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Princeton University Athletics
Pick-Off Move
October 29, 2001 | Football
Oct. 29, 2001
The scouting report says he can run, and like all guys who can run, he can make plays. Get the football in his hands, and he knows what to do with it. He can go through you if necessary, and he can certainly run away from you. When he gets going, he isn't easy to catch, and even if you do catch him, Chris Roser-Jones doesn't come down easily.
Certainly the numbers don't lie. Roser-Jones has averaged 21.7 yards per catch for his career, which would be the Princeton record except for one little problem.
Chris Roser-Jones isn't a wide receiver. And his "catches" haven't exactly started out on plays designed for him.
Roser-Jones has intercepted 11 passes for 239 return yards and two touchdowns in his career. It's a remarkable number considering that every other current Princeton football player combined has 14 career interceptions. What's even more amazing is that Roser-Jones is a linebacker. A year ago, he led all Division I-AA linebackers with six interceptions, and he had two in the first two games of this season before being sidelined by a hamstring pull. He had another interception last week in his return at Harvard. Of his three picks this year, one was returned for a touchdown and two set up short TD drives.
"He's the prototype of what we're looking for at the position," says Princeton linebacker coach Don Dobes. "He can run, and because he can, he's great at two things. First, he can catch guys from behind. And second, he's great in pass coverage. He's an outstanding linebacker."
Dobes certainly knows one when he sees one. In his eight years at Princeton, Dobes has had the opportunity to coach some great linebackers, and Princeton has had an All-Ivy linebacker every year Dobes has been here, as well as the two years before he arrived.
"You can attribute a lot of the success of the linebackers to Coach Dobes," Roser-Jones says. "And he makes sure the current guys know about the guys who came before you."
It's a lineage that's not lost on Roser-Jones. He was a grade-schooler in State College, Pa., when players like Franco Pagnanelli and Aaron Harris were earning All-Ivy honors at Princeton.
Those two set the stage for a great list, one that features players like Dave Patterson, the 1995 Ivy League Player of the Year, and All-Ivy names like Tim Greene, Ryan Moore, Chuck Hastings, Jim Salters and Mike Higgins.
"I've seen tape of a lot of those guys," Roser-Jones says. "I hope we're doing everything possible to show the younger linebackers here how to play the position and keep the tradition going."
As good-and in some cases great-as those linebackers were, there hasn't been one under Dobes at Princeton quite like Roser-Jones. He's big and physical, tough enough to stick his nose in the middle, but more than that he has an uncanny ability as a pass defender.
Not surprisingly, Roser-Jones was a free safety (and tight end) at State College High School. If his hometown immediately inspires images of football, it's because he (and teammate Jon Ganter) grew up in the long shadow of Penn State University, as big a football powerhouse as there has been in college football.
"Everyone in that area loves football," Roser-Jones says. "So much attention is paid to Penn State. Everyone there growing up has dreams of playing for Penn State."
Roser-Jones had the same dreams, with a little twist. He was hoping to be a basketball player for the Nittany Lions.
"I would go to one or two football games a year, but I went to every home Penn State basketball game," he says. "I used to love when they played in Rec Hall. I always wanted to play for them. Even when I got to high school, I wanted to play basketball more than football."
Roser-Jones was all-conference in both sports, and he was better defensively in both as well. He had five interceptions as a senior in football.
A National Merit Scholar commended student, Roser-Jones was recruited by several Ivy League schools, including by now-Princeton offensive coordinator Dave Rackovan at Dartmouth. The Big Green told him he'd be a free safety, Harvard said a linebacker. Princeton was less committal about what his position would be, and he was actually a defensive back at first when he arrived. He stepped into a side of college football he hadn't quite seen before.
"In State College, if you're not going to the football game, you don't go anywhere on a game day," he says. "It's different here. It's not nearly as many people, but people here still like football."
Roser-Jones was one of 32 freshman in 1998, he's one of 13 seniors remaining.
"We've had some tough situations," Roser-Jones says. "We had the coaching change. We haven't had great success. The guys who've stayed around are dedicated to this program. A lot of those guys aren't playing that much and they're still here. I expect some big things to happen around here under Coach [Roger] Hughes. He definitely has things pointed in the right direction, and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to play for him."
Roser-Jones was a backup to Chuck Hastings as a freshman and sophomore, when he had his first two picks. He stepped into the starting spot as a junior, and he actually scored the first touchdown of Hughes' tenure as head coach when he returned an interception for a TD against Lafayette in the opener. He added another pick in that game and earned Ivy League and ECAC Defensive Player of the Week honors. He finished the season with six interceptions, and he had several dominating performances, including one last year against Cornell. At season's end he was a second-team All-Ivy pick.
The Sports Network ranked him as one of the top-20 linebackers in Division I-AA this preseason. He had two more interceptions against Columbia in the second game of the season, and he returned one 41 yards for a TD and another 51 yards to set up another. He repeated his Ivy and ECAC Defensive Player of the Week honors again. Unfortunately for Roser-Jones, he suffered a hamstring pull in practice the following week and missed the Colgate and Brown games.
"I don't know how much of a difference I might have made in those games," he says. "But I would have liked to have tried."
He returned last week against Harvard, and he's ready for the stretch run of his senior year. Princeton certainly missed his skills as a playmaker.
"Most of the time, you just have to be in the right place," says Roser-Jones, a chemistry major headed to medical school. "You have to do what you're taught in the system. Sometimes though, you just have to go out and make a play. You have to make something happen."
At Princeton, there haven't been too many guys who can do it as well as Chris Roser-Jones.
- by Jerry Price