Senior Profile: Greg Roberts ready to meet potential
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Senior Greg Roberts is amped up and eager to get back onto the field for his last season with the Bears. The talented defensive end is adamant about leaving a positive lasting mark on the team and the university that have been his family for the past five years. Roberts currently ranks fifth on the team in career starts with 16.
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Hailing from Nacogdoches, Texas, Roberts was named to the 2013 Dallas SPARQ All-Combine team prior to his senior season in high school. He was a national top-100 recruit at DE, ranked No. 56 by ESPN.com and No. 85 by Scout.com, before redshirting the 2014 season at Baylor. During the 2015 season, Roberts played in 5 of 13 games as a reserve lineman and on special teams.
Roberts made his first career start for the Bears at Rice in the 2016 season. When the Bears went to West Virginia that season, he tallied career-high four solo stops. Roberts ended up starting 9-of-13 games that season, including an impressive start against Boise State where he had three tackles, 1.0 tackle-for-loss, one pass breakup, and his first career forced fumble. He was also named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for the spring of 2017.
Last season, Roberts played in all 12 games with six starts. He ranked 2nd in the FBS with 2 blocked field goals and was the only player in the Big 12 with two or more blocked field goals. These blocked field goals came against UTSA and against Texas. Additionally, Roberts had 19 tackles and career-high 4.0 tackles-for-loss on the season.
This season Roberts wants to have no qualms about his abilities; he wants to be sure to leave Baylor better than when he arrived.
“I’m playing football for Baylor,” he said during the Big 12 Media Days in mid-July. “I don’t want to leave any regrets on the field this year.”
Greg is majoring in Heath, Kinesiology, and Leisure Studies.
Antonia’s Thoughts: The senior class on the defensive side of the ball is impressive and I am expecting big things from all of them. Greg Roberts is no different. I’d personally like to see him earn a few more starts this season, but that depends on his progress during the fall and how the coaches determine his best fit on the line. He's currently listed as one starting defensive end.
By listening to what Roberts had to say at the Big 12 Media Days, I am eager to see how his leadership affects the rest of the team. From what can see, Roberts focuses on aspects of the game that he can control, which shows emotional maturity that some of the younger guys might not have yet. He stresses getting the new guys hooked on the techniques of the game and taking everything one at a time and in stride. This level-headedness intrigues me.
During the latter half of last season, the defense made strides of improvement after finally getting into the groove of a new system. Roberts has already said that spring/summer practices have felt different this time around and I think he is just as pumped as the rest of Baylor Nation to get on the field and show all the hard work they’ve been putting in.