I first learned of 21-year-old Michael Rodrigues a few weeks ago while thumbing through the endless stream of bullshit on Instagram. I was impressed, to say the very least, but I couldn’t quite understand why I hadn’t heard of him before. Where did he come from? More importantly, where is he going?
Michael’s surfing loosely reminds me that of Filipe Toledo’s—he’s fast, aggressive, and he’s got the air reverses under his thumb. Simply put, he’s one hell of a surfer. And then there’s the simple fact that he’s Brazilian… Which brings me to my next point: Michael Rodrigues is fully capable of becoming the next addition to the World Tour’s Brazilian Storm, a feat he’s quiet adamant of accomplishing. But if the 39th ranked QS surfer choses that route, he must remind himself that he has a ton of work to do. The QS is a cruel, heartless bitch that eats up and spits out even the most talented of surfers.
