On Wednesday, we saw a few more players sign UFL contracts for the 2025 season. The St. Louis Battlehawks added K Rodrigo Blankenship to the fold, while the Houston Roughnecks signed OL Kristjan Sokoli to boost the O-Line.
K Rodrigo Blankenship | St. Louis Battlehawks
Let’s get to work! #RespectTheSpecs 🤓 https://t.co/VySW1VqCbd
— Rodrigo Blankenship (@RodTheKicker3) January 8, 2025
In what’s an impressive pickup for St. Louis, the Battlehawks have brought in Rodrigo Blankenship – the former Indianapolis Colt – to replace Andre Szmyt. With Szmyt signing a futures deal with the Browns, St. Louis needed an answer at kicker, and immediately bring in Blankenship.
Rodrigo has had quite the career so far. He played his college football at Georgia, hitting 80 of his 97 field goal attempts there. Blankenship saw quite a bit of success at Georgia, and was accurate from 50+, making six of his nine kicks from that range. Rodrigo was a Lou Groza award winner, and was First Team All-SEC as a senior.
Rodrigo Blankenship just set a Rose Bowl record with this 55-yard field goal! Georgia trails 31-17 at halftime. pic.twitter.com/dkZf2rN7Mk
— DawgNation (@DawgNation) January 1, 2018
This led to Rodrigo signing with the Colts as an UDFA in 2020. He ended up serving as the team’s kicker that season, making 32 of 37 field goal attempts, and impressing on XP’s at 43/45.
In 2021, Rodrigo’s season was cut short in October, as a hip injury placed him on IR. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to return to 2020 form in Indy, as he was waived by the Colts in 2022. Rodrigo did spend some time with the Cardinals and Buccaneers, but never got a true chance to take the reins in either location. In his NFL career, Rodrigo is 47-56 on field goal attempts.
had to put the song on it. respect the specs 😎👓 @RodTheKicker3 pic.twitter.com/A6YfM2yQWK
— Fred Hunter Jr. (@hunterfred87) November 23, 2020
The St. Louis Battlehawks…