Luis Rodriguez arrived at Kansas State as a late JUCO addition last summer, and he ended up giving the Wildcats one of their steadiest answers on special teams.
The kicker from College of the Canyons handled the primary job all season and delivered a strong debut run in Manhattan. Rodriguez went 13 of 15 on field goals and was perfect on all 42 extra-point tries.
That 86.7% field-goal rate ranked 22nd nationally and second in the Big 12, while also tying for sixth in school history. His 13 made field goals tied for 14th in program history.
Rodriguez also carved out a place in the record book with his consistency on PATs. His perfect extra-point season was the seventh-best in school history, and his 81 points ranked fourth in school history among sophomores and tied for 14th overall.
His biggest field-goal outings came against Army, UCF, Baylor, TCU and Utah, when he made two in each game. He drilled a season-long 51-yarder at Arizona, which tied for the 25th-longest field goal in school history and stood as Kansas State’s longest in a true road game since Ty Zentner hit from 53 yards at West Virginia in 2022.
One of Rodriguez’s two misses was a blocked 56-yard attempt as time expired at Baylor. He also had a season-high six extra points at Kansas, with five apiece against North Dakota, TCU and Utah. He finished the year with Academic All-Big 12 honors.
New special teams coordinator Stanton Weber made it clear he noticed the way Rodriguez handled himself.
“I love Luis’ attitude. He is a next-kick guy.
You couldn’t tell if he missed it or made it. He’s a guy who has some swagger to him as well.
When he steps up in front of the whole team, he’s not intimidated, and he sticks the kick through.”
Before Kansas State, Rodriguez built his résumé at Verdugo Hills High School under Sean Jackson. He was a first-team all-conference pick and the league’s kicker/punter of the year. In his high school career, he made 20 of 27 field goals and 26 of 27 extra points, added 61 touchbacks on 69 kickoffs, and averaged 37.9 yards on 47 punts with 23 downed inside the opponent’s 20.
As a senior in 2023, Rodriguez earned All-California Team recognition from SBLive/Sports Illustrated after hitting 15 of 20 field goals, including a long of 49, and 20 of 21 extra points. He also produced 51 touchbacks on 56 kickoffs.
He spent one season at College of the Canyons under Ted Iacenda, where he was rated the third-best community college kicker in the Class of 2025 by Chris Sailer Kicking. He also made the California Community College Football Coaches Association All-America Team and earned first-team All-Southern California Football Association National Division, Northern League and Region III All-California Community College Football honors.
Rodriguez led the state in both field goals made and attempted, and his 54-yard kick against Bakersfield was the longest in California. He finished second among kickers in the state with 94 points and had six games with at least two field goals, including a perfect 5-for-5 day at Fullerton that earned him SCFA Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
He followed that with a 4-for-4 performance at Palomar and a 3-for-3 outing against Santa Barbara. He also had two field goals each against El Camino, Moorpark and Bakersfield, went 6 for 6 on extra points at Antelope Valley, and made three extra points on five different occasions.
Rodriguez handled kickoffs too, averaging 53 yards on 58 attempts with 31 touchbacks. He also punted against Moorpark, averaging 33.3 yards on three punts with a long of 46.
In Other News...
Kansas State Just Sent A Surprising Message About Andrej Kosti
Andrej Kostis first season at Kansas State came with a lot of attention for a freshman who was asked to play right away under Jerome Tang, and the Serbian guard finished with a modest role while still showing enough to keep people interested. Now, with Casey Alexander taking over, the tone around Kosti is shifting. The new staff is looking to ease some of the pressure and let him keep developing without carrying the weight of outside expectations.
Alexander has already pointed to Kostis improvement, but the bigger message is about patience. Kansas State is trying to treat this as a fresh start, not a referendum on whether Kosti can instantly become the next big name from Serbia, and that reset could matter as much as anything else for a player still finding his way in college basketball. [Read more 🡒]
K-State Alumni Have A Chance To Send KU Fans Into Meltdown
A Kansas State alumni group is back in The Basketball Tournament with a familiar kind of pressure attached, this time against a Kansas-based team in a rivalry setup that always seems to carry a little extra edge. The matchup lands Friday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, giving the Wildcats side a home-court backdrop for a series that has already swung both ways.
The teams have traded blows through two games, with each side owning one win, and the next meeting figures to draw plenty of attention from both fan bases. The alumni pools also give the showdown some real name recognition beyond the rivalry itself, with former Wildcats and Jayhawks mixed into a game that feels less like an exhibition and more like another chapter in a long-running border war. [Read more 🡒]