All of his sacks came in a very timely fashion, all on third downs to take away any scoring threat that the Montana Grizz would show.
“He’s got the ‘it’ factor as far as rushing the passer,” said head coach Jay Hill. “His senior year of high school he led the state of Utah in sacks and he’s done it, quite frankly, every year since he’s been here. He just has a knack for getting out to the passer and he’s pretty relentless.”
The senior defensive end is a part of the Wildcats' winningest senior class, and it’s something Hill is proud of.
“Very proud of the seniors,” Hill said. “They continue to add to their total of being the winningest senior class in school history, and I can’t say enough about their preparation and their leadership and what those guys mean to this team is huge. Obviously, you just interviewed Adam and you can see his passion and love for this program, that’s big.”
Rodriguez credits the brotherhood-like feel of his team to its success. He only grew up with one sister and there isn’t a place or people he’d rather be with when he’s not with his teammates — those are his best friends.
“We just show up every day,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just a fun environment to be around. You don’t want to go to work or school and be bored out of your mind not wanting to do anything. We come here and we’re geeked out to play with each other, lift, watch film. We have fun in every moment of every day with each other. It’s just great.”
