Today is a special day in Beaver Nation. It is the last day that we're able to legitimately hype Jacquizz Rodgers for his considerable high school accolades.
El Uno, El Ocho Loco (via www.gazettetimes.com)
By now, every Pac-10 football fan knows and loves James Rodgers, and Beaver fans have similar feelings for his younger brother, Jacquizz. Dare we suggest their mother, The Great Tasha Williams, is Beaver Nation's most beloved mother? (Apologies to Lyle Moevao's mom, Shelly ...and the inimitable Cindy Kuykendall, of course.)
Yeah, yeah, yeah the man, the myth, the Jacquizz Rodgers. We've all heard of him by now.
I don't think we know anything concrete about his height, weight, or 40 time. He's listed at 5'7", but I would guess that he's 5'6." Many articles list him as weighing 180, but I think it's pretty obvious when you look at the width of his calves and his neck that he's probably more like 195. He and James both say that he doesn't have the straight-line speed of his brother (kind of like everyone else who plays Pac-10 football), but he is faster than Yvenson Bernard, and probably Simonton, and... possibly even with Steven Jackson?
There's a lot of hype, but how much do we really know? The thing that impresses me the most when I've searched around the ol' google is the sheer volume of quotes from opposing coaches. They're in love with him.
There's the New York Times article with this quote from an opposing coach:
Having also coached against (Minnesota Viking, Adrian) Peterson in high school, Caniford said Rodgers is a more difficult tailback to stop. Peterson was more predictable in that he barreled over defenders and outran them, he said.
"This kid is a lot more patient, and you don’t have any idea where he might break that ball," Caniford said of Rodgers. "Sometimes running to the football, you’re going to overpursue, and he may break it all the way out back out the back door."--NEW YORK TIMES
There's a lot of practice reports like this:
Day 3 practice report:
Skele (no linemen, 7 on 7 live action plays)
This is where the fun started. This was the first work of the day with the O and D live running at full speed. So, you remember that James (Rodgers, El Ocho Loco) is pretty speedy, well it runs in the family. The Defense today learned that full speed might be a little different when Quizz is on the field. 1st play from scrimmage, Jacquizz takes a handoff makes a nifty side step off tackle and is gone. The defenders were dang, this is no ordinary freshman. They also knew that, cause the defenders on the sideline and the coaches started getting on them. The gauntlet had been thrown. Next play, Jacquizz stretch runs to the right, goes right around the entire defense near the sideline, not even touched. Now the defense is snorting steam. Next play Jacquizz gets bumped around but still gets thru easily. Next play, the same. The defense did not have an answer.-courtesy LuckyBucky (webmaster extraordinaire of BtD's favorite-to-read message board, pure-orange.net )
and...
I've seen him with my own eyes in a few practices, but I don't really know how good he will be against bigger, faster defenses than he faced in high school. He is a true between-the-tackles running back and with the skills that he shows in practice and on his highlight reels it is unlikely that he will get hit cleanly very often. He is great in traffic because he has a low center of gravity, strength, balance, he sets up his blockers like dominoes, and he can start-stop-start faster than anyone else on the field--up to there, he's like any very good shorter running back who can make the first guy miss--but his secret sauce is that he gets to full speed with just one step in any direction. I don't know if that's possible, but that's what it looks like to me. You'll love it.
He has also been known to turn any color of Gatorade into orange Powerade!
Here are some links to decide how great he is for yourself:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/sports/23rodgers.html
http://blogs.chron.com/prepsports/2007/12/rb_rodgers_displays_onceinagen.html
http://www.texasfootball.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=32&url_subchannel_id=&url_article_id=490&change_well_id=2
http://blogs.chron.com/jeromesolomon/2007/12/pettite_makes_me_laugh_jacquiz.html
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbeaversbeat/2008/02/immediate_impact_for_jacquizz.html
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbeaversbeat/2007/12/jacquizz_rodgers_overcomes_yet.html
Know any others?