PLANO, TX – By the time Christian Rodriguez stepped onto a football field for the first time as an eighth grader at McDonald Middle School in Mesquite ISD, he’d already lived in two countries, learned a new language, watched his mother go to federal prison, and discovered that structure could change a life.
He arrived fresh out of military school in San Marcos and walked onto the field for the first day of padded practice with a bravado and toughness earned through adversity.