westtxfballfan
10-08-2009, 05:01 PM
Odessa American article on Monahans junior linebacker. I posted this in the POTW nominations thread, but thought it deserved its own one. (No one nominated him in time for POTW consideration this week, but if he keeps it up he'll make the list before the year is over.)
http://varsity.oaoa.com/articles/mo...se-robledo.html
Football: Robledo quietly makes huge plays for Monahans defense
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
October 05, 2009 9:12 PM
BY WILLIE BANS
The Monahans defense is a machine. That’s what Fort Stockton head coach Rex Whitfield said after the Loboes beat his team 28-6 Friday.
If Whitfield’s comparison is true, and the way the unit is playing it sometimes seems so, then junior weakside linebacker Ricky Robledo is performing like the machine’s most important part.
For Robledo, the explanation of his approach to the position sounds like it came from the instructional manual of Monahans’ multiple eight-man front defense.
“I just do what I’m told to do and showed to do against this team,” Robledo said, “and listen to the coaches and do what I’m told to do and play the game.”
Though a minimalist with words, Robledo is no robot.
There is nothing one could design to make 24 tackles, two for loss, like Robledo did Friday.
The 24 are the most Loboes head coach Mickey Owens has seen in a game in his five-year tenure, and Robledo’s 70 tackles through five games are tops at this point in the season in the Owens era.
“He’s one of those guys, when you watch him, you think he’s not that fast,” Owens said. “He’s 190, 195 (pounds), but not that fast, not that flashy. You don’t notice during the game that he had a great game, but on film he’s around the ball every time.”
It is not automatic for Robledo, not by a stretch. There are others he relies on to give him space to roam. But the way Friday night went, it is as if there is a switch turned on and little else going on other than see runner, tackle runner.
“It didn’t really feel like I made a lot,” Robledo said. “It felt like I was around the pile sometimes … I made quite a few, but it didn’t feel like that much.”
If others are doing their jobs, Robledo having a standout performance should be the norm, linebackers coach Mickey Mitchell said.
It is the way the defensive schemes are often designed.
“Any time you’re successful in our defense, the down people have a lot to do with that,” Mitchell said. “That’s their job to get the offensive linemen off the ‘Willie’ linebacker.
“We have a great front four. That’s (Robledo’s) job, to make tackles.”
Robledo realizes he benefits from those front four. He can see it as a play is developing, in those seconds between the snap and the handoff and his pursuit of the ball carrier.
“As I’m playing, I do see it,” he said. “Some plays they might not get them all and a couple of linemen come and block me. Most of time I’m free and no one’s trying to block me. I just make my reads and come to the ball.”
And, as Mitchell put it, “very rarely do you fool him.”
Despite his effort in helping limit Fort Stockton to 172 rushing yards on their 37 attempts and his fumble recovery, Robledo said this wasn’t his best game this season. That was, according to Robledo, his 15-tackle performance against Midland Christian in the season opener.
But that game didn’t elicit a reaction from his team the way Friday’s game did.
“That Saturday morning when I walked in, everybody’s just looking at me,” Robledo said. “They said, ‘You got 24 tackles.’ I was just like, ‘Wow.’ … I can’t believe it, really.”
>> THE BASICS
Ricky Robledo
School: Monahans.
Height: 6-foot-1.
Weight: 195 pounds.
Class: Junior.
Position: Weakside linebacker.
Favorite athlete: Adrian Peterson.
Favorite food: Hamburger.
Highlights: Robledo had 24 tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery in a win over Fort Stockton.
http://varsity.oaoa.com/articles/mo...se-robledo.html
Football: Robledo quietly makes huge plays for Monahans defense
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
October 05, 2009 9:12 PM
BY WILLIE BANS
The Monahans defense is a machine. That’s what Fort Stockton head coach Rex Whitfield said after the Loboes beat his team 28-6 Friday.
If Whitfield’s comparison is true, and the way the unit is playing it sometimes seems so, then junior weakside linebacker Ricky Robledo is performing like the machine’s most important part.
For Robledo, the explanation of his approach to the position sounds like it came from the instructional manual of Monahans’ multiple eight-man front defense.
“I just do what I’m told to do and showed to do against this team,” Robledo said, “and listen to the coaches and do what I’m told to do and play the game.”
Though a minimalist with words, Robledo is no robot.
There is nothing one could design to make 24 tackles, two for loss, like Robledo did Friday.
The 24 are the most Loboes head coach Mickey Owens has seen in a game in his five-year tenure, and Robledo’s 70 tackles through five games are tops at this point in the season in the Owens era.
“He’s one of those guys, when you watch him, you think he’s not that fast,” Owens said. “He’s 190, 195 (pounds), but not that fast, not that flashy. You don’t notice during the game that he had a great game, but on film he’s around the ball every time.”
It is not automatic for Robledo, not by a stretch. There are others he relies on to give him space to roam. But the way Friday night went, it is as if there is a switch turned on and little else going on other than see runner, tackle runner.
“It didn’t really feel like I made a lot,” Robledo said. “It felt like I was around the pile sometimes … I made quite a few, but it didn’t feel like that much.”
If others are doing their jobs, Robledo having a standout performance should be the norm, linebackers coach Mickey Mitchell said.
It is the way the defensive schemes are often designed.
“Any time you’re successful in our defense, the down people have a lot to do with that,” Mitchell said. “That’s their job to get the offensive linemen off the ‘Willie’ linebacker.
“We have a great front four. That’s (Robledo’s) job, to make tackles.”
Robledo realizes he benefits from those front four. He can see it as a play is developing, in those seconds between the snap and the handoff and his pursuit of the ball carrier.
“As I’m playing, I do see it,” he said. “Some plays they might not get them all and a couple of linemen come and block me. Most of time I’m free and no one’s trying to block me. I just make my reads and come to the ball.”
And, as Mitchell put it, “very rarely do you fool him.”
Despite his effort in helping limit Fort Stockton to 172 rushing yards on their 37 attempts and his fumble recovery, Robledo said this wasn’t his best game this season. That was, according to Robledo, his 15-tackle performance against Midland Christian in the season opener.
But that game didn’t elicit a reaction from his team the way Friday’s game did.
“That Saturday morning when I walked in, everybody’s just looking at me,” Robledo said. “They said, ‘You got 24 tackles.’ I was just like, ‘Wow.’ … I can’t believe it, really.”
>> THE BASICS
Ricky Robledo
School: Monahans.
Height: 6-foot-1.
Weight: 195 pounds.
Class: Junior.
Position: Weakside linebacker.
Favorite athlete: Adrian Peterson.
Favorite food: Hamburger.
Highlights: Robledo had 24 tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery in a win over Fort Stockton.