South Carolina Gamecocks football 2014 roster preview: No. 21, Marcquis Roberts

Marcquis Roberts
RS sophomore linebacker
6'1'' / 216 lbs
Powder Springs, GA

Recruitment:
A 2011 signee, Roberts was a consensus three-star recruit and the nation's 40th-ranked outside linebacker.

Other major offers:
Cincinnati, UConn, Illinois, Mississippi St., South Florida, Central Florida, Virginia, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wisconsin

College career:
Roberts's first two seasons in Columbia were plagued by injuries. He was granted medical redshirts for the 2011 and 2012 seasons for shoulder and knee injuries, respectively. Roberts didn't let his bad luck get him down, though. As a redshirt freshman in 2013, he started nine games at outside linebacker, the first eight and then the bowl. Although he lost his starting job late in the season to a surging Skai Moore, Roberts still finished with 48 tackles on the year, good for fifth on the team.

2014 outlook:
Although experience in the program gave him a leg-up on a starting position early last season, Roberts has fallen behind the younger linebackers from the 2012 and 2013 cohorts. Moore and Jonathan Walton have supplanted him at outside linebacker, and he's currently listed as the third-team inside linebacker behind Kaiwan Lewis and T.J. Holloman. It's thus unclear what role he's going to play on this year's defense. That said, Roberts is a player with substantial starting experience. With a year of non-injured seasoning under his belt, he may be ready to elevate his game. He provides useful depth if we suffer injuries at linebacker, particularly given that he can play both inside and out.

Trivia:
Roberts graduated with Busta Anderson from McEachern High in Powder Springs, GA. They committed together, as you can see in this video: