Perhaps the NFL draft couple of the year is now on the celebrating side of things.
Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez was selected as the No. 43 pick by the Dolphins in the second round of the draft on Friday night, and the linebacker quickly stood up to give his Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot wife, Emma Rodriguez, a long hug and kiss on the head.
Emma squealed with excitement and put her hands over her mouth in disbelief after her husband hung up the phone with Miami as Rodriguez’s friends and family exploded with cheers.
She shared a video capturing the moment to Instagram and wrote “WE ARE GOING TO MIAMI!!!!!!!!!” with dolphin and orange heart emojis.
“It was unbelievable,” Rodriguez said of the moment to ESPN. “I saw the name pop up of where I was gonna go and it just burst loud behind me and I was just excited to be there. Miami has a great track record of Texas Tech linebackers, so I’m excited to join that.”
The two were high school sweethearts when they attended rival schools in Texas.
Rodriguez popped the question on July 1, 2023, and to everyone’s surprise, they tied the knot later that night.
The pair has been long-distance for seven years, and as Rodriguez now knows where his NFL dream will begin, Emma, a West Point graduate, is currently on active duty and is prepping for deployment in only a matter of months.
However, Rodriguez told People that the key to their unique relationship is “constant communication” and the two are “excited” for the new challenges ahead of them.
“Every new challenge brings new difficulties and new struggles, and so you have to find new ways to work around that,” Rodriguez said. “And I think it helps when we’re both busy. And so with her doing everything that she’s doing, and I’m doing everything that I’m doing, we both have things to focus on.
“And so when we get the chance to talk to each other and see each other, then we’ll be happy for that,” he says. “But we have a lot of work to do, and we both know that and we’re both ready for it and excited for it.”
Rodriguez played football for a year at Virginia before transferring to Texas Tech to finish out his college career. In his senior season, he logged 63 solo tackles among a combined 128.
He also tallied one sack, four interceptions and seven forced fumbles.
