Rich Rodriguez’s son taken to hospital following Week 4 injury

Rhett Rodriguez, the son of Louisiana-Monroe offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez, was taken to the hospital with a lung injury, according to his father. Entering his junior season, Rhett became the starting quarterback for the Warhawks and was injured during Saturday’s 29-16 win over Troy.

Rhett Rodriguez went 10-for-16 with 131 yards and a touchdown before leaving with an injury during the Week Four game. He was sacked seven times over the first three games of the season.

“Our family would like to thank everyone who has reached out with their thoughts and prayers for Rhett, as he is currently in the ICU at the hospital because of a lung injury from last night’s game against Troy,” Rich Rodriguez posted on Twitter Sunday afternoon.

Rhett followed his father from Arizona to Louisiana-Monroe this season with a chance to compete for the starting job under head coach Terry Bowden, who is the son of Hall of Famer Bobby Bowden.

More about the Rodriguez family

Rich Rodriguez has coached at many stops across college football, including Clemson, West Virginia, Arizona, and others. The long-time offensive coach has seen ups and downs throughout his career with a 163-119-2 record and went 5-6 in bowl games over his career.

This is his first season at Louisiana-Monroe after a year away from football. He was let go by Arizona in 2017 and sat out one year before serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach in 2019.

Rhett Rodriguez playing sparingly at Arizona, where his father once was the head coach. As a redshirt freshman at Arizona, he appeared in seven games and started in one. He completed 43 of his 83 pass attempts for 516 yards and three touchdowns. He also had two interceptions on the season. Since 2018, he’s only played in two games.

“My freshman year, I had a chance to be with my dad and that was our plan that we could be together,” Rhett Rodriguez told the Louisiana-Monroe team website this summer. “That didn’t work out and I kind of figured that was the end of it. Now, we’re getting the chance to be together and it’s all up from here. We’re excited and embracing the challenge. It is about building that new culture and embracing the challenge and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The new quarterback enrolled in January and took place in spring practice this year. He was chosen to represent the team at the Sun Belt media day event this summer.