Ypsilanti - If Eastern Michigan wide receiver Chris R. Roberson had things his way, during his senior season in high school, he would have had to make a decision whether to attend MSU or Illinois.
But a week before his last year began at Harrison High School in Farmington Hills, he broke his ankle during a scrimmage - his aspirations to play Big Ten football were crushed.
“When I got hurt, they really didn’t know, so they would still call,” Roberson said. “But then, when they found out, they stopped calling, and stopped talking to me when they found out how serious it was.
“Eastern stuck with me, so I decided to come here.”
It’s a decision the Eagles coaching staff is glad it made. At Harrison, Roberson played almost everywhere - defensive back, tailback, wide receiver and tight end.
“Robie is really gifted,” EMU wide receiver coach Mark Woodson said. “I really believe if he had stayed healthy his senior year, we probably wouldn’t even have had the chance at getting him. We’re just really fortunate that we had the opportunity to get him.
“He is an impact player.”
MSU freshman quarterback Drew Stanton, who attended Harrison with Roberson, never played with the EMU standout because of the injury but did see him on film.
“He was the real deal,” he said. “He was real smooth, you could just see that from the film. He was as fast as anybody out there.
“Everybody said he was one of the best athletes to ever come to that school and that really means something coming from Farmington Hills’ Harrison.”
When he arrived at EMU, head coach Jeff Woodruff had a good idea how to use Roberson, but things didn’t work out the way he planned.
Eagles’ tailback Ime Akpan went down with a knee injury in the 2001 spring drills and tailbacks Anthony Sherrell and Kaliym Hazel didn’t meet initial academic requirements for the 2001 season.
“We knew all along when we recruited him he was either going to be a (defensive back) or a wide receiver,” Woodruff said. “We only played him at tailback because it was kind of like last man standing.
“It was either him or me.”
It was Roberson.
In his freshman campaign at tailback, he rushed for 755 yards on 167 carries and scored three touchdowns. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry while posting the third best freshman rushing total in Eagles history.
Despite his success at tailback, the coaches moved Roberson back to wide receiver in spring practice to take advantage of his elusiveness and protect his 5-foot-11, 185-pound frame from constant punishment.
“He’s more of a true in-the-space kind of player,” Woodruff said. “He’s got great speed in the open field.”
Roberson gets his chance to show his talents Saturday against MSU and prove he’s worthy of playing at a big-time program. Not only is he slated to start at wide receiver, he’s also expected to return kickoffs.
Roberson said he has an extra incentive knowing MSU true freshman Agim Shabaj - his friendly rival - is expected to get playing time performing similar duties.
Shabaj, who attended Harrison as well, said the two have been “talking trash” all week.
“We’re still really good friends,” Shabaj said. “We just hope that we both can do well in the game.”
Roberson is excited about the game, but hopes he can get enough touches at his new position to make an impact on the game.
“I’m looking forward to this game,” he said. “It’s a hometown game.”
