BREAKING: Texas Lands STUD 2027 Running Back! | Longhorns Football

0:00Boom, Texas Longhorns, grab a commitment going out to the state of Arizona picking up Noah Roberts out of Bashahai in Chandler, Arizona. Jerry, this is someone that Javar Jalug, Steve Sarkeesian and the Texas office of staff and personal staff recruited from the very outset a speedster with good size, good production. Tell us a little bit more about Noah Roberts out of Chandler, Arizona. Yeah, this recruitment goes way back in terms of college coaches. This one went back to the short choice, started with choice, then went to Chad Scott and then went to Javar Jalug. Texas has been on Noah Roberts for a while and that's because he has been a really good player since his freshman year in Chandler, Arizona. Chris Jackson has a lot of connections to that area, in that area, family lives in that area. So there's a lot of connections here with Texas in the Phoenix area. They've known about Noah Roberts for a long time. He's been on campus

1:03multiple times in Texas, stayed on throughout this recruitment along with Oregon, along with Michigan, Notre Dame. A lot of people offered him in the last year, but Texas was really consistent in this recruitment. They got him on campus twice in the spring before winning out for his commitment again over Michigan, Oregon, hometown, Arizona state. You look at him and obviously a guy that is used well out of the backfield had over 50 catches last year, Jerry, but what you really notice of the film is the speed. He's also a track star, Rand, I think a personal best 1077, 100 meter, a guy that fits that big play mode that Steve Sarkisian likes. Yeah, and he's got a big, he's got to frame the way 215 pounds, who after seeing him in person at the spring showcase a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, it's that versatile, I think Texas really likes about him. He hasn't carried the ball a ton at the high school level. Yes, 321 carries

2:08in 36 varsity football games. So he doesn't carry the football a ton less than 10 carries per game as a junior in high school. What he did, you mentioned he caught 50 ball. He's he's caught 99 passes for 1200 yards and 13 touchdowns on varsity three years. So when you combine the carries and the receptions, he's at 430 touches, but he still doesn't touch at a ton, but has over 2,300 all-purpose yards there. But so really good out of the backfield. I think that's what Texas likes about him, Bobby. I think he's got a little gear. Once he hits the second level, that 1077, 100. I think he's got a little acceleration. I think he's got good feet in the hole, but I think it's him as an all-around back being able to play with the ball in the backfield out of the backfield with the football. I think makes him very intriguing, not just for Texas, but for Oregon, for Michigan, Notre Dame, all the schools that offered him. And again, Arizona State football. But I think it's his versatility as a back that coaches really like. I got to be honest, it almost feels like a

3:09jade and blue type situation here with the ability out of the backfield and the outright speed. Jerry, Texas right now at the running back position went into the transfer portal for both Hollywood Smothers and Relic Brown, but they also took Derek Cooper in the high school ranks last year. So do you think Texas is going to be looking at the transfer portal historically at this position? Or do we think that they're going to go high school ranks with the likes of Cooper and now Noah Roberts? Yeah, one thing I think is going to change is, you know, there were years under to short choice what was two running back classes. And they were pretty highly ranked running back. You know, well, it'll be interesting to see from an NIL standpoint how you kind of make those decisions at the running back position moving forward. I'm not sure I see scenario where there's two higher ranked higher NIL running backs in the same class anymore. We'll see if that's proven to be incorrect down the line. But I do think there's going to be an element of portal running back

4:13at Texas in the future. Because even if you say, even if you say next year, okay, Derek Cooper is a sophomore, say Jetwalkers there. And we don't know what will happen with Michael Terry and James Simon. Say one of those guys is still around. Well, you just, that leaves you three. And if you only took one high school back, one higher ranked guy, then you're at four. So you could take a second back. Maybe he's like a jet walker. It's not as highly ranked, right? To get you to five. But you still need a portal back, even in that scenario. So I do think we're going to see an experience, quality portal running back in most years at Texas moving forward. I think that makes the most sense for Texas moving forward. Because I do think this, I think you're going to have three running backs. One thing I think Sark also is going to guard against Bobby is every years they've had running back injuries. You don't want to be too young in an experience at that position to where, if you have an injury amongst a starter, and then you're bringing in red shirt freshman,

5:13sophomore, not many carries true freshman with him, I don't think that's ideal place to be. I don't either. And I'm just looking at it from this standpoint. Texas has to, in the SEC, you just have to have that ground attack. And you have to be there in numbers. And this guy, look, he's a good runner. And I think that you can see his super power of sorts. Rod likes to call the X-man ability is clearly his speed. He's got a, I don't know that he has that almost like an electric car accelerator that Jayden Blue has. But there's some similarities to it, right? Where he gets going fast. You saw a couple of runs in this highlight reel where he made a cut to the outside. And other people had no chance really of dealing with him. That's clearly what his special special trade is. The other thing I would say as it relates to this, it's Texas going back to the state of Arizona for running back. They're not shy about it. Obviously,

6:16B. John Robinson, a big piece of that puzzle, one of the top running backs in the NFL right now. He's from Tucson. This young man's from Chandler, which is more the Phoenix area, about 30 miles away. I think from Phoenix is Arizona high school football improved that dramatically in the last 20 years. Because when I was first getting into this 30 years ago, I mean, there may have been 10 guys in the entire state of Arizona that would be D1. Now I look at the list and there's 25. They're going D1. Is it just that population boom and Phoenix and even Tucson to a degree? Yeah, I do. I do think it is that some California people move into the Arizona. I think there's added football players through high school football. I think the talent has definitely gone up in high school football. I think they also had some really, they've had some really established programs there over the last, over the last 15 years that I think have aided that too. So I think they're producing

7:17more players. But like you said, look, this bashed team plays against good competition in the Phoenix area. They played, they lost Hamilton, who was arguably one of the top teams every year in the state, 28-12. They beat Chandler High. They beat Southpoint Catholic, which is the school that Vijon went to down in Tucson. They played Perry, Williams Field-Ted guys, go D1, liberties had guys that go D1, Queen Creek, set a couple NFL guys come through there. So Brophy College Prep is one of the biggest talent producers in the in the state of Arizona. So no Roberts has played against all those guys and that's where the bulk of those D1 prospects you're talking about is coming from. It's all in the Phoenix area and it's all most of it's central around about eight to 10 high schools. So I do think the talent level has picked up in the state of Arizona. I still don't think they have a lot of big guys necessarily, but I think their skill guys are really good. Where does this guy, where does this guy rank for you? Where does Noah Roberts rank

8:17for you as a running back jury on a national scale? I know that different people having ranked different places, but how good do you think he is? Let's say this from who Texas has recruited in recent classes. I would say Derek Cooper's number one for me, right? I would say Noah Roberts was his versatility. He's right there with anybody else and the speed and the versatility. He's right there with anybody else. So right there above probably James Simon because of the speed, right? Michael Terry wasn't really a true running back. So you then you get down to Christian Clarks. I think he's probably got more versatility in Christian Clark had. Christian Clark also didn't come out of Arizona with big stats rushing the football. So that may be something we look back on in a few years, but I would say the speed versus combination with the versatility, but I'll say this is frame. When I saw his frame, I really liked his frame in person. Like he's going to be a whatever it is, 5.11 and a half six foot guy that's going to carry 215 pounds with it proportioned

9:20really well. So I think there's a lot of things that make sense with him. I think whoever is below Derek Cooper, um, Cedert Baxter pre-injury, was it been number two to Derek Cooper? I think he Noah Roberts would have been in that conversation for the third best back with Texas's sign undersart in recent years. Gotcha. That makes sense. Well, I think it's a big pickup because I love the ability to hit the home run and he's got that. I think he's got exceptional hands out of the backfield too. That may be a something that people catch up on. We're going to have Rod Babers take a look at Noah Roberts and give you his take as well, the former NFL player in all conference defensive back for the University of Texas. But for now, that'll do it for on Texas football. I want to say one last thing. Noah Roberts, a components buddy. Boom, as Bobby would say, congratulations to Noah Roberts, who is the latest commitment for the lone horse in the 2027 class. He's a running back out of Arizona. I know we Texas likes running backs out of Arizona,

10:22out of Chandler, Arizona. Okay, let me just talk about compatibility first with these young men and what Sark's going really like about Noah Roberts. His hands as a running back and as a receiving weapon, I think he actually made me one of the best young running backs as a receiver that I've seen in a long time. He's got breakaway ability. As you can see right there, he's got breakaway very speed to get to the edge, acceleration as well. But that's what I think compatibility-wise. He's going to fit one something Sark said. He believes that running backs are the most underutilized weapon in the passing game. And this young man can be a weapon in the passing game for me. Maybe the best receiving running back for Texas as they pass is like Bijon or Jamie Blue and both of those thoughts were really good because of vertical weapons in the passing game on the outside, not just the screen game. But you can see his guy exceptional vision is what I love about his game too. He's got the breakaway ability, but he's got really, really good vision. I've talked about the great hands. Got patience and acceleration. Those traits will fit really well

11:25in Sark's kind of wide zone offense. He can deliver a punch and running back. I think he's more of a speed agility guy to me than power, but not saying he doesn't have the power. His footwork is so good and his vision is so good. And oftentimes, he just slippery defenders. They don't really get a clean hit on him for it. They even break a tackle. He just either runs away from those guys or he's really, really slippery in terms of setting up blocks and being patient, setting up blocks and being able to find that sliver of daylight and accelerate through it. He is also got good contact balance. You see that a lot with this young man, but I think what stands out is the acceleration. I mean, he gets, he's got really good experience to get to the edge or to get to the second level of the defense. And I think he's a really good fit. You'll see him oftentimes a lot of two back sets as well. I think the two back sets for him, Sark wants to do more two back sets when he does have really good running back to depth. You'll see a lot of it this season,

12:26actually, with smothers and brown. I mean, look at this guy in the receiving game. He's a really good weapon down the field. I think he can run those Texas routes. He can run the wheel concepts. He can run some of those vertical concepts for the running backs that Sark likes to implement. And I think that's why he fits in. He's a yak daddy too. He gets lots of yards after contact, but what I like about him, he's got a lot of targets to motion too. There's another target to motion from. And I think those are all things that Sark uses as cheat codes for his running backs. And I think that's also a really good reason why he fits in compatibility wise. So that's the number one thing I like about this commitment. I think he is compatible with Sark's offense. This guy had 82 catches in his last two years. 82 receptions. You don't see running backs in high school, have those types of receiving numbers. Almost almost over 900 yards receiving over 80 receptions, not just as a running back out of the back field. Now you can see right

13:29there the breakaway ability, but the added value of famous receiver, that's what I think Sark's really, really excited about. He's got to be celebrating over that. He has a willing blocker as well that like that. He's got some of those kind of natural traits you want from a running back. He falls forward, got a really good body lean as a running back too. So no, he doesn't have a lot of weaknesses as a running back. I think he's got probably got to get bigger so that he can be more of a proficient pass protector. But I really like Door Roberts game. And I said I think compatibility wise, he's going to fit right into what Sark wants to. In fact, he's going to have a role in Sark's offense just because of his receiving ability. There's no doubt about it. And if he's not a featured back, he can end up becoming a guy that they have a package for or a guy they can feature depending on the matchup. All right. So there you go. It's my breakdown of a Door Roberts who is the latest commitment for the Long Horse in the 2027 class and tasked to be running back and grasping him. And we'll be back with more for more in Texas football.