Texas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez Honored For Athletic Excellence

The former Rider Raider has added another award to his resume and the NFL draft is coming up next week.

Texas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez had an impressive season at linebacker for the Red Raiders. Here is a list of the awards that he won for his 2025 season.

Bronko Nagurski Trophy
Butkus Award
Lombardi Award
Chuck Bednarik Award
Pony Express Award
Unanimous All-American
Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year
First Team All Big 12

Jacob Rodriguez Wins Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award

The Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award is presented annually to the FBS college football player who has demonstrated a record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity and sportsmanship both on and off the field. Jacob won last night at the awards ceremony in Frisco at The Star. Below are the names of the previous winners.

Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Winners List

2018-UCF-Shaquem Griffin,
2019-Wisconsin D’Cota Dixon
2020-Tennessee-Trey Smith
2021-Texas Sam Ehlinger
2022-Kentucky-Josh Paschal
2023-Pitt-Deslin Alexandre
2024-Virginia Mike Hollins
2025-Kentucky J.J. Weaver
2026-Texas Tech-Jacob Rodriguez

We will wait and see where Jacob gets drafted next weekend. The draft experts are expecting him to go somewhere in the second or third round. According to Mel Kiper's current mock draft, he has Jacob going with the 46th pick to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. My Dallas Cowboys currently have eight picks in the upcoming draft.

Dallas Cowboys 2026 Picks

Round 1: No. 12 overall

Round 1: No. 20

Round 3: No. 92

Round 4: No. 112

Round 5: No. 152

Round 5: No. 177

Round 5: No. 180

Round 7: No. 218

Although it would be cool to see Jacob with a star on his helmet, it doesn't look like that happens. The only chance is with that 20th overall pick and they're saying that would be too early for Jacob and he's definitely gone by the 92nd pick. Who knows, the Cowboys could make a trade to move up on draft day. We will wait and see what happens.

Every Dallas Cowboys First Round Draft Pick Ever

Since it's draft weekend. Let's take a look back at every Dallas Cowboys player drafted in the first round. Please note, if a year is missing that means the Dallas Cowboys did not have a first round pick that season. Let's start with the most recent and work our way backwards.

Gallery Credit: Stryker