El Capitan: Rodriguez imbues Mizzou's defense with a work ethic learned from his immigrant parents

When Mizzou football met up with Virginia in the Gator Bowl on Dec. 27, 2025, linebacker Nick Rodriguez had himself a day. He recorded 15 tackles, which marked a career high, and added one pass breakup.

Rodriguez deserved to celebrate, but he didn’t. The celebration was reserved for the Cavaliers, who defeated the Tigers 13-7.

Rodriguez joined Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz and former Missouri center Connor Tollison in the postgame press conference. The mood was, understandably, glum. When asked about turning his focus to next season, Drinkwitz emphasized the importance of re-signing guys like Rodriguez. He then paused, looking over at Rodriguez for confirmation.

“You’re gonna be back, right?” he asked.

Rodriguez smiled, and the mood lifted as laughter filled the room. At that moment, it seemed like the Tigers would be OK moving forward. Rodriguez kept his word. He is, indeed, back, and he is hoping to be better than ever.

A sandlot start

In Rodriguez’s first year playing football, his mother couldn’t watch. Maria Rodriguez views football as an aggressive sport, and she was afraid to see her son compete. Still, when a man from their Miami neighborhood, John Jenkins, asked if he could take Nick to football practice with his son at Ives Estates Park, she agreed.

Maria knew she wanted her children to play sports, and Nick tried his hand at everything from soccer to tae kwon do to tennis. Football was, surprisingly, the one that stuck.

Nick’s parents, Maria and Nicolas Rodriguez, are from Argentina, where fútbol is king and American football is virtually unknown. Nick’s family didn’t understand the sport until he began to take it seriously.

Mayra Rodriguez, Nick’s older sister, has witnessed the evolution of his football journey. She remembers the little boy who ran around Ives Estates Park playing flag football. She recalls flag football becoming seven-on-seven ... and seven-on-seven becoming tackle.

“From there, he got exposed to St. Thomas (Aquinas High School), and that’s where his career really took off, but it all started playing in the grass in this park,” Mayra said.

When Rodriguez eventually left the park and began high school, things became more serious. St. Thomas is a private Catholic college-preparatory high school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the academics and athletics are challenging.

“Playing high school football in Florida is pretty fun and competitive,” Rodriguez said. “Everything down there is very fast (and) twitchy, so I feel like you become very versatile playing against that every day.”

During Rodriguez’s time with the Raiders, they rolled through their schedule, defeating every opponent that stood in their way to win four straight state titles. He recorded 114 tackles, including 15 for a loss, and nine sacks as a senior.

“He’s from Florida,” former Missouri defensive end Zion Young said. “When you think about Florida, you think about speed and violence. He displayed that.”

Instant buy-in

In high school, Rodriguez transformed himself into a dynamic threat. His football knowledge, work ethic and understanding of the importance of being on time hit another level. He also learned lessons he can take beyond the field.

St. Thomas linebackers coach and athletic director Twan Russell worked with Rodriguez on living with integrity and inspiring others. He saw a young man who embraced the ideas immediately.

“Our No. 1 value is our faith, and Nick played on varsity very early because he bought into who we were,” Russell said. “He didn’t necessarily play that first year, but he did special teams, and you could see what he was going to become. Sometimes, it takes kids two or three years to buy into what we think is important. He bought in right away.”

Rodriguez committed to Missouri in 2023 as a four-star prospect, according to ESPN and Rivals. He received offers from Mizzou, Miami, Ohio State, LSU, Ole Miss, Louisville and West Virginia, among others.

Mayra recalls going on several college visits.

She acknowledged that she and her family would have loved for Nick to stay in Miami, but they tried to avoid putting any pressure on him. The decision needed to be his, and she knew that he would make the right one.

“I think Missouri stood out the most to him,” Mayra said. “When he was there, he felt like he was at home. He didn’t have to tell me anything. I saw it in his behavior.”

The connection Rodriguez felt with Drinkwitz and the feeling of brotherhood in the locker room pushed him toward the Tigers, but there was another thing that excited him about joining the program.

“The opportunity to do something here that’s never been done before,” Rodriguez said. “(At) those big-name schools, that stuff has already been done.”

He not only accepted a challenge but actively sought one. So far, he has risen to it, and the values that his family and St. Thomas coaches instilled in him have helped him thrive as a Tiger.

Good linebackers can multitask. They evaluate the run and pass, receive cues from their teammates and call out signals. Those skills can be taught, but Russell believes the best athletes “operate without consciousness,” meaning they make the correct decisions without even really understanding why.

In Russell’s mind, Rodriguez fits that description. He has demonstrated leadership tendencies ever since his high school years, urging his teammates at St. Thomas to better themselves in ways like watching film.

“The elite players help athletes become holistic, where they say, ‘This is how I study in the room,’ and then, on the field, he leads vocally and with actions,” Russell said.

Loud and proud

Rodriguez has always demonstrated impressive qualities, even as a young child. He has a solid work ethic and a disciplined mindset, but that isn’t so surprising when considering the role models he grew up with. His parents emigrated from Argentina when they were just 22 years old.

Maria encouraged Nick to operate with a high level of focus and prioritize his health, and he took that advice to heart.

“When we went to restaurants with my friends and their sons and daughters, everybody ordered chicken tenders and fries and he ordered Caesar salads,” Maria said. “Can you believe it? He was like 10 (or) 11 years old.”

Rodriguez views good communication as nonnegotiable. A linebacker is essentially the quarterback of the defense, so it’s important to be vocal. On game day, he is constantly talking to the defense throughout the play. At practice or during off days, that communication doesn’t stop. That’s another thing he learned from his mother.

Rodriguez and his mother have a close relationship undergirded by respect. If Maria has an opinion, she’s going to make it known. She holds firm in what she believes in, and her willingness to speak freely inspired Nick. Outspokenness has served him well.

“He would often speak to the players about what the expectations were off the field with regard to their classroom or school behavior,” St. Thomas coach Roger Harriott said. “He was always focused on setting the right precedents and being a great example, developing the type of reputation that best represents our program.”

Intensity and fire

At St. Thomas, the Raiders referred to Rodriguez as “L-Beast.” It’s a play on “LB,” the abbreviation for linebacker. If one wants to claim that Rodriguez plays like a beast, his stats back it up. In 2024, he appeared in 11 games as a freshman. He took a leap in 2025, playing in all 13 games. He recorded 61 total tackles (27 solo), 1½ sacks, four tackles for loss and a team-leading seven pass breakups.

“He’s very flashy,” Young said. “He made the plays he was supposed to make, and he made the extra-effort plays. I think the world of Nicholas. I feel like the sky’s the limit for him for sure.”

During that 2025 campaign, Rodriguez was one of four major contributors at the position, along with Josiah Trotter, Khalil Jacobs and Triston Newson. Among that group, Rodriguez is the only returner this season, allowing him to step into a larger role.

He has played well so far in 2026, notching 10 solo tackles and a sack through four games, but Missouri’s coaches had faith in him before the season even began. When the Tigers announced their six team captains, Rodriguez made the list. He was one of the three who were selected by the coaching staff, while the others were chosen by teammates.

“He’s a gatherer,” Drinkwitz said. “People love to be around him. He’s a leader. He plays with an intensity and fire about him. There’s just a lot of trust about who he is, and whether or not we pointed at him or the players voted, I think the result would have been the same.”

Rodriguez remembers receiving a text from Drinkwitz asking him to meet him in his office to inform him that he had been voted as a captain. The decision shows that the coaches believe in and respect him. Then again, why wouldn’t they?

When asked what being a good captain looks like, Rodriguez didn’t keep the answer short. He listed several things, but one of the first ones he mentioned was doing what’s right even if it comes at the expense of other things. He put it bluntly.

“It’s standard over feelings,” he said. “We all have that common goal, and if you see something out of line, you can’t be OK with it. You’ve got to confront the problem, and it works both ways. If I’m falling below the standard, my teammates better call me out, because we’re in this together.”

A great athlete, better person

After Rodriguez signed with Mizzou, he could have left St. Thomas. It’s common for players to graduate high school early and enroll at their universities for the spring semester. Rodriguez could have taken that route, but he elected to stay.

“He worked out that whole offseason with the next class of players,” Harriott said. “He even put a helmet and shoulder pads on. Obviously, we wouldn’t let him do competitive drills because he graduated, but he would go through the practice session and the workout weight-room session with the guys. That’s the type of mentality that has enabled him to reach the level of success that he is experiencing today.”

Even though Rodriguez is no longer a Raider, he still supports his alma mater from afar. Whether it’s communicating virtually by calling or texting or physically checking in whenever he’s in town, he goes the extra mile.

“The best thing is he’s still in some of our linebacker chats,” Russell said. “Every so often, he will just text in the chat as if he’s here with us.”

Ahead of the Raiders’ preseason game in August, Rodriguez took the time to share a message with his former team.

“He said, ‘Time to turn it up. Y’all turn him up, let’s get ready to go,’” said Oliver Vigille, St. Thomas’ other LBs coach.

Rodriguez is funny, but he also knows when to be serious. He can walk into a news conference, crack a joke and light up the room with his infectious smile, but he can also step onto the field and go about his business in an intentional way.

He’s a good athlete, but those around him emphasize that his sense of loyalty is stronger. Rodriguez shows up for those who matter most on and off the field, and they repay him.

“We try to show our support by going to games,” Mayra said. “We also don’t get the sport the way he does, so the only way we can really be there for him is just show(ing) up.”

It’s been more than two years since Rodriguez graduated high school. But when a Raiders player makes a good play, he’s told he looks like Nick Rodriguez. That shows he left a legacy at St. Thomas, and he plans to do the same thing at Missouri.

Rodriguez and the Tigers lost the Gator Bowl, preventing Mizzou from reaching nine wins in three consecutive seasons for the first time in program history. A Mizzou victory might have meant Rodriguez was the game’s MVP.

It’s a nice fantasy, but it’s exactly that — a fantasy. At the time, falling to Virginia stung, but as the cliché goes, ‘There’s always next year.’ Next year is now, and Rodriguez is eager to make the most of it.

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity that we have here,” he said. “It’s a great season ahead of us. We’ve just gotta embrace it and play one game at a time.”