While freshman standout Naaman Roosevelt may put his pants on the same way as the 18,165 other undergraduates at the University at Buffalo, a gift separates the kick returner and wide receiver from the masses.
Roosevelt is fast. Lightening fast - the kind of fast that makes you do a double-take, and still miss him as he flies past the coverage squad, blowing past passing defenders as quickly as he approached them.
He introduced himself to Buffalo en masse on opening night against Temple, nearly snagging a deep pass from sophomore quarterback Drew Willy. But everyone found out just how fast the converted quarterback is when the Bulls visited Bowling Green on Sept. 9.
On a late summer afternoon, with lightning threatening to delay the game again, Roosevelt stood at his own goal-line, awaiting the game's first play after the initial storm-induced break. The true freshman took the kickoff from the six yard-line and sprinted down the field for a touchdown. This play displayed the speed and skill that made him the Western New York Offensive Player of the Year in 2005-06 as a senior at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute.
It hasn't all been easy for Roosevelt though. One of the jewels of head coach Turner Gill's first recruiting class, Roosevelt has had to adjust to some of the biggest difficulties of college life.
"Waking up by myself," Roosevelt said. "Not having my parents to wake me up in the morning, and me getting up, out of the bed, and not turning off the alarm."
The transition has been easier for Roosevelt than for other freshman, as the former signal caller has a connection with several Bulls, including an injured junior Buffalo halfback.
"I knew a couple of kids, like Chris McDuffie," Roosevelt said. "I knew them because me and his nephew, we played together in Pop Warner and high school too, so we knew each other. I knew Chris for a long time."
It was on the Pop Warner fields of Buffalo that Roosevelt came to know that he was destined for a future in Division I college football.
"First time I started playing football, I was like six," Roosevelt said. "My father took me out. I didn't really want to play football, because I used to play basketball all the time. I was just like, 'Football?' The idea of getting hit, I just didn't want to do it. So he took me out to my first practice for Pop Warner and I was just having fun and I just wanted to keep going."
Several Bowl Championship Series conference schools, such as Maryland, Syracuse and the Boston College Eagles, recruited the dual-threat high school quarterback.
"They wanted me to play corner and defense," Roosevelt said. "I wanted to play offense and Turner gave me the chance to play offense."
Buffalo wasn't even a thought to Roosevelt before the former Heisman candidate came aboard on the Buffalo program.
"The first time I met him, he was a big guy, he just spoke well and gave me good ideas and why I should come here," Roosevelt said. "It was more him coming to me, and just talking to me about it. I never even thought about coming to UB."
After coming to Buffalo, though, Roosevelt was forced to move from his natural high school position of quarterback due to the presence of Willy. The former field general had to adjust to wide receiver, a switch designed to give the playmaker a chance to gain experience and give Buffalo offense a unique dimension. However, the move has taken time and effort, and required Roosevelt to learn the ins and outs of the receiver position.
"My biggest problem is just lining up and getting to know the plays," Roosevelt said. "That's really it, know the plays and know where I have to go on every play. That's been the big thing"
The new position has given Roosevelt a new perspective on the field.
"I feel how wide receivers feel," Roosevelt said. "Running routes all the games and not always getting the ball, stuff like that. It's a lot of work so I see how they feel now."
With a new perspective, and a new position, Roosevelt will now be able to make the seven other schools on the Bulls schedule feel the same way Bowling Green did - burnt.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
