Rhett Rodriguez has to be the only team analyst in college football who works for his father, gives financial advice and survived a near-death experience.
The former University of Arizona and Catalina Foothills High School quarterback has led an interesting life for a 26-year-old, or an any-year-old.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
It’s all true, by the way. After two years in the “real world,” Rodriguez joined the family business. Former UA coach Rich Rodriguez, in his third year as the head coach at Jacksonville State, hired son Rhett as an offensive analyst in March. He works with the Gamecocks’ quarterbacks, including booth-to-helmet in-game communication.
In his spare time, Rhett counsels family members — sister Raquel also works for the JSU athletic department — staffers and players on how to handle their money. He spent those years away from football as a business development associate for Northern Trust in Phoenix.
He is happy to be doing all of the above after suffering a partially collapsed lung in his final year as a player at Louisiana Monroe in 2021. Whether it was truly a near-death experience is up for debate. But it was scary as hell for Rhett and his family for a couple of days.
Jacksonville State offensive analyst Rhett Rodriguez, a former quarterback for Arizona and Catalina Foothills High, smiles in the locker room after the Gamecocks defeated Southern Mississippi last month.
What did he learn from that situation?
“I learned that things won't always go the way you want, or you might not get the ending you'd hoped for,” Rhett Rodriguez said during a recent phone conversation. “But you need to find the positive in every situation and trust God's path for you.”
Rodiguez’s path has taken him from Tucson to Monroe to Phoenix to Jacksonville, Alabama, a town of less than 15,000 located about halfway between Birmingham and Atlanta. Jacksonville is believed to be the smallest city that’s home to an FBS program. Rich Rodriguez said his daily commute is three minutes if the stoplight is green, 3½ if it’s red.
In 2023, the Gamecocks became the first program to win a bowl game in their first year of FBS competition. They finished 9-4.
JSU started this season 0-3. “I was like, ‘Heck, maybe I'm the curse. Maybe I'm the reason we're not doing so good,’ ” Rhett Rodriguez said. “But now we're starting to get rolling a little bit.”
Former Arizona quarterback Rhett Rodriguez, left, passes while under pressure from UCLA linebacker Keisean Lucier-South during the second half of their game on Oct. 20, 2018, in Pasadena, Calif. Rodriguez made his lone start as a Wildcat. UCLA won 31-30.
The Gamecocks have won three straight, averaging 53.7 points over that span. They host Middle Tennessee on Wednesday — three days before the “RichRod Bowl” (Arizona vs. West Virginia) at Arizona Stadium.
I mentioned to Rhett that the struggling Wildcats could use an injection of his dad's offense right about now.
“Yeah,” he said. “That 2017 offense, man, we had that thing rolling pretty good.”
Rhett Rodriguez was a college freshman back then. He had no idea where his football journey would take him.
‘Am I going to die?’
Rhett Rodriguez enrolled at Arizona in 2017 after a standout career at Catalina Foothills. Rich Rodriguez was in his sixth year as UA coach. It would turn out to be his last; he was fired at the end of the season.
Rhett decided to stay at Arizona, where he mostly served as a backup for the next three years. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in business management and a master’s in entrepreneurship, he transferred to Louisiana Monroe, where his dad was the offensive coordinator.
With Rhett as their starting quarterback, the Warhawks took a 1-1 record into a Week 3 matchup against Troy. The Trojans were favored by more than three touchdowns. Louisiana Monroe won 29-16.
Rhett missed a chunk of the first half after taking a hard hit. He was able to return for the second half. He posted the highest completion percentage (62.5) and efficiency rating (151.9) in his college career as a starter.
“It was everything I was hoping for out of playing college football — to be the starting quarterback, have an impact on the game and help the team,” Rodriguez said. “I had about 30 minutes of celebrating, took pictures with the family after the game, do the postgame interviews, all this stuff. And then had it take a turn for the worse.”
Rhett’s mother, Rita, and a team trainer noticed that his voice sounded strange — Rich Rodriguez called it “whispery” — during the postgame news conference. They decided to have him checked at a local hospital.
“I'm thinking, ‘They're bringing me for precautionary reasons,’ ” Rhett Rodriguez said. “And then they say, ‘Well, you're going to have to be put on a ventilator.’ ”
Former Louisiana Monroe quarterback Rhett Rodriguez eludes a defender against Troy on Sept. 25, 2021. Rodriguez would suffer a partially collapsed lung during the game.
Rhett’s right lung had partially collapsed. It apparently happened on ULM’s first play from scrimmage, when Rodriguez took a helmet to the side from Troy’s Carlton Martial after a 3-yard scramble.
The family was stunned. The worst-case scenario surfaced in Rhett’s mind.
“For a second there I was like, ‘Am I going to die?’ I don't think it was ever quite that serious. But they told me I’d probably be in a coma. It could be a couple days. Could be a couple weeks,” Rodriguez said. “And then the whole anesthesia thing.”
Rhett was supposed to be asleep while doctors and nurses inserted various needles and tubes into his body. But they didn’t use enough anesthesia.
“They put in the ventilator. They put in the catheter and all these things. And I'm still conscious,” Rodriguez said. “I hear them talking. ‘OK, he’s asleep now.’ And I'm like, ‘I'm still here.’ ”
Rhett Rodriguez, right, recovers in the hospital while his father, Rich, sits next to him. Rhett suffered a partially collapsed lung in 2021 while playing for Louisiana Monroe.
Rhett couldn’t talk, and he could barely move. But he had the wherewithal to twitch his fingers and toes.
“This doesn’t seem right,” Rich Rodriguez said at the time.
A nurse assured him it was OK.
“Then tears start coming out of his eyes,” Rhett’s father said.
As you probably know, Rich Rodriguez loses his temper from time to time. He got the staff’s attention. Rhett got more anesthesia.
The induced coma lasted only eight hours. He eventually made a complete recovery and played in the final three games of the season.
“I couldn’t image what it felt like,” Rich Rodriguez said. “Without question it was the hardest moment of my entire career, watching your own son on a life-support machine because of an injury in a football game.
“He's not a rah-rah, in-your-face guy. But there’s a lot of toughness in that little body of his.”
The Rodriguez family — Raquel, Rhett, Rita and Rich — celebrate Rhett's return home after he was hospitalized because of a partially collapsed lung in 2021.
Rhett Rodriguez ended up being fine. But there’s an alternate reality in which he wouldn’t have been.
“They said if I would have been on a plane, then it could have been really bad,” Rodriguez said. “So it's a good thing that it was a home game.”
Family business time
Rhett Rodriguez got a master’s in psychology at ULM — his third degree in five years of college.
“He never made a B,” his proud papa said. “He always had straight A’s.”
Rhett wanted to do something with those degrees outside the bubble of football. He got a job with Northern Trust and moved to Phoenix. He lived with ex-teammate Bryce Wolma and Max Michalczik, the son of former UA offensive line coach Jim Michalczik. Other former UA teammates lived nearby. It was a fun time and an opportunity for Rhett to learn and grow.
But coaching was always in the back of his mind. He seemed destined to do it, even as a player. His brain was always his greatest asset as a quarterback.
Rhett Rodriguez, a former University of Arizona and Catalina Foothills High School quarterback, is in his first year as an offensive analyst under his dad, ex-UA coach Rich Rodriguez, at Jacksonville State.
Rich Rodriguez wanted to bring Rhett aboard. But he didn’t want to push him.
“You want your kids to choose their own path,” Rich Rodriguez said.
An analyst job came open at Jacksonville State early in the offseason. It was the right opportunity at the right time.
“I figured I don't know how much longer my dad's going to be coaching,” Rhett said of Rich, who turned 61 in May. “You don't have the opportunity very often to get paid to watch film and try to get some first downs with your dad.
“I took a little bit of a pay cut. But I know I'm just getting started. You gotta start somewhere.”
How hard Rich sold Rhett on the idea is also up for debate. Rhett’s version of events reveals a trait he and his father share — a knack for sarcasm.
“He'd tried to get me here before, and then he threatened to take me out of the will,” Rhett Rodriguez said. “So I was like, all right, I guess now I gotta join the staff.”
Catalina Foothills High senior Rhett Rodriguez watches as his father, then-University of Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez, sign his national letter of intent to play for him in Tucson on Feb 1, 2017. Raquel Rodriguez, Rhett’s sister, is on the right.
Rhett is enjoying the experience, from playing the role of good cop with JSU’s quarterbacks to explaining to the players how to open a bank account or apply for a credit card.
It’s unclear what the future holds. Rich Rodriguez is certain his son will thrive no matter what path he chooses.
“Even with all the crazy stuff going on in college football, he likes the profession, he likes coaching,” RichRod said. “Wherever (the sport) is gonna go in the future, he wants to play a role in it somehow. And if things don’t work out, he can go in the business world tomorrow and have success.”
