UC Davis football beats Idaho as Rodrigues sparkles in quarterback debut
Hunter Rodrigues endured more injuries and heartache than he cares to remember while at Whitney High School in Rocklin, be it shoulder aches or bone breaks.
He managed a sterling senior season injury free then earned all-state honors while leading American River College to a 10-2 showing in 2017 in his lone season there.
Now he is at the helm of the UC Davis Aggies football fortunes, and the 6-foot, 180-pound junior impressed in his starting debut on Saturday afternoon. He beat out five others for the UCD quarterback job.
Rodrigues passed for 243 yards and three touchdowns, completing 23 of 29 passes, and Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. helped salt the game away with late-game rushing efforts, to power the Aggies past No. 19-ranked Idaho 27-17 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow in a Big Sky Conference spring game.
The traditional fall season was pushed to the spring due to the pandemic.
Rodrigues completed all eight of his first-half passes for 88 yards and a score, and he kept on firing away as Cody Hawkins was a success in his offensive coordinator debut for UCD (1-0) in providing a balanced game attack.
The Aggies had their Feb. 27 season opener postponed to March 20 against Cal Poly after the Mustangs had a COVID-19 issue within its program, leading to a brief program shutdown.
Rodrigues found Carson Crawford eight times for 120 yards and two touchdowns and Jared Harrell for 55 yards of passes and a score. Idaho (1-1) led 10-0. Rodrigues’ second touchdown strike to Crawford gave UCD its first lead at 20-14, and then the Aggies went heavy run to wear down the Vandals. True freshman Lan Larison’s touchdown run gave UCD the 27-17 lead with just over three minutes to play. He had 66 yards on 10 carries.
Gilliam, climbing fast up the UCD career rushing list, had 146 yards on 26 carries. He now has 2,371 career yards, good for fourth on the program’s career list.
Connor Airey led UCD with 10 tackles. He had a sack and an interception. Isaiah Thomas also had an interception for UCD, which plays at Weber State on Saturday before hosting Cal Poly for its home opener.
This story was originally published March 6, 2021 at 3:19 PM.