Chris Rodriguez (UK Athletics Photo) Photo by Jacob Noger | UK Football
After becoming UK’s all-time rushing leader, Benny Snell has played in 29 games the last two years with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’s ran for 794 yards and six touchdowns on 219 carries. Forty-four of his carries have gone for first downs and six runs have been for 20 or more yards.
Snell has caught 13 passes for 84 yards with 10 of the catches coming last season.
Snell played in a run-oriented offense at UK where he holds the school record for career rushing yards (3,873), total touchdowns (48), rushing touchdowns (48), and 100-yard games (19). He broke the UK career rushing record of 3,835 yards set by Sonny Collins from 1972-75.
However, Snell caught only 28 passes for 205 yards and no touchdowns in 34 games at UK.
That made me wonder if UK running back Chris Rodriguez would have an edge over Snell going into the NFL if new offensive coordinator Liam Coen does throw him the ball this season.
“I don’t like to compare other players,” former UK all-SEC running back Anthony White said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports when I asked him that question.
“Chris will probably make the better NFL player. He seems to be faster and a little bigger. But the thing they cannot measure is Benny’s heart and ability to pick up yards when you need them. I just don’t think Benny is getting a fair shot right now with the Steelers (because of the way they throw the ball so much).”
White remains one of the best dual-purpose backs ever at UK. He ran for 1,758 yards and 11 touchdowns and caught 194 passes for 1,520 yards and eight touchdowns after the arrival of Hal Mumme after his freshman season saved his career
“I don’t think you can go wrong with either one. Benny moves the chains but Chris probably will have a longer career and has more upside because he is a tad faster and bigger,” White said.
White said getting to play for Coen will “absolutely” give Rodriguez an edge starting his NFL career.
“There were all kind of questions about Benny catching the ball coming out of college because he didn’t get to show that he could,” White said. “Chris will be playing in a pro-set offense and will be more of a passing game option.
“You will see how he fits into different offenses where Benny did not have that luxury at UK. Benny has the heart and grit but teams never get to see how he would fit in a pro-stye offense. They will get to see Chris do that.”
3 Responses
It remains to be seen how much UK throws the football in 2021, I assume it will be a lot if indeed they have the right QB under center, and the skill players to do it. We shall see. This will only help Rodriquez at the next level. Snell’s rushing record at UK will probably never be broken. At least not any time soon. That speaks for itself. Gran’s offense was tailor made for him. My guess is, if the football is thrown his way in the NFL, he will catch it and turn up field. At UK he didn’t get much of a chance to do that under Eddie Gran. I would never count Snell out of anything involving a football game.
Snell is Snell. NO doubt about that. I think Anthony just means that at least Rodriguez should get the chance to play in a pro style passing game that Snell never got to do
I believe coaches use players in the manner the coaches believe will give the team the best chance to win. I find it interesting that while at UK, the coaches did not throw the ball in Snell’s direction very often, and it seems that the Steelers don’t throw it in Snell direction either, even though as Anthony White points out, the Steelers place a great emphasis on throwing the ball.
I don’t know if Rodriguez can be a more significant contributor in the passing game than Snell, and I certainly hope that he can and will be. I am also confident that if he can, then the coaches will make sure that he will be.
I recall reading a quote some time ago about Benny Snell, and it essentially was "When Benny’s not carrying the ball, Benny’s not carrying the ball, which is not good for the team." That tells me a lot about why the coaches ran the ball so much while Benny was on the field.
Perhaps this new OC will favor the passing game more than we have seen in recent years, but I believe that the bottom line for those decisions will be what will give UK the best chance to win. I expect another year with a balanced run-pass attack, and on the passing side, I hope to see the passing extend the field rather than widen the field.