OC Roberts to graduate early

Offensive center Desmond Roberts out of Gaston (N.C.) Northampton West is picking up attention from a lot of coaches during the May evaluation period. Who has been in to meet with Northampton West head coach Diego Hastings?

"A few schools have already been in to see me including most of the offers he's got from North Carolina, North Carolina State, East Carolina, Louisville and Virginia Tech," he said. "A bunch of other schools are expected to stop by like Clemson and maybe Florida and Auburn."

With nearly a half dozen offers already, does Roberts have any favorites?

"I hate to make a statement on that right now," Hastings said. "It's really hard to say because I'm letting him do whatever he wants. I'd say we'll have a much better idea after he goes to camps this summer."

Roberts plans to head to North Carolina and North Carolina State for camp in June and is considering trips to Florida and South Carolina too.

Obviously with all the interest coming in, coaches are seeing a lot of good things out of the North Carolina lineman.

"Desmond has a lot of athletic ability for a young kid," he said. "He has the long arms you want and already has the ability to long snap on special teams. He is also very good at shotgun and is a strong drive blocker. I'd say he still needs to get a little bit stronger particularly in his upper body for a center and needs to improve on his pass blocking, but that stuff just takes time.

"He is also a real good kid. He's a good old country boy that is very respectful and wholesome to be around. He has solid grades and loves to fish and hunt."

Schools that haven't pulled the trigger on Roberts yet better hurry as he plans to make an early decision.

"He'll probably make a decision sometime in the fall," Hastings stated. "Pretty much all the schools recruiting him are asking him to enroll in January so that he can get a year to develop. I know he's definitely interested in gaining that advantage."

The first team all-conference prospect plans to head to two combines in the next couple weeks including the Adidas North Carolina State combine and the Nike Camp at Clemson.