ROGERS -- When Armando Rodriguez is in the Rogers High huddle, one of the players the junior looks up to is 6-foot-3 senior wide receiver Jake Benninghoff.
Rodriguez also looks up to the rest of the players on the Mounties' offense. In fact, Rodriguez looks up to all the other 78 players on the Rogers roster. At 5-4, the 158-pound Rodriguez is the shortest player on the team.
Armando Rodriguez
SCHOOL Rogers High
CLASS Junior
HEIGHT 5-4
WEIGHT 158
NOTABLE Plays both offensive tackle and tight end. … Started at tackle against Jeff City. … Is grading out at 75 percent on the year. … Played organized football for the first time in eighth grade.
On The Web
For more on this story, including a video produced by Rogers Public Schools students, go to nwadg.com/sports and ARPreps.com.
Also catch Armando’s story during halftime of tonight’s NWADG Game of the Week on KXNW-TV channel 34 and livestreamed at www.nwadg.com.
Most players that size play a skill position. Not Rodriguez.
"Armando does not have the speed to play running back or a skill position, and he understands that," said Mounties assistant coach Rob Bray.
Bray coaches the offensive linemen and he found a spot up front for Rodriguez in the Mounties' run-oriented offense. And even with a smaller stature, Rodriguez worked his way into the starting lineup. Rodriguez is currently listed as a tight end, but he has also played offensive tackle where he could be a foot shorter than the person he's line up against.
"We don't hesitate to switch jerseys and have him put on a non-eligible number," Bray said.
Despite being out-manned every time he steps on the field, Rodriguez said he loves the challenge of blocking bigger and stronger players.
Rodriguez did not start playing organized football until the eighth-grade, but he has graded out at 75 percent at tackle and tight end this season.
"One thing coach Bray stresses is quickness off the line," Rodriguez said. "You will never find a game where I am the bigger guy, so I have to utilize my technique and my footwork. It gives me an advantage that they take for granted."
Rogers coach Shawn Flannigan said Rodriguez's love of football has allowed him to find a place on the field.
"If Armando was 6-foot-3 and weighed 240 pounds, he would probably be a Division I football prospect just on work ethic alone," Flannigan said. "He has an unbelievable heart. His desire to be great is as strong or stronger than any kid I have coached. He wants to be good and he works hard. He just doesn't have the size of other kids, but he competes and he gets after it.
"Because of that, it allows him to get on the field and play against guys that are significantly larger, stronger, quicker and faster than he is. He holds his own."
Rodriguez got his first taste of playing in the trenches as a sophomore on the junior varsity team and Bray wasn't sure if he would see the junior this season.
"He has not gotten bigger or taller," Bray said. "He is out-manned every week and I didn't think he would do it. When you are small you have to be nasty and tenacious. Armando understands that. He knows his pad level has to be very low for leverage purposes."
Rodriguez logged his first start of the season when he played tackle against Jefferson City, Mo., in the final nonconference game of the season. Flannigan remembers planning for that game against one of the top programs in Missouri.
"That was the first game he started and I was looking at his matchup against the defensive end from Jeff City, and I was thinking, 'Oh boy, here we go,'" Flannigan said. "But Armando did an outstanding job that game. That was a game we should have won, and Armando gave us an opportunity to win that game."
Rodriguez knows the tight end in the Mounties' scheme is a run blocker first and foremost, but he is hoping that a pass play comes his way before the season ends. Rogers travels to Springdale High at 7 p.m. today for the regular season finale, and the winner will get the final Class 7A playoff spot from the 7A-West Conference.
"I would like to go out for passes, but the coaches make the finals decisions and I just do what I have to do," Rodriguez said. "We have an opportunity in front us. If we win, we go to the playoffs. If we win, we can keep going."
Flannigan said he expects Rodriguez to be one of the senior leaders next season.
"He has a tremendous future in life," Flannigan said. "Armando's football career is probably going to end here at the high school, but he has a bright future ahead of him."
Sports on 11/06/2015