The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2025
- Class:
- 2011
(pronunciation: ROD-rick)
A Longhorn football four-year starter and member of the 2005 National Championship team, Rodrique Wright was a standout defensive tackle at Texas, earning first-team All-America honors and a spot as a finalist for the Lombardi Award (nation’s top interior lineman) as a senior in 2005. The three-time All-Big 12 selection has transitioned from playing to a highly successful coaching career that started at UT and is now in his 15th season as an assistant coach. During Wright’s four-year stretch at UT, the Longhorns won 11 games three times, at least 10 games all four years, won three bowl games, posted an overall record of 45-6 (28-4 in Big 12) and finished in the Top 11 nationally (three times in Top Six) all four years. He started 45 of his 50 games played over the four seasons, compiling 227 tackles, 17.5 sacks, 42 TFL, 67 pressures, eight passes batted down and six forced fumbles. As a senior in 2005, he posted 46 tackles, 14 TFL, 4.5 sacks, 15 pressures, three passes batted down, one forced fumble and returned a fumble 67 yards for a TD against Oklahoma, while being tabbed first-team All-American and first-team All-Big 12. In addition to winning the National Championship, the Longhorns posted a perfect 13-0 record and won the 2005 Big 12 Championship. In 2004, Wright was tabbed second-team All-American and also was a consensus second-team All-Big 12 selection. Despite battling an ankle injury for much of that year, he posted 36 tackles, a sack, three TFL and seven QB pressures in 11 games as he helped Texas to an 11-1 record and a win over Michigan in the Rose Bowl. A consensus second-team All-Big 12 pick as a sophomore, he recorded 80 tackles, a team-leading 7.5 sacks (seventh/Big 12), 12 TFL, a team-high 30 pressures, three passes batted down and three forced fumbles in 2003. Wright began his career at Texas by earning first-team Freshman All-American honors while also being named Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. He played in all 13 games and started nine of the final 11 contests as a true freshman in 2002 when Texas went 11-2 and beat LSU in the Cotton Bowl. He posted 65 tackles, 13 TFL (T-No. 3 on UT’s freshman list), 4.5 sacks (T-No. 4 on UT’s frosh chart) and 15 QB pressures. Wright went on to be selected in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins and played three seasons with Miami, although he missed his rookie season with an injury. He signed briefly with the New York Jets before spending two seasons in the Canadian Football League. After his pro football career, Wright returned to Austin and launched his coaching career by spending three years on the UT football staff as defensive special assistant from 2011-13 before moving into an assistant coaching role at Sam Houston State in February 2014. He spent four years at SHSU (2014-17) and a year at East Carolina (2018) before returning to the state of Texas at UTSA for three seasons (2019-21), first as defensive line coach before being promoted to run game coordinator in 2020, then co-defensive coordinator in 2021. In 2022, he coached defensive ends at the University of Miami before his opportunity in the NFL and returning to his hometown of Houston came with the Texans. He began as an assistant defensive line coach in 2023 before being promoted to defensive line coach in 2024 and is now in his third year with the team. During his assistant coaching positions, Wright was invited to participate in the prestigious NFL Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship during the summers of 2016 and 2017, observing and learning in camp with the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, respectively. While playing professional football, Wright returned to Austin to complete his bachelor’s degree in applied learning and development in December 2011.
