FAYETTEVILLE — A mountain of a young man may spend his college career surrounded by the mountains of Northwest Arkansas.
Wellington, Texas, offensive lineman Trevor Roberson (7-0, 380) raved about his April 13-15 official visit to Arkansas while on Richard Davenport’s Recruiting Thursday radio show a few days ago, describing the visit as one that “blew me out of the water.”
“It was just the people there who were so much different than I was expecting,” Roberson said. “I knew it was going to be a beautiful campus, I knew the facilities were going to be gorgeous because everyone has the right things.
“But the people (coaches) there, the fact that they sit down with me and drew me out a game plan on how I am going to get to the league and how I am going to be a better person is very uncommon. I haven’t had it explained to me how we are going to get you there or how we are going to focus on that.
“It was just really awesome that those coaches and all those people told me that this this is how we are going to do it to help you succeed. That was really cool.”
Roberson - a three-star prospect, per ESPN - noted that Arkansas head coach Chad Morris, offensive coordinator Joe Craddock and offensive line coach Dustin Fry were specific about their plans for him off and on the field.
“The one thing they said they are going to focus on is being more of a good-hearted person and a good man, and football will take care of itself,” Roberson said. “Your work ethic and your morals are going to get you to the next level as long as you put in that effort and try to be a good person. That’s how you become a professional.”
Roberson,, noted that his mom came into the visit in a negative state of mind and ended up getting redirected.
“A funny story about this - my mom was going into the visit with a mindset that, ‘I’m not going to like it here,’” Roberson said. “But here’s the thing: she walked out of there loving it. Really loved it from top to bottom, couldn’t say a negative thing about it. I told her this was going to happen, but she never listens to me.
“I told her this was going to happen. You are going to walk in there with this attitude and you are going to come back a completely different person.”
The visit - his second to Arkansas in a few months - included several discussions with his mom.
“Like with me, it’s the people,” Roberson said of her favorite thing about Arkansas. “The people are simply something special and just so genuine. It is so hard, kind of hard, to come by these days. She was just blown away by the people because coach Chad Morris and coach Fry and coach Craddock just sat down and talked to her. They held conversations.
“They are fun and good-hearted people to talk to. The people there just completely took her by storm.”
The pair, along with his younger brother Ronnie, had trouble coming up with anything negative about the visit.
“Me and my mom were just trying to figure out the things we really, really enjoyed about it, positives and the things that were negative, which is easy to count because there weren’t any,” Roberson said.
“It’s a five-and-a-half hour drive, which is close to home, but not too close to home. It was truly, truly something special.”
Roberson also has offers from Notre Dame, USC, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, Minnesota, Nebraska, Army, Baylor, Houston, Iowa State, SMU, Virginia and Texas State.
Roberson took his official visit on the same weekend as Razorback offensive line commitments Beaux Limmer (6-5, 270) and Joseph Stone (6-8, 349) and defensive end Collin Clay (6-5, 230).
The quartet did a lot of damage during a recruit dinner at the Catfish Hole restaurant in Fayetteville.
“I stepped on the scale and I weighed and had gotten back to 380,” Roberson said. “I said that I have to lose some weight again.
“I think we all did a good little bit (of damage) to it. It was really good, enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun.”
He noted he will tell other recruits in Texas about what he found in Arkansas.
“It is a beautiful place with great, good-hearted people and it truly is a wonderful place,” Roberson said. “And the scenery is gorgeous as well. It’s not like you are driving through flatlands. It’s got great, beautiful mountains to look at on the way. Just a great place.
Fry offered up a few pointers on Roberson’s technique.
“One thing is power position and really more of a focus on my job,” Roberson said. “…I do my job and I do it well, but the one thing I noticed that I do is go for the kill shot a lot of the time. The one thing that I can do instead of just trying to kill the guy in front of me is make sure I focus and do what I need to do instead of trying to get just one big hit and have an awesome highlight film.”
Robinson has heard his fair share of vulgarities after pancaking foes.
“I could go into detail, but they are probably not really politically correct,” Roberson said. “It’s very vulgar. I get a lot of vulgar comments. But I also have a lot of guys that are really, really supportive and some are just really cool guys to talk to. I have a lot of guys that say ‘great hit’ or ‘great game’ or ‘I hope you have a great career.’ Some guys are like that, but the majority I guess have vulgar comments, I’m not going to lie.”
He has not set up any other official visits yet, but does plan to come back to Arkansas in June.
“I don’t know just yet, we are kind of looking up some dates, but I probably am going to be making another trip to Arkansas very, very soon. Hopefully some time in early-to-late June.”