David Rodriguez is one of the country's top football recruits. Saturday he showed why.

PROVIDENCE — Any questions about who Rhode Island's best high school football offensive player is was answered Saturday night at Conley Stadium the fifth time David Rodriguez had the ball in his hands.

The Mount Pleasant junior had already showed off his impressive speed on two direct-snap runs for 40 yards. He followed those by cooking an East Greenwich cornerback in a one-on-one situation to come away with a 19-yard score. That was merely his opening act.

On the first play of the second quarter, Rodriguez went deep. He stutter stepped enough to make the corner pause and in that instant, Rodriguez was gone. Mount Pleasant quarterback Adonai Lopez threw it as far as he could and just when it looked like he had done the impossible — overthrowing Rodriguez — the 6-foot-1, 175-pound found another gear and, in his last stride, reached up with his right hand to bring the ball down clean before racing down the sideline for an 84-yard touchdown.

The play drew excitement from the Kilties' sideline, but it was nothing they haven't seen before.

“You should see him in practice,” Mount Pleasant coach Jay Addison said. “The stuff he does at practice, we look at each other like ‘how can we get him the ball more.’”

Clearly that was the plan Saturday night. The previous week against Burrillville, Rodriguez had three catches, no carries and threw one pass in the Kilties' loss. Against East Greenwich, all of Rodriguez's talents were on display. He had three touchdown catches before halftime and brought back a kickoff in the second half as Mount Pleasant beat the Avengers, 46-7, for its first Division II-A win.

“It was great,” Rodriguez said. “We just stayed disciplined, relentless and we played hard for all four quarters.”

Being a high-level recruit in Rhode Island isn’t easy. There is a massive misconception among outsiders about the talent in the Ocean State, but there’s a larger misconception by RI’s own who don’t realize the difference between good, RI good and just how good Rodriguez is.

How good is he? Since receiving his first offer from UMass in January of 2022, Rodriguez now holds over 30 offers from schools that are in the who’s who of elite college football programs. Georgia. Michigan. Penn State. Florida. Texas A&M. Auburn, just to name a few. Even Deion Sanders and Colorado are in on Rodriguez.

This brings plenty of attention and opposing players — most of whom would dream about attending and watching college football from the stands at those schools — will want to take their shots. They'll talk their trash if they make one play and after a game like he had against Burrillville, plenty will ask just how good can he actually be.

For better or worse, football is a team game so Rodriguez can only do so much. Lopez, his quarterback, is a good athlete whose talents would be better served as a slot or out of the backfield. Put a prototypical quarterback who could dot up Rodriguez night after night, there isn't a defense in Division II that could stop the Kilties. On most nights, there still won't be.

Rodriguez is going to get open. No one in RI can cover him man-to-man. Defenses will double- or even triple-team him, whether it’s with a safety over the top or bracketing him on a side of the field. That still might not be enough.

“He’s one of the better guys in the state, New England and on the East Coast,” Addison said. “I’d be foolish not to try and get him the ball more and that was one of the things we did going into this week.”

On Mount Pleasant’s opening drive, Rodriguez lined up for a couple snaps as a quarterback. His first stop went for 13 yards and his second he ran right for 27. The blocking was good, but his speed was outlandish. East Greenwich has some strong athletes with good speed on the field, but they looked like middle schoolers chasing Rodriguez on the big run.

There isn’t a receiver in the state who could have made the catch Rodriguez did on his second score. There are some very good receivers in RI, but none have the combination of speed, hands and route-running ability to make that particular play. This is what makes him the best of the best.

Then there's the little things. On his third touchdown of the game, Rodriguez faked a slant, broke back toward the left pylon and Lopez just chucked it up. The EG defensive back got lost in the move, letting Rodriguez get open and giving him time to wait for the ball to arrive. He caught it at the 9-yard line, tiptoed the sideline and showed impressive body control successfully diving for the goal line as he was being shoved out of bounds.

And Rodriguez was ready for it all before the snap happened.

“That’s something I put into my head every play,” he said. “I know the person in front of me can’t guard me. I have to have that confidence going into every play.”

“He’s really flash and he’s got the moves. He’s moving out there,” said teammate Benji Soe, who iced the win with a pair of 73-yard TD runs in the fourth quarter. “It gives the team real good confidence because we think in our head we’ve got this and we can move like that too.”

Big plays aren’t the only thing that makes Rodriguez stand out. He doesn’t take a single play off.

On defense, he shows impressive technique at cornerback and very well may be one of the state’s best at the position and isn’t afraid of contact. When the ball isn’t in his hands, Rodriguez is a terrific blocker. He sealed off an EG defensive back that allowed Soe to get to the sideline on his first TD run, then pancaked another Avenger on Soe’s second score.

These are things college coaches are looking for, but that’s not why Rodriguez is doing them.

“As long as I get an opportunity to help my team win, that’s all that matters to me,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just about team football for me right now.”

“I never saw Freddie take a play off, whether it was at practice or whatever it was,” said Addison of former Kiltie All-Stater Fredrick Mallay, who’s currently playing for URI. “David’s of that ilk. He has that mentality of the top guys that we’ve had here. It’s good to see that rolling and it’s something he can pass to the younger guys coming up.”

From now until he graduates, every player Rodriguez faces is going to want to take their shot at the best receiver in RI and see how they stack up. From now until he graduates, plenty of random fans are going to show up to see just how good Rodriguez is and see why colleges are courting him like freshman in search of a Homecoming date.

“I definitely feel that pressure, but that’s something I’m used to,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve had that pressure since I was 14-years old. I’m just focused on getting wins week by week.”

“His attitude is great and he’s a smart kid. He’s the kind of kid that when he comes to the sideline and he’s telling you something, you’d be stupid not to listen,” Addison said. “It’s working well and as long as we continue to be disciplined, play relentless and stay together, we’ll see how everything plays out.”

The show continues Thursday when Mount Pleasant travels to take on East Providence.

Don’t miss it – because who knows what Rodriguez is going to do next.

Mount Pleasant 46, East Greenwich 7

First quarter

MP – David Rodriguez 9 pass from Adonai Lopez (Lopez run), 7:10

Second quarter

MP – Rodriguez 84 pass from Lopez (run fails), 11:44

MP – Rodriguez 30 pass from Lopez (Stylez Negron from Lopez), 6:07

Third quarter

MP – Negron 42 pass from Lopez (pass fails), 2:10

Fourth quarter

EG – Thomas Slater 6 run (Tyler Asay kick), 11:26

MP – Rodriguez 70 kick return (pass fails), 11:10

MP – Benji Soe 73 run (run fails), 4:05

MP – Benji Soe 73 run (no attempt), 2:46

TEAM STATISTICS

RUSHING – East Greenwich 27-136, Mount Pleasant 28-236. PASSING – East Greenwich 6-20-36, Mount Pleasant 7-9-193. TOTAL OFFENSE – East Greenwich 172, Mount Pleasant 429. FIRST DOWNS – East Greenwich 8, Mount Pleasant 11. FUMBLES-LOST – East Greenwich 1-1, Mount Pleasant 3-1. TOTAL TURNOVERS – East Greenwich 3, Mount Pleasant 1. PENATLIES – East Greenwich 1-10, Mount Pleasant 2-15. PUNTS-YARDS – East Greenwich 4-154, Mount Pleasant 2-35. TIME OF POSSESSION – East Greenwich 24:33, Mount Pleasant 23:27.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING: East Greenwich – Carlos Gallegos 16-76; Thomas Slater 4-43, TD; Roman Prosseda 5-27; Alex DeTomasis 2-(-10), fumble. Mount Pleasant – Benji Soe 9-212, 2 TDs; David Rodriguez 7-44; Stylez Negron 4-21; Thomas West 1-(-3); Adonai Lopez 7-(-38), fumble.

PASSING: East Greenwich – DeTomasis 6-20-36, 2 INTs. Mount Pleasant – Lopez 7-9-193, 3 TDs.

RECEIVING: East Greenwich – Ryan Sheeran 3-23; Slater 1-5; Tyler Asay 1-4; Spencer Warburton 1-4. Mount Pleasant – David Rodriguez 3-123, 2 TDs; Negron 2-56, TD; Cassidy Negron 2-14.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: David Rodriguez one of the country's top high school football recruits