Oak Hills High School’s 6-foot-6, 326-pound tackle Jason Rodriguez has been named the state’s premier high school level football player in his position.
USA Today placed Rodriguez on the 2018 American Family Insurance All-USA California Football Team. Rodriguez, a senior, was selected for inclusion on the First Team offensive line unit. Rodriguez qualified as the biggest of those linemen, who consist of a center, two guards and one other tackle who attend St. John Bosco in Bellflower, Mater Dei in Santa Ana, San Juan Hills in San Juan Capistrano and Narbonne in Harbor City.
Rodriquez’s mass and power, as well as his rare agility, speed and quickness for a player of his size were key factors in the Bulldogs’ 10-2 record and their advancement in the CIF championship playoffs to the second round where they were ultimately stopped by Camarillo, 44-20 in November. The Bulldogs’ backfield scampered for over 3,000 yards on the ground this just-concluded season. On scores of occasions, running backs Martinique Finn and Isaiah Gray, both of whom rushed for over 1,000 yards this year, were able to break into a wide swathe of daylight and penetrate well into the defensive secondary after Rodriguez obliterated the unfortunate down defensive lineman playing opposite him and then pressed forward to neutralize the second line of defense by lighting up a linebacker.
The season was barely underway when Rodriguez was named as an XXL Under Armour All-America player. A last opportunity to see him in action as a prep football standout will come on January 3, when he will be in Orlando, Florida along with 99 others of those deemed the 100 best high school football players in the county at the Under Armour All-America Game, the USA’s high school football all star game. It will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 3 pm that day.
Last week, Rodriguez signed up to attend the University of Southern California and play as an offensive lineman with the Trojans.
-Mark Gutglueck