SU at full go

Photo: WR Del Roberts

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

SU receiver Roberts overcomes numerous injuries

Southern junior wide receiver Del Roberts didn’t want to take the hit to his back and hip a week ago. No way.

Not this way, either. A scrimmage, of all things, not even a real game, just a tune-up.

Here’s the thing, though. He came back the next practice Monday and looked fine running a few routes. Then he participated fully Tuesday.

This all showed the offseason work worked, just as Roberts, whose first three seasons of college football were defined — i.e., limited — by injuries wanted it to.

“I was kind of nervous. It hurt,” Roberts said. “But from being in the weight room and knowing my team needs me, I came right back. It wasn’t as bad as I thought and I was able to keep going.”

Let’s see.

There was the season-ending broken collarbone he suffered as a freshman in North Carolina’s 31-28 upset over then-No. 4 Miami in 2004.

Then, there was the medical redshirt in 2005, which was followed by the transfer to SU.

Then, there was the knee sprain that set him back in the spring of ’06 as he learned the Southern offense.

Then, there was the ankle injury against Prairie View, the third game last season.

Then, there was a shoulder injury that dogged him as well.

“I kept going, even though I maybe could have sat out,” Roberts said. “I fought through it, but it definitely hindered me from being at peak performance.

“This year, I’m at full go.”

Roberts finished with 28 catches (second best on the team last season) for 260 yards and one touchdown and ran for 51 yards and one touchdown.

After making 12 catches in the first three games (when he injured the ankle), he went through a five-game stretch with only five catches. Twice, he didn’t even catch a ball. Keep in mind, he started all 11 games.

Plus, after he caught the touchdown pass in the first game and ran for the other TD in the second game, he didn’t score again.

“That’s what he was looking for,” Southern wide receivers coach Eric Dooley said of the knock in last week’s scrimmage, “because &hellip I know his biggest hurdle is to get past those little injuries.”

Just how well did Roberts bounce back? He began Thursday’s scrimmage — the final one of preseason camp — by taking a reverse, showing off a shimmy or two and blazing for a 90-yard touchdown.

“He’s shifty,” Southern head coach Pete Richardson said. “We have to find a way to get the ball in his hands, because he can make things happen.”

Here, again, is where the offseason work came in.

The work that has so improved Mark Henderson, who muscled up to 175 pounds, and Gerard Landry, who is a shell of his former, whopping 240-pound self, has strengthened Roberts (5-foot-8, 170 pounds) as well.

“The receivers came out with a new mindset: This is going to be our year. We had that feeling,” Roberts said. “We have all the people and we said we’d work each other to death. I worked as hard as I’ve worked since I’ve been playing college ball. I think it’s paying off now.”

After a year-plus, Roberts is also fully adjusted to the Southern offense.

“It’s definitely a big difference from last season to this season,” Roberts said. “I’m acclimated with the whole offense, the whole hurry-up style, the get-up and go.

“I feel more comfortable now. I’m in tune with the quarterbacks. I feel a big difference.”

Like Henderson, Juamorris Stewart and others, Roberts looks so much more comfortable after having had the experience of last season.

“He’s the special player I thought he was,” Dooley said. “He’s not big in size, but he gives you a lot on the field.

“You know something special could happen at any time. I guess that’s why we call him the human joystick, because he can move.”

In an effort to try to keep Roberts healthy, Richardson said Roberts, who returned 10 punts for 70 yards last season, won’t do any returns this season.

“I’m definitely at home now,” Roberts said. “This is definitely my second home. Florida is always going to be home, but this is definitely my home now, and I love it.”