Chris Rodriguez has to embrace the challenge and work to stop fumbles

Chris Rodriguez leads the SEC in rushing but he may also lead in fumbles. (UK Athletics Photo)

The good news is that junior Chris Rodriguez continues to lead the Southeastern Conference in rushing with 520 yards on 85 carries — 6.1 yards per try — after four games. He had his third 100-yard game this season when he ran for 144 yards on 26 carries in Saturday night’s win at South Carolina.

The bad news is that for the second time this season, Rodriguez fumbled the ball twice at South Carolina. That’s four fumbles in UK’s two SEC games, a huge no-no especially with games against Florida, LSU and Georgia the next three weeks.

Rodriguez now has 1,883 career rushing yards and moved past former all-SEC running back Anthony White and others in 11th place on UK’s all-time rushing list.

White said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports that he was “surprised” Rodriguez fumbled twice at South Carolina.

“I put the ball on the ground my freshman year more than anybody liked and it cost me the rest of the season (because coach Bill Curry would not play him),” White said. “He has to embrace this challenge and has got to put the effort and concentration into it. He has to work on keeping that ball high and tight every day.

“The problem in the SEC is when you feel like you are breaking a tackle there is a guy coming up trying to strip it from you. He really has to concentrate on keeping it tight in traffic.”

White remembered that Rodriguez had a problem with fumbles his freshman year that he got corrected last season.

“I thought it was behind him,” White said.

Rodriguez took off the gloves he was wearing in the fourth quarter when he came back in the game after his second fumble.

“I always practiced without gloves but wore them in games for extra security catching the ball,” White, perhaps the best combo running-receiving back ever at UK, said. “If I could not feel the ball, I took the gloves off. Maybe the coaches told him to do that  because once your hands are naked on the ball you can feel it better.”

White said he always made sure he had the ball “tight” when he tried to make moves and said Rodriguez has to understand in traffic it’s easy to lose the ball.

“I don’t think he is careless or trying to do too much. He just has to concentrate on keeping it tight,” the former All-SEC running back said. “Does he take away getting extra yards to keep the ball tight or just work to keep it tight all the time?

White did raise one point I had not thought about. The former All-SEC running back wondered if resting Rodriguez during the week to keep him fresh for games was hurting him.

“I don’t think he is getting the reps at practice where they are trying to strip the ball from him because they want to keep him fresh,” White said. “Limiting some of his reps may be why he is putting the ball on the ground. He’s not accustomed to not having work during the week.”

White was glad to see coach Mark Stoops go back to White in the fourth quarter after his second fumble when he helped get UK in field goal position.

“We are going to need Chris,” White said. “I do not want him sitting in the doghouse and then coming in and trying to do too much. I know he made mistakes but putting him back in and riding with him was a big thing for Chris and his confidence.”