POCATELLO, Idaho- After a record breaking junior season for the Idaho State football team,
Rodrick Rumble is looking forward to beginning his final season as a Bengal. Since the end of the 2011 season, Rumble has racked in post season and preseason all-conference and All-American accolades.
As he looks back on 2011, a season he caught 112 passes for 1,348 yards and nine touchdowns, he says, “Kevin is an extremely good quarterback and I was in the right place at the right time. We have very good team work and chemistry.”
Now that 2012 is about to begin the focus isn't so much on his numbers but helping his team improve.
“I just want to stay strong now and throughout the season and become united as a team,” Rumble said.
The love Rumble has for football now started around the age of eight when he first started playing football. He played football, basketball and track and field all through high school and it was basketball that was Rumble's preference to play. It took a high school coach that told him that his best chance to play after college would be in football.
“Basketball was my best sport and my favorite,” Rumble said. “But as I got more physically mature I had a coach that told me I could go places. That is what I wanted to do.”
In high school, at Oak Harbor, Rumble was used primarily as a tight end, wide receiver and he even spent a little time as a defensive lineman.
Since coming to Idaho State Rumble has been used only as a wide receiver. The Bengal senior is set to graduate this year in Mass Communications with an emphasis in public relations and advertising, a profession his dad also works in since retiring from the military.
“I want to be involved with people on a daily basis,” Rumble said. “I knew I wanted to communicate with people coming to college and the idea started in church. I wanted to do good and when you do good in your heart you can help people at the same time.”
Rumble, who was born in Japan, has one older sister who works in waste management in Oak Harbor and his mom still works on the military base in the area.
The Idaho State football team opens the season on September 1 at Air Force. The Bengals then return home for a 4 p.m. contest against Black Hills State. Tickets for the Air Force game can be purchased at the Idaho State Ticket Office by calling 208-282-FANS.
