Running back Chris Rodriguez returns to Kentucky football team as potential starter
Chris Rodriguez will be available to play when the Kentucky football team travels this weekend to take on Ole Miss.
The running back is expected to take the field for the first time this season when the No. 7 Wildcats go up against the No. 14 Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi, starting at noon Saturday.
Whether UK’s star will start remains a question.
More on Rodriguez:Kentucky football's win over NIU shows how crucial star RB Chris Rodriguez's return is
Rodriguez is listed as one of two starting options at running back along with fellow senior Kavosiey Smoke, the starter in Rodriguez’s absence this season. Rodriguez has been unavailable for Kentucky (4-0, 1-0 SEC).
He’s believed to have been serving a suspension related to an NCAA inquiry into player eligibility that was reported by Sports Illustrated, but UK has not confirmed the reason for his absence.
Rodriguez has worked on Kentucky’s scout team for much of the early season but has taken first- and second-team reps as his return neared, UK coach Mark Stoops said Monday, “just to make sure he wasn’t totally removed from practicing our plays.”
Most of those reps have been with the second team, Stoops said, but Rodriguez’s experience and production make him a candidate to step in and start. He’s rushed for 2,739 yards in his UK career, including 1,378 last season.
In 32 career games, Rodriguez has 27 rushing touchdowns and has averaged 6.6 yards per carry.
He’s “arguably as good as any back in the SEC,” UK offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said last Saturday after the Wildcats beat Northern Illinois 31-23, and his return is a significant boost to a running game that has struggled in his absence.
Kentucky ranks 123rd out of 131 FBS programs in rushing yards per game at 81.5. Only nine teams have fewer than the three rushing touchdowns the Wildcats have scored this season.
That’s been a collective issue for the Cats — some on the running backs, some on the offensive line, some on the blocking by UK’s receivers — and Rodriguez is unlikely to fix every issue.
Still, having him back can’t hurt. He was a preseason second-team All-SEC selection by media covering the league.
“For Chris, he just needs to be himself,” Stoops said Monday at his weekly news conference. “He doesn’t need to come in and be our savior or anything like that or save our run game or any of that. We don’t need him to worry about that. We just need him to be him, and we need the people around him — the other guys that are playing — to do their job and to strain and to do things better in certain moments.”
J.J. Weaver injury update
Kentucky expects to be without linebacker J.J. Weaver for the second straight week.
Weaver suffered an undisclosed injury during a Sept. 23 win against Youngstown State. He was hurt on the Penguins’ opening drive and has not played since. Stoops has referred to his status as “week to week.”
Weaver was absent from the UK depth chart released Monday, and it “doesn’t look good” for him to play against Ole Miss (4-0), Stoops said.
Weaver has 15 tackles this season, including a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Barion Brown shares SEC honor
UK wide receiver Barion Brown on Monday was named the SEC's Co-Freshman of the Week along with Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins.
More:Kentucky football freshman WR Barion Brown makes history against Northern Illinois
Brown caught four passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns against Northern Illinois, scoring TDs of 15 and 70 yards. It was the most receiving yards in a game by a Kentucky freshman since Garrett Johnson had 154 against Florida on Sept. 13, 2014.
The touchdowns were Brown's first two at UK as a receiver. He returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score in the Wildcats' season-opening win against Miami (Ohio).
Through four games, Brown has 13 catches for 201 yards.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football RB Chris Rodriguez returns, could start vs. Ole Miss
