SEMO football preview: From almost quitting football to NFL prospect, Paul McRoberts' story is filled with unexpected turns and excellence

Paul McRoberts had heard the question many times before.

People always asked him whether he was going to play basketball or football in college, and he thought he figured out his answer one day during the middle of his junior season of basketball at Soldan High School in St. Louis.

He headed home after an exceptional practice, excited about an upcoming game and sat on the couch watching basketball highlights on SportsCenter with his older brother, Leonard Triplett.

Something about practice that day made McRoberts feel like it would be in his best interest to continue with basketball as his only sport.

"So I told my big brother, 'OK, I made my decision. I want to play basketball. I'm done with football,'" McRoberts said.

"No, you're not," Triplett replied.

The look he got from his brother, who was a father-figure to McRoberts after his dad died suddenly when he was a child, told McRoberts there was no questioning his response.

Now, a few years after nearly giving up on the sport, McRoberts is on the verge of turning it into his career.

A chance encounter

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

McRoberts was outside playing football on a grass lot with his friends at 7 years old when a man who coached football drove by and saw him "out there having fun but also dominating the other kids."

The man, who McRoberts had never met before, spoke to McRoberts' mother, Sherry Triplett, and shortly after he began playing organized football.

He quarterbacked and kicked, including making a 42-yard field goal to win his league's Super Bowl game when he was 10, but always wanted to see what it was like to catch touchdown passes. He finally became a receiver in high school.

Prior to his football abilities being discovered, McRoberts was always outside playing some sort of sport, usually trying to tag along with his older brother and his friends.

"He used to tell him, 'No, you're too little,'" Sherry Triplett said. "He used to come back crying. He always wanted to hang out with him and his friends."

She remembers her son telling her when he was 15 or 16 years old that he was going to be a professional athlete someday, telling her, "I'm going to make it for you one day, mom."

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His father's death

A 9-year-old McRoberts said goodbye to his father, Paul McRoberts, Sr., as his dad left to go to a relative's house.

McRoberts smiles when he recalls his dad handing him some money as he left and warning, "Don't spend it all in one place."

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

That's the last memory that McRoberts has of his dad, who died from a massive heart attack that day.

McRoberts, the youngest of Sherry Triplett's five children, leaned on his mother, his brother and three older sisters after his father's death and they are the people that motivate him on a daily basis.

"It was kind of -- they treated me like a baby, for real," McRoberts said. "They treated me like that little brother that they really wanted to protect and really wanted to make sure that I did great things. Sitting here today, they've done an amazing job to make sure I got where I needed to be and continue to do great things."

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McRoberts doesn't show much emotion when talking about his father, but the smile that's almost always on his face diminishes slightly.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

"My dad always told me to be strong and take care of my family," McRoberts said. "I didn't even cry at his funeral. That's something that I wish I could go back and have again because being young and you're told not to cry and be a man and things like that, but if I could go back I'd definitely shed them tears because I miss him a lot and I always wonder how my life would be if he was here. It's something you can always wonder, but I'll never know."

Sports provided the male figures that shaped McRoberts' life while his mom, who he calls his "best friend," worked to support her family by cleaning hotels.

"My mother being a single parent at the time with Paul's father passing and I wasn't always around because I had sports going on myself, sports kind of took the place at a younger age of the big brother and father," Leonard Triplett said. "That kind of helped him because he had coaches and he was around his friends."

He maintains a close relationship with his family, talking with his mother on the phone frequently, communicating with his brother via text or Facetime nearly every night and visiting as often as possible with his busy football schedule. They come to as many of McRoberts' games as possible.

"It's just an overwhelming feeling," Leonard Triplett said. "Like in my eyes it feels like I'm watching the best player in the world."

High school dominance

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

Justin Tatum stepped into the role as Soldan's head football coach for the final six games of McRoberts' junior season after the previous head coach was placed on administrative leave.

Tatum, who was also the Tigers basketball coach, understood football but admittedly had no idea how to coach the sport.

His game plan: get the ball to Paul.

"He was our secret weapon," Tatum said. "My only weapon at that time, but it helped out."

Tatum, a 1997 basketball state champion with CBC and former Saint Louis University basketball player, coached six years at Soldan where he also served as athletic director and led the Tigers to back to back third-place state finishes and a state title in McRoberts' final three seasons.

Tatum, who is the father of heavily-recruited Duke basketball commit Jayson Tatum, became the CBC basketball coach in 2013 and led the Cadets to a state title in his first year at the helm.

He first got to know McRoberts as a basketball player in seventh and eighth grade and didn't even know he was a football player until he got to high school.

As McRoberts leaned towards choosing one sport over another during his high school career Tatum tried to put his future in perspective.

"I was like, 'Basketball, you're good. Don't get me wrong, you can play at the next level. But I think you can feed your family with this football, so you need to stick with it and see where it carries out from there,'" Tatum said.

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There were nights when McRoberts didn't know where he would be getting a meal from, whose house he was going to sleep over at or how he'd get to school the next day, according to Tatum, who said, "his mom was a continuous backbone for him, but she obviously had to do things on her own to make ends meet."

Determined is the first word that came to Tatum's mind to describe his former player. He added that he was fierce on the field but was humble and kind away from it.

McRoberts compiled 1,607 yards on 64 catches with 23 receiving touchdowns in the fall of 2011, months after he told his brother he was quitting football. He rushed for two touchdowns and completed one touchdown pass en route to being named the Public High League small-schools offensive player of the year that year as a senior.

He helped the Tigers win the Class 4 state basketball championship -- their first since 1981 -- the following March.

There was not one single moment that stood out to Tatum from McRoberts' high school career because there were enough spectacular performances to warrant an entire book.

"He's just an athlete," Tatum said. "He came and played quarterback, he came and played defense, he'd kickoff return. Like it was just Paul McRoberts show for the four years at Soldan High School."

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McRoberts committed to play football for Southeast in the midst of basketball season. It was the only scholarship offer he received after a not-so-great ACT score.

"It actually ended up being my only offer on the table, so I was blessed with the opportunity to come to a great university, and I love it here," McRoberts said. "Looking back now -- you know, everybody wants to be at a big university, but when I got here it changed everything. It was just like I love it here and I'm glad I didn't go to another school because ever since Day 1 it's been nothing but love and growth, a blessing and an opportunity."

Without athletics it is unlikely McRoberts would have been able to further his education in college.

"He's just like the perfect kid, the perfect athlete who has grinded his way to where he's at right now," Tatum said. "It just speaks volumes of who he is and what he's been through to see where he's at today."

Return to the court

Paul McRoberts looks to pass against Missouri-Kansas City's Nelson Kirksey during a 2014 game at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz met McRoberts shortly after he was announced as the Redhawks coach on Dec. 18, 2014.

"I shook his hand and you couldn't slap the smile off my face because he shook my elbow," Matukewicz said. "That was a great sign for a receiver to have big hands like that. He's got baskets for hands."

Over the next few days the two became even more familiar with each other because McRoberts decided to try his hand at Division I basketball for the Redhawks.

After checking his grades and his strength and conditioning information Matukewicz decided to allow him to join the basketball team.

He played in 13 games during the second half of the season, averaging 5.9 points. He fractured a rib in his right side and missed the final five games of the season.

He starred for the football team during the first four games of his junior season, scoring six touchdowns in that stretch, including the game-winner in the final seconds of Southeast's 24-23 upset win over then-No. 3 Southeastern Louisiana, but he suffered a Lisfranc fracture in his right foot in that game and was sidelined for the next five.

He returned and finished the season with a team-high 711 yards receiving and nine touchdowns on 44 catches, and was named first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference.

The question of whether he'd play another year of basketball loomed, much like in high school how the question of whether he'd play football had, but just like nearly four years ago, McRoberts came to the realization that his future was on the football field.

Why he'll 'make it'

Matukewicz's eyes lit up as he sat behind his desk in his office at the Rosengarten Athletic Complex about to explain what it is that separates McRoberts from other receivers.

Southeast Missouri State's Paul McRoberts pulls down a pass during a drill in practice Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Glenn Landberg)

"This is it, you ready?" Matukewicz said. "This is why he'll make it in the NFL: reception point. No one is better than him at reception point."

Watch one game or practice and that is evident.

At the Redhawks' first practice of the season McRoberts shoved off his defender in a one-on-one situation, and when quarterback Tay Bender's throw erred on the high side, he leapt up extending his arm above and behind him for a one-handed catch before landing solidly on his feet and running it in for a touchdown.

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Other times a throw bounces off the hands of several other players but McRoberts sticks his hand in and snags it with ease, like there's a magnetic attraction between his glove and the ball. He credits playing baseball from age 7 until 14 as well as basketball for some of the astonishing catches.

"In the NFL they're all covered," Matukewicz continued. "There are no wide-open catches and so how strong you are at reception point is everything because those corners are going to try to beat it out of you or a lot of times it's a jump ball and whoever is stronger at reception point gets it done. That is the reason I feel like he could make a living in the National Football League. Obviously he has the other talents, but a lot of people have those -- size, strength -- but that's what makes him."

The two meet occasionally to discuss the potential of him being selected in the NFL draft.

The last player from Southeast to be drafted was Southeast athletics hall of fame offensive lineman Eugene Amano in 2004.

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"We just talk about, 'How good do you want to be?' because you're trying to do something that hardly anybody on this planet can do," Matukewicz said. "Just because you're talented a little bit doesn't mean you're going to make it -- 'You have to do X, Y, Z. Are you sure you want to commit to this thing?' I think Paul would tell you I'm harder on him than anybody else because I'm trying to prepare him."

Matukewicz said he expects more of McRoberts than other players because the 6-foot-3 receiver who weighs about 200 pounds after putting on 15 pounds in the offseason and has a 40-yard dash time of 4.57, has more natural ability.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

"If he doesn't block a guy -- just those attitude and effort plays -- or maybe he takes a play off, he knows I'm right on him," Matukewicz said. "He took a play off on kickoff return -- ask him about it because I showed it in front of the whole team and embarrassed him. I said, 'If you're in the National Football League you've got to make it on special teams. You're not just going to be the dominant receiver.'"

Even though Matukewicz makes statements like that to keep his senior leader from getting carried away with any hype surrounding him, he believes he's just as good as any other receiver he's coached that has made it to the NFL.

McRoberts, whose mom described him as a "people person," is on track to graduate with a degree in family studies and a minor in social work next summer. Regardless of what his future holds, he is determined to become the first person in his family to graduate from college.

"I always was just interested in counseling because I come from not such a good area and I always had friends that had problems and it seemed like I was a problem-solver a little bit, giving them good advice and leading them in the right direction," McRoberts said. "They really encouraged me like, 'Man, you should be doing this in life.'"

He didn't dream of playing professionally growing up, instead wanting to do anything where he could travel and explore the world. Those could go hand in hand in McRoberts' future.

"I have no words for it, but I will be so excited just to see him make it that far," Sherry Triplett said. "That's what he wants."

McRoberts tries to limit the discussion of his future professional career, especially amongst his teammates.

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"I just want to have fun and not think about things. Even though it's reality and you have to think about it, I just want to take life one day at a time," McRoberts said. "I'm goofy, silly, I like to dance, and I just want to enjoy the moment and enjoy life a little bit because I've always been working hard since I was little and stressing about the struggles of growing up and things like that. I kind of want to get away from that, and I'm glad I'm here to do so. I really just want to enjoy it, smile every day and lift other people up."

"I want it for myself, too," McRoberts later added. "I think I deserve it. I've worked so hard for it. I can't wait to see what's in store for me."