Kentucky Football: Rodriguez, Smoke ready to leave defenders in their wake

He doesn’t like it when you butcher his first name so you better just call him smoke he once told the Courier-Journal.

Of course, if you aren’t careful he may just run past you like a cloud of smoke.

"“Just say Smoke. That’s what I tell people — call me Smoke — because I don’t like it when people call my name wrong. That makes me kind of mad. People know my name, but they say it wrong still. I just like to be called Smoke.”"

If you do make the attempt it is pronounced Kah-VAH-see-ay.

Growing up in Wetumpka, Alabama a town of just over 6,500 people with a downtown made up of just two blocks, he wanted to be just like another SEC great Bo Jackson.

He did get offers from  South Carolina, Auburn, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Florida, and Virginia Tech, but he opted to go North to Lexington.

After a redshirt first season, he played in all 13 games the following year and seven of UK’s 11 games in 2020, missing four due to breaking a rib against Mississippi.

He did give Auburn a taste of what they may have missed out on last year when he led the Wildcats with seven carries for 62 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown run on UK’s first possession.

For his Wildcat career, he has rushed 152 times for 890 yards and eight touchdowns. He also has seven receptions for 51 yards and is known to have good receiving hands. Just another weapon Coen can stash in his arsenal.

Who can forget the 70-yard sprint against Louisville that set up Bowden’s six-yard touchdown?

Smoke is better on first down than on ensuring carries and if he stays healthy will put up some big numbers and highlights. He is the kind of player you sit on the edge of your seat knowing something is about to explode.

Here is hoping we see a lot of Smoke in the endzone that sets off fireworks atop Commonwealth Stadium.