Indiana University Athletics
Freshman Duo Finding a Home on Defense
8/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 22, 2006
Standing on a practice field on a Friday afternoon, two players fidget nervously. They wipe their face on their jersey, adjust their pads, look at their helmets - anything to avoid thinking about the task at hand. For freshman football players, it's not the drills, the coaches or going up against players who are bigger, stronger and faster than the guys they used to play against that gets the nerves going. It's talking about themselves.
Fortunately for Indiana football fans, the timidity, or possibly humility, that incoming freshmen William Patterson and Mandela Roberts show after practice shows no sign of coming out when they are playing their position on the field.
Patterson and Roberts, two players from head coach Terry Hoeppner's 2006 recruiting class, are already fighting for playing time in their first collegiate efforts.
"This class came in, and everybody was highly recruited, and I think we're just coming in and trying to change the game," Roberts said. "The name of the game is speed now, so we're just trying to come in and do that."
"We're all around the same size," Patterson added. "They brought in a lot of speed at the position last year, so that's probably one of the bigger assets that the coaches were looking for from both of us."
But the transition from high school ball has been anything but easy for the two players, even though both showed tremendous success before coming to IU. Patterson was the Indianapolis Star Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at Lawrence North High School, while Roberts helped Lufkin (Texas) High School to a 14-1 record and a trip to the Class 5A state semifinals in his senior campaign.
"I think I've just got tapped into the system," Roberts said. "It's not really hard, it's just a whole new language, a whole new system you have to go by, so once we get used to it we're going to be good."
Asked if there were times when he showed his inexperience in the preseason, Roberts tries in vain to hold back the laughter. At least he has a sense of humor about it.
"Among the linebackers, I've come along a little bit slower than everybody else," Roberts said. "I think today I kind of got it - I was getting yelled at during film for some things that I just kept doing repeatedly. It's going to be alright, though. I'm going to make mistakes, and Coach understands that, and he's been really patient so I think it's going to be good."
Patterson is quick to come to his teammate's aid. Apparently, Roberts isn't alone on this subject.
"There's been a few times," Patterson said. "Maybe it's messing up an assignment that we've been over and over, and maybe getting yelled at for not picking it up like we're supposed to. We're going to make mistakes, but as we get older it's going to turn around."
The freshmen haven't had to be on their own in training camp, however. Indiana's upperclassmen have been quick to help their new teammates get adjusted to the rigors of college football and the intricacies of the IU system.
"From the linebackers, Geno Johnson, Jake Powers, really all of them have reached out and brought us in," Patterson said.
"Right now, we're doing the same thing that the upperclassmen are doing," Roberts said. "So we're getting adjusted to the system, coming in and trying to make plays."
In addition to trying to adjust to a new system and a new level of competition, Roberts has the added challenge of adjusting to a new place far away from his home. But so far, it hasn't been a major problem.
"I haven't had time to be homesick with all these practices and meetings," Roberts said. "I'm not too homesick at all. We've got great guys here, a great coaching staff, great people in Bloomington, and it feels like home."
The two unassuming youngsters have shown great success on the gridiron in their lives, and if Patterson and Roberts make themselves a home in the middle of the Hoosier defense over the next four years, fans from Indianapolis to Lufkin will be cheering. Now they just need to get used to talking about it.
