He grew up in Hard Rock crowd. Now Ryan Rodriguez wants to help UM ‘get back’ to glory
Ryan Rodriguez sat in the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium on the day the Miami Hurricanes had supposed reentered college football’s elite ranks.
On back-to-back Saturdays in 2017, Miami pummeled the then-No. 13 Virginia Tech Hokies and then-No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Hurricanes, still undefeated, vaulted all the way up to No. 2.
It was the obvious high point for Miami last decade and a reminder of what South Florida had been missing for most of the previous 10 years.
“I was at the Notre Dame game, I went to the Virginia Tech blackout game — all the crazy games from a few seasons ago,” Rodriguez said. “I want to get back to playing in that.”
The Miami Columbus offensive lineman grew up in a household full of die-hard Hurricanes fans. He typically make his way out to Miami Gardens four or five times a year to watch the Hurricanes play, and John Rodriguez, the lineman’s father, even treks up to Tallahassee whenever Miami plays at the Florida State Seminoles. The Columbus junior grew up donning Hurricanes T-shirts and dreaming of playing for Miami, ideally in some of those raucous environments 2017 provided.
Everyone told Rodriguez to stay patient throughout his junior season for the Explorers, when he played every single snap at left tackle on the way to the Class 8A championship. Everyone knew he wanted the offer from the Hurricanes and coach Dave Dunn knew he was good enough to get attention from Power 5 Conference schools.
In January, Miami became the first Power 5 program to offer him a scholarship. On Monday, Rodriguez finally orally committed to his dream school, picking the Hurricanes from a list of about a dozen suitors.
“I’ve always liked Miami,” Rodriguez said, “so it was going to be tough to choose over Miami.”
Rodriguez, the No. 6 center in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2021, began to grab college’s attention last year. He was a rotational player for Columbus as a sophomore in 2018, then spent last summer competing at camps across the Miami metropolitan area. He went to an FAU Owls camp last summer to work out as a tackle and FAU offensive line coach Jeff Norrid suggested he try out center. Rodriguez won four straight plays against an Owls commit and FAU offered him on the spot. About a month later, same thing happened at an FIU Panthers camp.
He worked out at some of the Hurricanes’ camps, too, but former offensive line coach Butch Barry never extended an offer. Less than a week after Garin Justice took over, the offensive line coach went to visit Rodriguez at 6 a.m. on the day the dead period ended to offer the three-star center.
“That really stuck with me. I really appreciated that,” Rodriguez said. “They were the first school to offer me after the dead period.”
Rodriguez initially planned unofficial visits with the Louisville Cardinals, Wake Forest Demon Deacons and LSU Tigers for spring practices before COVID-19 forced an unexpected dead period. With the world in a state of uncertainty, Rodriguez said he wanted to lock in his spot with the hometown team.
His commitment is important for one of Justice’s major visions. The position coach said April 3 he wants to “try and take care of our home base first” with regards to recruiting linemen. Miami already held commitments from four-star Miami Central guard Laurence Seymore, the top-ranked offensive lineman in Miami-Dade County, and four-star Parkland Stoneman Douglas tackle Michael McLaughlin, the top-ranked tackle in the Miami metro area. Now he adds the top-ranked center in the Miami area, too, and Rodriguez said he spent about a long time on the phone with Seymore, laying out plans to work out together once social-distancing measures allow it.
“He’s excited to get to work with me,” Rodriguez said. “He’s solid with UM, he just wants to experience recruiting.”
Rodriguez said he’s open to playing anywhere on the offensive line and he has already proven an ability to play anywhere from left tackle to center. Although his lack of ideal length will likely force him to be an interior lineman for the Hurricanes, the 6-foot-3, 280-pound prospect has left tackle-type footwork and didn’t allow a sack all season.
In his first full season as a starter, Rodriguez was a first-team all-county selection by the Miami Herald.
“He’s our most athletic offensive lineman,” Dunn said. “Once we started putting him in drill work, and you saw how good his feet were and his hands were, he was our clear-cut [left tackle].”
On the day Justice came to meet with Rodriguez for the first time, the assistant coach shared a bit of Hurricanes history Rodriguez had never heard.
On four of Miami’s five national-championship teams, a former Explorer was a starting offensive lineman. All five rosters had a Columbus offensive lineman somewhere on the depth chart.
“So maybe something happens,” Rodriguez said.” I definitely think from here, it’s up for Miami.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 2:45 PM.
