4-star RB spurns hometown team, commits to Texas after wild recruiting battle

Steve Sarkisian and the rest of the Longhorns' coaching staff recently received some incredible news, as one of their top offensive targets in the 2027 class has officially committed to Texas.

Blue-chip RB Noah Roberts from Basha High School (Chandler, AZ) has been highly sought after for the past 3 months by tons of Power 4 schools, especially his "hometown" school, the Arizona State Sun Devils. From the sound of it, it looks like Texas, Arizona State, and Michigan were the final three programs battling for his commitment, and the Longhorns managed to pull away at the very end.

The 6'0", 195-pound running back broke out as a sophomore in 2024 when he rushed for 1,067 yards and 19 TDs on 152 carries (7.0 ypc). He also had 32 catches for 384 yards and 4 TDs, showing off his excellent receiving ability out of the backfield.

He continued to have success running the football as a junior last season, averaging over 6.0 ypc and catching 50 passes for 562 yards and 6 TDs on 11.2 yards per catch. Not many ball-carriers at the high school level are as productive as Roberts in the passing game, and that could be one of the main reasons why Steve Sarkisian wanted him so badly.

Sark has said before that the running back position is the most undervalued or underutilized weapon in the passing game, and it's well documented that he uses players with Noah Roberts' skillset incredibly well. Roberts even mentioned it shortly after he committed today:

“They used backs like Bijan Robinson, who is from Arizona, they like Arizona guys, and they aren’t scared to go out of the state to get the best talent.”

It's going to be interesting to see if Roberts carves out a specific third-down or sub-package role once he gets to Texas in 2027, but even if it takes him a while to see the field, he's still an incredibly intriguing player to watch going forward.

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