A first scholarship offer is an event that forever will be entrenched in a prospect memory, especially when it comes from the hometown school. That was naturally the case for 2022 Phoenix Desert Vista offensive lineman Jai Rodriguez who was elated by the Sun Devils’ offer last week.
“It’s very special, and it just means a lot,” Rodriguez said. “They have been in contact with me since last year when I had an unofficial visit. That was my second time on campus; the first one was for a camp. But yeah, it was still surprising getting the offer from them today (on June 3rd).
“When I saw the campus, I fell in love. I thought it was a great campus. They were doing and saying all the right things, making sure that players are first. All the coaches talked about how Education is very important and that players need to get stuff done in the classroom before the field. When I went to their camp, the coaches showed me a lot of techniques that I didn’t know before. They had me going out of the two-point (stance) instead of originally going out of three-point like did as I did at my high school, so that was a huge game-changer. I felt like I was way faster.”
Rodriguez said his leadership is a trait that has always impressed the Arizona State coaches and one that mentioned as a reason for this recent offer.
"I always make sure everyone's doing what they're supposed to," Rodriguez described, "getting their assignments done. The coaches also like my size and see me as a tackle. At the end of my sophomore year, I was 6'6 270 lbs. So, I plan to be at least 285 lbs. by next season and then just keep going from there.
"I feel that I need to improve my footwork, and working on agility work is always something you can improve on. And then improving my strength is definitely another thing. I played mostly left tackle, but we've had some instances where I've had to go to right tackle. I feel like I'm a better run blocker but I can also get pass blocking done as well."
Like many other prospects in his class, the COVID-19 pandemic affected Rodriguez's exposure to many other schools, but it has still been able to garner some interest from notable programs.
"I had the Rivals scheduled for this month," Rodriguez commented, "and then I had a La Verne camp, which is a padded camp showcase we were supposed to go to. Me and my dad were going to find some other school camps to go to…I believe we were going to go to the Oregon and Colorado ones.
"The most recent schools I've talked to are University of Washington, Ohio State, Michigan, and Colorado."
Rodriguez stated that he doesn't have a preference in terms of trying to play college football close to home and especially this early in his recruiting process, he's open to all possibilities. He's scheduled to graduate in December of 2021, yet the lineman did note that he wasn't locked on that graduation date and left the door open for a potential spring 2022 date.
"I want to probably have a major in the medical field," Rodriguez said. "I'm just going to make sure it's one of those schools that will feel like home. Say I have a traumatic injury where I can't play football anymore. I want to make sure that it's still a place that I can feel comfortable at."
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Jesse Morrison contributed to this article.
