Photo by Kristi Camara
By: Jackson Wolek / Staff Writer
Roads can take you anywhere. They can bring you to a new exotic location you have always wanted to go to, a bad part of town that you have no business being in and in some cases, simply a dead end. Head coach Mario Cristobal has chosen sophomore running back Kedrick Rhodes as his new road to travel on this season, and so far everyone has enjoyed the trip.
Last year he was just being built and saw limited time in the backfield behind both Darriet Perry and Darian Mallary, who each rushed for a combined 1,577 yards on 292 carries. This year, despite having Perry and Mallary back along with Jeremiah Harden, it is Rhodes who has seen the ball the most.
He has taken advantage of the newly found opportunity by gaining 535 yards and scoring six touchdowns just halfway through the year, making him the number three rusher in yards for the Sun Belt. The work that he had to put in to get to what he is today started when he got to FIU in 2009.
“It’s a lot of stuff to handle when you get here because everything happens so fast. The schemes are a little bit different. All of a sudden protection really becomes an important part of the running backs responsibilities, so I think that was a big adjustment for him,” said Cristobal. “He adjusted just about as quickly as you can as a tailback. The best way to put it is he’s just natural, a complete player.”
The best part about Rhodes, besides his inept ability to make tacklers miss him almost at will, is that this freeway has no tolls, or in other words, no problems.
“He has a lot of pride and the right kind of pride in him too,” said Cristobal. “He’s been a great contributor to our football program.”
Next time you are driving on the turnpike, Rhodes should pop into your head. That’s because Rhodes says that is what he plays like.
“I’m more of an elusive back. I like getting to the outside but I can run in between the holes too,” Rhodes said. “That’s more of my running style. Not like a run-you-over type of guy. I’m like the turnpike.”
With Rhodes making defenders miss so often, it is usually the other team’s ankles that are hurting after the game. But Rhodes claims that the worst injury he has ever suffered has been to his own ankles.
“I tweak my ankles a lot, both of them. But I never really had any big injury except for a scope on my knee,” said Rhodes.
He had to have a minor surgery last year due to that knee problem he suffered, but still claims his ankles to being the worst part of his body to get injured.
“I was only out just for a couple of weeks, so that wasn’t too big, Rhodes said. “And that was last year so I wouldn’t say that was my biggest injury because I wasn’t out for that long, so I think it was my ankles.”
Of course, there is the every so often maintenance that he has gone through and will continue to go through as his career as a Panther moves forward. Rhodes says that he receives treatment from the trainers every morning after practice, specifically on his most prized possession on his body: his ankles.
Luckily, no bones have been broken on his body. Unfortunately, neither have any records yet. No award is going to be given out to him just for having a good work ethic and fancy moves. He must produce the numbers in order to achieve any accolades. So far, he is on his way if he keeps it up. However, the only trophies he is concerned about getting are a couple more Sun Belt championships, bowl wins and maybe even a BCS bowl victory.
“My ultimate goal for us as a team is going to a bowl game every year, like this year we have a shot and if a couple of things go our way, we definitely can be in a bowl game,” Rhodes said. He also commented on the possibility of going to a BCS bowl before he graduates. “I’m trying to go to a bowl game every year; we beat a couple big schools so we can go to a BCS bowl too.”
If FIU does travel to a BCS bowl in the next two years, it will be behind the steering wheel of the car that got them there: the Kedrick Rhodes mobile. There are disputes on what kind of vehicle he actually is though. He claims that if he were a car, he would be a Lamborghini because it is a real smooth car, just like the way he runs.
Senior defensive back Jonathan Cyprien, whose biggest hobby is dealing with cars, says differently.
“For him, I would say it would have to be a stick shift because he can stop at a dime and start again, so I would say a Camero because it’s not too big so it’s not just a straight line car and can fit anywhere,” said Cyprien.
Rhodes has learned from one of the best running backs ever to attend FIU, Darriet Perry, who holds the program record for most touchdowns from a running back with 26 and counting. Not only does he get to learn from Perry on the field, but off the field as well, since they are roommates.
“He’s a very respectful young man and he works hard all the time. He’s my roommate also and is always in his room either sleeping or watching TV or going to study hall and he goes hard in everything he does,” said Perry.
Perry often helps Rhodes during the season and Rhodes returns the favor with helping Perry out as well. It is a give-and-take relationship between the two. Each one gives advice, as well as taking it. “He gives me advice, I give him advice, and we just help each other out in every way that we can,” Perry said.
Someday, the knowledge Perry has passed down to Rhodes can be passed down again from him to other young running backs entering the FIU program.
The road that the past has built can be used by the future. And the road that Rhodes is helping build has come out rather nicely thus far.
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