Ho-Hum! Another Player Signing! ;-)

After waiting so long for it to finally start happening, it'll be a long time before I get tired of hearing about player signings.  The information below was released by the Ottawa RedBlacks earlier this afternoon.

OTTAWA - Running back Jordan Roberts is the latest player to join the Ottawa REDBLACKS of the Canadian Football League.

The 23-year-old native of Madison, West Virginia, participated in training camp of the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL earlier this year.

The 5-foot-10, 222-pound Roberts had a stellar collegiate career with the NCAA Division II University of Charleston Golden Eagles, earning All-American status twice while setting numerous school and NCAA records.

In three seasons with the Golden Eagles as a running back and kick returner, Roberts totaled 4,918 all-purpose yards with 50 touchdowns. In 2012, his senior year, he rushed for 1,572 yards in 11 games (averaging 6.6 yards per carry) with 18 touchdown carries. He also had a 100-yard kickoff return for a major.

In his final game with Charleston, Roberts rushed for 190 yards in one quarter and 273 yards in one half, setting school and NCAA Division II records. He had 301 yards in that game with five touchdowns and earned conference player of the year honours.

Roberts was also a standout in high school, earning the Kennedy Award as the state of West Virginia's top high school football player in 2007.

Roberts is the fifth free agent to sign with the REDBLACKS.

Let's go a little deeper into his career with this write-up from fantasysports.org.

After one year with limited playing time at West Virginia, running back Jordan Roberts opted for a college career at the University of Charleston. Roberts thrived at Charleston, as he did in high school. He earned all-state honors at both quarterback and running back as a junior and senior in high school in Yawkey, West Virginia, and earned a spot on two different All-American lists in college.

He currently holds nine records at the University of Charleston, including two NCAA Division II  – records for most yards in one quarter (190) and in one half (273). In the same game where he broke those two records, he scored five touchdowns, despite playing only one series in the second half. As a running back, receiver out of the backfield, and returner, he totaled 4,918 total yards in his three seasons with Charleston, 4,441 of which came in his junior and senior years. He scored on one out of every 11 carries and averaged 6.36 yards per carry in his career. Oh, and did I mention he also blocked two punts in his senior season?

He measured up to 5’10″ and 222 lbs. pre-draft. He also recorded a 40-yard dash time of 4.49 seconds (same as new Packers running back Johnathan Franklin), a 38 -inch vertical (only two running backs were better at the NFL combine), and a 127-inch broad jump (good for second behind only Michael Ford).

College stats:

Year  Games  Carries  Yards  TDs  Catches  Yards  TDs
2010    10      79      381   11      5      96     1
2011    11     206    1,430   17     20     165     1
2012    11     238    1,572   18     20     204     1

With Roberts being a D-II guy, I can't help but be reminded of Renegades running back Josh Ranek.  Ranek's pro experience extended to training camp with the Dallas Cowboys but he also had accumulated great college numbers at a smaller school (South Dakota State) prior to his acquisition by the Renegades.

There also aren't a lot of guys in Division II who rush for 186.8 yards a game and score 170 points, as Ranek did in 1999. Despite redshirting as a freshman and playing in only two games before breaking his foot in his second year, Ranek holds school career records in rushing (4,097 yards) and scoring (248 points). Ranek also owns North Central Conference season records for rushing (1,675 in 1998), touchdowns (22 in 1999) and points (132 in 1999) in conference games.

Ranek was very productive for the Renegades, gaining over 4000 yards rushing over three-plus seasons, including a rather impressive 6.4 average yards per carry in 2003.  He was also among the team's leading receivers in 2005 with 76 catches, 750 yards and two scores.

So that Roberts' credentials were earned in Division II shouldn't cause them to be dismissed.  It's easy to think highly of every player signed when there are so few on the roster but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Roberts turned out to be a significant contributor for the RedBlacks.