Four-star TE Sam Roush on the 'super cool' coaches at ASU
Sam Roush is in the same position as every recruit. Limited information. Uncertainty. Searching for answers. The recruiting landscape has been upended by COVID-19, leaving prospects with questions about their future, about when they may be able to take visits or see coaches in-person.
For most, it’s nauseating. For Roush, it’s a relief. For all the adverse effects the pandemic has caused, there’s a sense of contempt amongst recruits. All the camps and visits and tours are out the window. Nothing circled on the calendar, nothing to stress over, no fears of how others look at you. And, in some ways, that’s a relief.
“It takes a lot of the pressure off because I don’t have to go to any camps. I don’t have to do any of that,” Roush said. “I just have to get better on my own. I’m not consistently showcasing myself. I think it’s easier.”
He’s been repeating two-a-days throughout quarantine, either lifting or heading to the fields with his buddies in San Jose. He shed some bad weight and added five pounds of lean muscle, which made him quicker and boosted his weight room maxes (He said he can bench 285 pounds, dead-lift 475 and squat 475).
But Roush’s perspective is also aided by the luxury of his 17 offers.
“I guess it’s a relief. It’s kind of nice to feel like I’ve been recognized. At the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s going to come down to how hard I work,” Roush said. “For one perspective, it’s nice to know you’re being rewarded for your work, but another perspective is that it’s going to show anyway.
It seems it’s already shown. Just look at his rankings. Roush is a four-star 2022 prospect. He’s a top-250 overall prospect, a top-20 player in California, and the sixth-best tight end for his class. And, at the moment, he admitted the schools recruiting him the hardest are nearby Stanford and Cal, as well as UCLA, USC, and ASU.
Roush first talked to the Sun Devils before a basketball practice in February and, during that conversation, handed him a pre-pandemic offer. Since then, talks with ASU’s offensive analyst Adam Breneman and defensive analyst Anthony Garnett have become routine.
“The coaches are all super cool,” Roush described. “They have a lot of young guys on their staff, so I feel like they can relate to all the athletes. That’s definitely an attractor for athletes being recruited by ASU. They want to build a relationship with you. They’re definitely very laid back, and they get the whole recruiting process.”
When speaking about Roush’s on-field ability, it’s hard to overstate the significance of his 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame. He said he’s been growing about three inches for the last six years, and he runs routes with all the advantage of a lengthy receiver with none of the clumsiness of the typical tall high school tight end.
Though every school is after him as a tight end, Roush followed up a freshman season at tight end by playing receiver last season.
“I prefer tight end; I just enjoyed it more,” Roush admitted. “I actually played receiver last year, and I think I ran my routes well. And they had me on some crack blocks, and I think I was able to show my ability to block. I think the best part of my game is probably the way I can run routes and get separation.”
But the school who nabs Roush services will be the school that checks off the boxes of his recruiting wish list.
“I just want to go wherever the best fit is,” Roush said. “(I’m looking for a) great education, good football team and good team culture.”
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