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Zone Read: Noah Roberts Unplugged

Arizona Sports News online

Basha sophomore Noah Roberts is one of the more coveted recruits in the country.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound running back has 28 offers, including ASU, Arizona, Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Penn State, USC and others.

However, there’s far more to Roberts than his success on the gridiron.

“Zone Read” recently caught up with the multi-sport athlete, and excellent student, to discuss a myriad of different topics.

I know football and track take up quite a bit of your time. What do you like to do away from athletics? “Obviously, I like playing video games (smiling). Most of my friends are on the football team, so we’re one big group. We hang out all the time. It’s pretty cool.”

Madden? “Yep, Madden.”

Who’s the best? “I want to say myself (laughing), but if you ask others, they’d say themselves. I say me.”

Is you being “the best” fact, or opinion? “Well, you win some, you lose some, but my record is up there with them all. I should be considered one of the best. I’m like a little biased about myself (laughing). We’ve got some good Madden players. Taylan Patterson is pretty good. Tre Kennard is pretty good. That’s my main competition.”

Your dad works in finance. I know you see the game of football a bit differently – from an analytical sense. I know your dad has had quite a bit of influence on that. Take us through some of those conversations. “It started when I was seven or eight years-old, we’d go over film after my game and he’d give me a rundown of every position and how I need to see it. He always wanted me to be versatile. He wanted me to know every position. He taught me everything, and then we went out to football games, high school games. I wouldn’t just sit there and enjoy it. He’d walk me through what was going on. 

“Even on Saturdays, with college football, he’d do the same thing. He’d show me tape of people I needed to watch and incorporate some things into my game.”

When you break the huddle and get to the line of scrimmage are you, from an analytical standpoint, to the point where you can see a play develop, or a hole open, even pre-snap? “I’m not at that point, but this off-season I’m working to get to that point. I have an idea of which side, or where the play is going to hit. I just get a great sense from watching a lot of film during the week.”

You hear a lot at the college and NFL level about the game “slowing down.” You’re just a sophomore, but I’m curious, has the varsity game always been “slow” to you? “The first two games [as a freshman], it was fast. By my third game, against Saguaro, that’s when it really slowed down. That’s when I really had my breakout game. That’s when everything really slowed down for me. 

“It was really just getting more reps and getting more comfortable. I was 14, playing against guys much older. I just got comfortable with my skill set and everything I could do. It just took off from there.”

What did you take away the most, either on or off the field, playing with Demond Williams, Jr.? He, like you, started as a freshman on varsity and turned into one of Arizona’s best prep quarterbacks. “The biggest thing I took away from him was his ability to help younger players as you’re going up in grade. I was a freshman when he was a senior. Obviously, sharing a backfield with him, he helped me out with learning certain concepts in the playbook and then schemes with the next opponent. It made me pick up the plays so much quicker because I was with him.

“What I’m trying to do with our younger players is helping those guys out as much as possible, just like he did for me. I’m going to go to college and play football. I want someone else behind me to do the same thing as me.”

Is the leadership you show “natural,” or is it something you’ve had to “grown into” since you arrived at Basha?  “I got more comfortable establishing myself so people actually listen to me now. 

“We had so many good players [when I was a freshman], I really didn’t have a voice. I would say, my sophomore year, I took more of a lead-by-example role. After this year, I sat with Coach [Chris] McDonald, and we talked about taking a step up and being more vocal. They know I can be productive on the field, now it’s time to step up even more as a leader this off-season. I want to win a championship and I know I have to take a bigger leadership role so we can win.”

More exciting: break away touchdown, or winning a sprint in track? “Break away touchdown. There are so many things that go into a break away touchdown. A sprint just doesn’t do it. You either got it, or you don’t. A break away touchdown is so much more. You have to set up this block, you might have to break a tackle, dive into the end zone.

“That’s way more exciting than winning a race.”

How do you mentally prepare differently for a big track meet than for a big football game? “For track, it’s all about reps and preparation. I need feel a good start multiple times so I can just get out there, block everything out, and just run.

“In football, I prepare through film and I see things over and over. When I get on the field, it’s like, ‘Alright, I know what I need to do.’

“Track just comes more natural to me because I’m just fast. Football is more fun because it’s a game. You have to think more.”

I know you watch a lot of tape on NFL guys. How much do you see of yourself in Bijan Robinson, when he was a sophomore, playing at Salpointe Catholic? “It’s kind of funny because I watched his sophomore film, and then I watched mine. It looks similar. 

“Growing up, I always went to his games when they were in the Valley. The game I remember the most is the [Open Division] Chandler game. I was in elementary school. It was crazy how good he was. 

“I liked how versatile he was. He was around my size when he was in high school. He could catch the ball out of the backfield. He’d do anything they needed to do. Play in the slot. Look at him now. He’s in the NFL.  

“I feel like I have a visual of what I need to do to get to the NFL.”

Do you have any weaknesses in your game, or anything you’d like to get better at? “I’d say pre-snap reads. Knowing what the defense is doing will make running [the ball] so much easier. I just want to hone in and make everything better.

“I haven’t arrived yet. I just want to keep getting better at everything.”

What’s it’s been like playing for Coach Mac? “He’s a player’s coach but when it’s time to get serious and get real, he gets real. He likes player feedback on what we’re doing. 

“So, we’ll be mid-game and we’ll be in 3rd-and-short and he’ll be like, ‘What do you guys want to run here? What are you thinking?’

He’ll listen, and then we’ll tell him what we think. He’ll relay it up to the OC and then it’s on us to execute. It’s shows the guts he has to trust his kids like that. When you have high-level kids the program, it’s hard not to trust them, too.”

How have you liked the recruiting process so far? “It’s pretty fun. I haven’t got too caught up in it. I’m 16. I’m just trying to be a 16 year-old. 

“We’ve sat down as a family and talked about what schools have that I need to successful and which school can get me to the NFL.

“But I’m really just focused on getting better and being a good teammate everyday.”

Do you feel the pressure from the success you’ve had the first two years, at the highest level of AZHS football, to keep getting better and ascending? “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t seeing it. I’ve seen [the expectations]. I can’t avoid it…I’ve had the spotlight and pressure on me as a little kid. [My parents] have preached to stay humble. I just keep listening to them.”

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