Joaquin Rodriguez just wanted a shot.

The kicker/punter waited three years to get a chance at starting, stuck behind current University of North Texas kicker Mason Reid. But when he finally got his shot, he made the most of it. This past season, Rodriguez hit 7/11 field goals, 36/36 extra points and earned a spot on the San Antonio Express-News all-area team. Now, he’ll be taking his talents to Texas Lutheran University in Seguin. But that wasn’t always the plan.

“I actually had a coach [from another school] come talk to me the day before my visit to TLU,” Rodriguez said. “It was a different coach from a different college. And in my mind, I was already set to go to that college… [but] I went [on the visit to Texas Lutheran].”

Once he got on campus, he realized he was home.

“It felt just like Smithson Valley,” Rodriguez said. “It felt like the Ranger program. It felt like home. So I was like, I can see myself playing here for four years. I like the atmosphere. The people are really nice, too. The coaching staff is great, and what’s better than joining at a program that’s on the come-up? That you can make a change in? That’s what I wanted.”

If building something is the goal, Seguin is certainly the right spot. The Bulldogs have improved their record every year since 2016, culminating in an 8-2 finish. The team just missed out on the tournament, but their only losses came against Hendrix College, a 26-23 contest, and a 41-3 loss at the hands of #6 Mary Hardin-Baylor. 

The Bulldogs, then, are certainly a team on the rise. But they still need help on special teams to reach the next level. Sophomore kicker Juan Ocampo hit 8/16 field goals (long of 43) and 40/44 extra points, while sophomore quarterback/punter Justice Porter averaged 35.5 yards per punt, below average for a Division III punter.

While that is no guarantee he wins either job, Joaquin will enter camp (assuming it happens) vying for both roles.

“They gave me a shot to compete for the starting spot as a freshman,” Rodriguez said. “So, I like that. I like that… I don’t know about starting at both, but I mean, there’s a shot. There’s a shot for at least either/or.”

Don’t be surprised if this is the first you’re hearing about Rodriguez as a punter. He was never tasked with it in high school, but his training regime with esteemed kicking coach Nick Gatto has paid off.

“I’ve always been a kicker and a punter,” Rodriguez said. “People won’t know that because at Smithson Valley I didn’t really get a shot to punt. But I’ve always been a kicker and a punter, ever since I started kicking footballs. And when I told ‘em that, they were like, ‘well that’s great! I mean, do you have any film?’ And I was like, ‘Well, I have videos of me practicing punting.’ And so I showed them, and they were like, ‘yeah, [we] think we want you to come up here and [compete for] the punting job, too. That would work.’”

But for Rodriguez, a Cuban immigrant, the most important thing is leaving a lasting impact at Texas Lutheran.

“I’m trying to leave a legacy,” he said.” I’m trying to let people know that it doesn’t matter where you came from, what your race is, doesn’t matter. You have a chance to do something special, and when there’s opportunity you’ve gotta take it and you gotta grasp it with both hands and run with it.”

And hey, who knows? Maybe he can make an on-the-field impact as well.

“I wanna build a legacy at TLU as, hopefully, if God allows it, as one of the best kickers that passed by,” he said. “Maybe stats-wise, [but] I wanna be a leader as well. You know, people say, ‘Kickers are not leaders, they can’t be a leader, they’re just a kicker.’ But for me, it’s different. I don’t think, ‘oh, I’m a kicker, they won’t listen to me.’ I’m like, hey, I’m a person on the team. If [a player] is doing something wrong, and I know something about it, then I can call them out on it. Or if somebody’s not doing something right, then I’d be like, ‘hey. This is not OK.’ I wanna leave a good legacy. That’s what I wanna do.”

Rodriguez wants to be known as “respectful,” “a man of God” and “hardworking.” But he doesn’t want to stick around TLU forever. He has bigger dreams.

“TLU is like a stepping stone,” he said. “I don’t want my football career to end at TLU. I would love – I would love, and I work for it every day – to hopefully play somewhere professionally. Make some money playing football, playing the game that I love. 

“That’s the goal, that’s my goal. And if it doesn’t happen, then it’s OK. I wanna open up a kicking academy or something, but my goal, number one, would be [to] play somewhere professionally. I don’t care if it’s overseas, I don’t care if it’s in Canada, if it’s in the XFL or AAF or whatever league they’ll have whenever I graduate college. It doesn’t matter to me. I wanna play professional football.”

But his big dreams will have to wait. For now, he’s in the same position as he was coming into high school: a freshman, looking up at a program where nothing will be handed to him. But that’s just the way he likes it.

“I like the competition,” he said. “I like the grind. I like the process. I like getting the pressure, all eyes on me, you know, pressure’s on you.”

Rodriguez chose the right school: Texas Lutheran’s Bulldog mascot matches his underdog mentality. Nothing will be handed to him. But he got his foot in the door. And he won’t throw away his shot.