Signing Day Profile: DT Elijah Roberts

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Matthew_Suero

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2020 Columbus (FL) DL Elijah Roberts officially became a Miami Hurricane this morning. Miami has now had 18 players sign today.



The 6-3, 265-pounder is currently a consensus 4-star in the national rankings. According to the 247Sports Composite, Roberts is the #324 player nationally, #14 SDE in the country, and the #55 player in the Sunshine State.

Recruiting Story

Elijah Roberts earned his Miami offer back in March of 2018 while on campus for a visit. Roberts would be a frequent visitor on campus before committing to the Canes in June of 2018. However, his recruitment was not over. Miami’s subpar 2018 campaign mixed with interest from other programs led Roberts to reopen his recruitment in October of 2018. Roberts continued to visit Miami’s campus and attend Miami home games. Eventually, Manny Diaz was able to get Roberts back into the class. He recommitted on June 21st of this year during Paradise Camp. Roberts shut down his recruitment from that point on.

Evaluation

Roberts is a pure power rusher and has some impressive strength behind his 6’3” frame. He uses his hands well, and with his punch, is able to disengage from blocks easily to make a play. Roberts also shows awareness to diagnose run and is strong both setting the edge to contain or giving chase and take down the ball-carrier. He reminds me a bit of former Alabama star Jonathan Allen in both build and using violent strength.

Despite many pegging him for an eventual move to defensive tackle, Roberts continues to show enough speed to stick on the edge at end. Miami is offering him the chance to play either or, and have told him he will move inside for special packages. Roberts’ rip and swim move is very polished and he looks extremely strong in his bull-rush, which has been his calling card since we first saw him and he has very impressive pure strength at the point of attack. Still, he is able to go around offensive linemen at times, brandishing quick feet and change of direction.

We first saw Roberts at the Under Armour Miami camp back in mid-March 2018, an event he completely dominated against good competition. Not many knew who he was before that, but Roberts made sure he was the talk of the camp afterwards. Roberts was just bullying most every opponent, and won the vast majority of his reps handily. He shared the “Big Man Challenge” honors at the camp with Khris Bogle for the top lineman performance at the camp and earned his UM offer 2 weeks after this camp at Underclassmen Day. Seeing him up close, his physicality really stands out and with his body type, I would not be surprised if he ended up as a defensive tackle.

The Team

Miami loses defensive tackles Chigozie Nnoruka and Pat Bethel this offseason. The Canes will return rising senior Jon Ford as well as 2018 signees Nesta Silvera and Jordan Miller. Also, Miami’s trio of Jason Blissett, Jared Harrison-Hunte, and Jallar Holley will be ready to play after taking a redshirt year.

Redshirt Probability: 8/10

Miami’s depth chart at defensive tackle is deep and has a mix of experience and young talent. Elijah Roberts will not arrive on campus until the summer months and will start at 7th on the depth chart. If Roberts were an early enrollee he would have a better chance of seeing the field as a true freshman, but it is hard to see him getting much playing time in 2020 given the circumstances.

 
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