Aug. 21, 2014
SAN DIEGO -
Past Mick McGrane 2014 football features
Kaehler: A Thinking Man's Game (Aug. 5)
Whittaker: Long Time Gone, Never Forgotten (Aug. 6)
Life in the Weight Room: Hall's Strong Suit (Aug. 15)
Adam Roberts: A Career Comes Full Circle
By Mick McGrane (@MickOnTheMesa)
Before leaving San Diego State, a parting that surprisingly did not involve crashing through the front door of the Aztec Athletic Center sans helmet, Chad Young had these words for Adam Roberts:
"You're too soft to play fullback."
If Young has had time enough to look up from his New York Jets playbook, he might find that not only was his assessment of Roberts a bit brusque, it completely missed the mark.
Three years after arriving at SDSU as a tight end before being moved to fullback four days into fall camp, Roberts is reprising his role as the guy whose chin strap ends up straddling his nose, whose ear hole is his window to the world, whose glory is gained through grunt work and the rare two-yard touchdown run.
"I always tell him that he's not going to be the featured back for us, but he is going to be the featured lead back when he's out there blocking." said Aztecs running backs coach and assistant head coach Jeff Horton. "You have to be ready to bring your lunch pail because it's not going to be glamorous, but hopefully the other team knows who you are by the end of the game."
While Young, who was signed as a free agent by the Jets, was as likely to take aim at a moving train as an onrushing end, Roberts is a wild card. Having honed his blocking skills as a tight end and catching 16 passes for 240 yards and four touchdowns the past two seasons, the Aztecs have the option of deploying Roberts at multiple positions, forcing defenses to adjust on the fly.
"We have Dakota (junior fullback Gordon), who looks like a little Chad clone, but I think I'm a more versatile fullback," Roberts said. "I can catch the ball out of the backfield and line up in a lot of different spots. When we break the huddle, teams won't really know what personnel we're in because I could be playing fullback, I could line up in the slot, I could be playing tight end. We can do a lot of different things."
Approached by coaches about switching positions shortly before spring drills, Roberts didn't quarrel. Though his playing time at fullback was limited as a true freshman, it was an apprenticeship that has come full circle as he enters his senior season.
"I've always been told that I'm a little undersized playing tight end, but I've always taken pride in being a complete football player," Roberts said. "So I think being able to play multiple positions is going to help me out in the long run. I get to do more and try to master more things."
Said Horton: "Coming into the season we had some tight ends that we thought might be a little better fit, and with Chad graduating, Adam was just a natural (move to fullback). He already had an understanding of (the position). He also knew me and what I expected. He's a smart kid, so it was nice to get him back in the backfield with me."
Not that Horton is whiling away the wee hours diagramming run plays involving Roberts. Prior to rushing 22 times for 115 yards last year, Young averaged 5.6 carries his previous three seasons.
"Chad, obviously, was more compact and was like a bull in a china shop when he was in there," Horton said. "Adam is a little more athletic, but I always kid him by calling him the Tin Man. He's a little stiff and we need to use a little WD40 on him every day to loosen him up.
"He's probably a little shiftier getting out of the backfield when he's running pass routes than Chad was. He understands his limitations; he knows his strengths and weaknesses. But he's a smart guy. He knows what we want and he knows what he's supposed to do and that's three-quarters of the battle right there."
Roberts has one career rush for three yards, that coming during his freshman season in 2011.
"I don't know if I'm going to get any carries," he said with a laugh. "I'm going to try and make some catches, but I don't think the coaches think that I'm fast enough to be handed the ball. But if I did get it, it would be a blast."
Such are the dreams of fullbacks everywhere, historically stereotyped as equal parts menace and mayhem. But if Young fit the mold, Roberts is a variation on a theme. While not lacking the zeal for rearranging a linebacker's headgear, he is also a two-time Mountain West All-Academic selection, a fullback capable of supporting smack with smarts.
"Adam is probably the complete opposite of most fullbacks," Horton said. "He's a little bit more cerebral. He's not the guy walking around snorting and spitting nails. He's a little more of the GQ kind of guy playing the fullback position."
Take that, Chad Young.
Said Roberts: "Whenever he'd tell me I was too soft to play fullback, I would always tell him, `I could do your job.' Now I'm going to get the chance to show him."