DL Ben Roberts to decide between Nebraska and Oregon this evening
Salt Lake City (Utah) East defensive lineman Ben Roberts has been committed to Oregon since the start of the end 2021 college football season, but then the Ducks lost head coach Mario Cristobal to Miami.
So, the 6-foot-4, 290-pound Roberts decided to look around a bit and take an additional official visit to Nebraska this past weekend. He was accompanied by his parents and his high school coach on the trip to Lincoln.
"It went good, it went good," Roberts said about his stay in Nebraska. "I spent the most time with Coach (Tony) Tuioti and we got along well. I mean, we had a little meeting and we went over their defenses and everything.
"I think their defense fits me, so it went pretty good. I like the scheme that they run and everything, so it went pretty well."
Noa Pola-Gates was his player host and, being of Polynesian descent, Roberts felt comfortable being around his host and his position coach.
"I want to go somewhere that has the same culture as me and it surprised me how many Polys they have on their team," Roberts elaborated. "So that was pretty good.
"I also liked the academic stuff, for sure.They did a good job of explaining everything Nebraska does for their players and their athletes."
Roberts has additional scholarship offers from USC, Washington, Baylor, Tennessee, TCU, Virginia Tech, Colorado and a couple others; but he said his decision is going to come down to a choice between Oregon and Nebraska.
"I have to make a big decision tonight so that I can sign tomorrow," Roberts explained. "You know, [new Oregon] Coach (Dan) Lanning is a good coach from what I've heard. I've talked to him a couple times and he seems like a good coach from the players he's produced at Georgia."
When he sits down with his family and high school coach this evening to discuss which college setup will be the best for him, Roberts said it will mostly boil down to a couple things:
"Honestly, academic support and mental health support," Robert stated as what is most important to him. "That's basically it. Mental health support and academic support is really the decision-making factors."
Roberts added that, even though he will be making his decision Tuesday evening, he will not announce his college commitment and signing destination until sometime Wednesday.
Asked to do a sell-evaluation end of himself as a football player at this point in his development, Robert replied:
"The things that I do well are coming off the ball with aggression, striking, and knowing when they're going to run it or pass it. Just recognizing pass plays and run plays quickly."