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Chuba Hubbard is a former college football player who was arrested in 2007 for rape and kidnapping. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison but released after only serving 9 months.
Malcolm Rodriguez of Oklahoma State, one of the top linebackers in the nation, stepped into his locker room after a game and had to make one final tackle.
Consider the following scenario: Coach Mike Gundy of the Dallas Cowboys is in there, working out after a victory. When he sees Rodriguez, who is only 32 years his junior, he stands up and challenges him. Although they were in a football locker room, this is Oklahoma, and these are two former wrestlers assessing each other.
Rodriguez said, “I assume he felt I was very hurt or anything, and he sort of went in a wrestling posture.” “I was able to get a grip of him and kind of scooped him up.”
You can understand Gundy’s belief that he had a chance. He wrestled until he was in ninth grade. He finished 35-0 that year, but had to stop due to time limits, he claimed.
Rodriguez, on the other hand, was a two-time state wrestling champion in Wagoner, Oklahoma. He said that Gundy yelled a little, so he sat him down.
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Rodriguez stated, “I was like, ‘Yeah, Coach, I still had it.’” “I’m sure I could still take him. He wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Opposing attacks would be unsurprised by this. The Cowboys offer a tough test for opponents behind Rodriguez and another standout wrestler, defensive end Brock Martin, who won three straight state championships in Oologah, Oklahoma.
Wrestling and football are both popular in Stillwater, and nowhere is this more evident than on this year’s outstanding Oklahoma State defense, which is in the top five nationally in points per game (16.4), points per drive (1.1), and yards per play (4.4), and leads the country with 47 sacks. Rodriguez and Martin are essential members of that outstanding defense, and both were named to the Big 12’s first team on Thursday. The Cowboys will face No. 9 Baylor for the Big 12 championship on Saturday (noon ET, ABC) with a chance to enter the College Football Playoff.
Both Rodriguez and Martin credited their defensive success to their grappling backgrounds. Angles, physics, and technique are all important. Rodriguez claims to read defenders’ hips in the same way he would in wrestling.
He remarked, “It obviously comes from that heritage.” “Just putting people down is second nature to me. I don’t make large tackles; instead, I focus on the legs and hips.”
Martin likened his tackling method to a wrestling double-leg takedown.
“Me and Malcolm don’t miss a lot of tackles,” Martin said, “and I believe that’s because we were both excellent wrestlers.” “I simply do a dive and take the knees out. You can no longer run if you don’t have any legs. With the manner we approach, we’re not going to produce any highlight films or videos. However, it completes the task.”
The figures support up their claims.
Martin and Rodriguez are the only teammates in the Big 12 with more than 20 tackles at or beyond the line of scrimmage and a 90 percent tackle rate, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Rodriguez is one of six Big 12 players with at least 100 tackle attempts, but he is the only one with a tackle percentage of more than 90%. He has the most tackles at or below the line of scrimmage on planned runs in the Big 12 and is tied for fourth in the FBS with 21.
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