Winter Park’s Roberts commits to Princeton
He will join teammate Warner in Ivy League
Winter Park cornerback Torian Roberts said it wasn’t difficult to choose academics over football when he made his college decision.
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Roberts, who carries a weighted 4.4 GPA (3.8 unweighted) committed to Princeton on Saturday, and although he’ll still be playing football at the next level he said life after football is at the forefront of his consideration.
“It wasn’t really too difficult for me,” Roberts said. “Once I heard from the [Princeton] coaches, I built a real good relationship with them. As soon as I took a visit up there, I loved what I saw instantly.
“They pitched to me all of their football stuff and I fell in love with it, and they also pitched me their 40-year plan, the thoughts of life after football. There is still the possibility of going to the league [NFL], which is my main goal always.”
Roberts is the second Ivy League commitment out of the Winter Park senior class. He’ll join Yale commit and Winter Park quarterback Aidan Warner in the prestigious conference. Dr. Phillips also had a pair of Ivy League commits two years ago: Ledger Hatch and Myles Wiley are both on the Harvard roster.
“We talk about it all the time,” Roberts said about the two players headed to the Ivy League. “I talked to my parents about some of the decisions, and when it came down to the pros and cons it was tough at first because of some of the other stuff I would have to do to get into Princeton.
“But now that I’ve made my decision, it just feels like a whole bunch of extra weight is off my shoulders.”
Roberts is known for his coverage skills. Last season for Winter Park, he had two interceptions.
Winter Park has been a perennial playoff team, but the Wildcats have fallen short in the big games. Roberts said he believes this group is different.
The Wildcats opened with a 42-0 victory over Lake Nona on Friday night.
“We think this is one of the best teams Winter Park has had in a while, especially with the secondary we have,” Roberts said. “We feel like we can go all the way, and it starts with an undefeated [regular] season and a district championship. We feel like that’s a no-brainer right there.
“We have a great bond ... and when it’s time to get serious, we love fighting for the man right next to us.”
Roberts and his teammates get a big test next week when they travel to Georgia to face North Gwinnett in Suwanee.
“We’ve been talking about this one all summer,” Roberts said. “We take it one game at a time, but going to Georgia is going to be different for us since we haven’t traveled out of state. We love the idea of getting to play different competition we haven’t seen.”