True freshman Roberts making impact at running back

D’Angelo Roberts remembers the moment he showed everybody he could run.
He was 12, playing Pop Warner football, and his team’s punt returner was injured.

“I was chubby, but I was fast,” Roberts said. “They put me back there. I was playing linebacker, never caught a punt in my life.

“Punt goes up in the air. I don’t know how to catch it so I let it bounce to about the two-yard-line, pick it up and run it 98 yards down the field. Ever since then, I got the ball in my hands.”

And that was how Roberts, after bouncing around from defensive tackle to the offensive line to linebacker and safety, became a running back.

The transition worked. Running out of a Wing-T formation, Roberts said he ran for 330 yards in his first game as a true running back and reached pay dirt three times.

Roberts, now a 5-foot-10-inch, 187-pound freshman running back for IU, said his Pop Warner days also taught him the lessons necessary to overcome his lack of size as a rusher.

“One of my little league coaches told me — and it’s kind of stuck with me — ‘Hit or be hit,’” Roberts said. “He told me that after I got my bell rung. It was all my fault. It was a crack back, and I was about to crack this kid, but he was an oversized kid. He was about 240, 250. I was about 110 pounds.

“I kind of second-guessed it and he put me on my back. I’m seeing stars and my coach came up to me and told me, ‘Hit or be hit.’”

Roberts said he took his coach’s advice to heart and proved so later in the game.
“I was on kickoff and he was one of the wing guys going to block, and I just ran straight through him,” Roberts said. “I was about 13 years old. From that point on, I felt the same way. If you’re 240 pounds, I’m just going to try to run straight through you. There’s no need to hide for me. Hit or be hit.”

Fast forward to this season, and Roberts’ instincts, described as “violent” by Co-Offensive Coordinator Rod Smith, not only remain but have manifested themselves to other parts of his game, including pass blocking.

“Pass pro, as far as I’m concerned, is something you’ve got to want to do,” Running Backs Coach Deland McCullough said. “For D’Angelo, as far as size and physically, he’s one of the smaller guys, but he’s one of the more vicious pass protectors. He can translate his running style into pass pro, too. It’s harnessing that and getting him to use his hands more. He’s not used to that. He’s wanting to go up and throw his shoulder in and knock a guy out.”

McCullough said he devotes considerable practice time to working with Roberts on refining his pass-blocking skills, and Roberts takes to it well, even if he does not enjoy it.

“He hates practicing because we just keep doing it over and over,” McCullough said. “I tell the guys on defense, ‘Kill him. Run through him. Try to destroy him.’ And I make him do it my way, by using his hands. He wants to just knock the guy out.”

However, McCullough said he believes Roberts, a Bloomington North graduate, benefits from the constant attention he receives in practice.

“When we do walkthroughs, he’ll take 90 percent of the reps just because he’s one of those hands-on guys who just has to do it, can’t talk about it in a classroom,” McCullough said. “We’ve got to go outside and just do it and put him in a position to be successful.”

Although he’s a true freshman competing for playing time among several more experienced running backs, Roberts leads the team with 187 yards rushing. He is currently listed second on the depth chart behind redshirt freshman Matt Perez.

“It’s not easy for a freshman running back to come in and play,” Co-Offensive Coordinator Kevin Johns said. “It’s different from a wide receiver who maybe just needs to learn the routes. As a running back, you have to learn every run, every protection and every pass route as well. So there’s a lot on his plate, and he’s really grown quite a bit.”

McCullough said Roberts quickly made an impact in practice upon arriving to campus and put himself in position for playing time, even if he is not as big as his coaches eventually hope for him to be.

“Seeing him out the first few days and hit it up in there, I knew he was definitely somebody who was going to be able to pay us some dividends this year,” McCullough said. “It was just harnessing the things and getting him under control, knowing our system, getting to know what the expectations are here and working within our framework.”

In IU’s 38-21 win against South Carolina, Roberts notched more than 100 yards, primarily in the second half, as he helped the Hoosiers run time off the clock.
“Getting 100 yards, that’s an accomplishment, but I’m pretty sure I got a scholarship for rushing for more than 100 yards,” Roberts said. “As a running back, you can never be satisfied with what you do.”

Though Roberts was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for his efforts, his head coach likewise expects more out of him in the future.

“If that’s all you wanted, you’ve got low standards,” IU Coach Kevin Wilson said. “That’s what we’re trying to teach our guys: how to have high standards, how to respond, how to keep coming.”

Still, Roberts acknowledged that the game, which included his first collegiate touchdown with his mother watching from the stands, was special.

“My mom’s been my number one supporter since I’ve been playing football, since I was eight years old,” Roberts said. “She saw my first touchdown, and I want her to see a lot more.”