One of the things that separates Saraland’s Jamison Roberts from the state’s other top quarterback prospects is his running ability, either by design or with impromptu scrambles. A fifth straight appearance in the state championship game and a Blue Map could help Roberts bring Saraland its fourth Mr. Football award in the last five years, joining two-time winner Ryan Coleman-Williams and K.J. Lacey. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
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Using the career standard, Roberts stands atop a mountain of numbers. Considering 2026 only, Roberts has more TD passes and a higher QB rating than all the other top prospects and done it without a receiver the magnitude of Ryan Coleman-Williams or Deshawn Spencer.
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There is a strong chance that Thompson’s Trent Seaborn will be chosen the state’s newest Mr. Football in January. Considering his excellence since starting as an eighth grader and the fact that he is the state’s all-time leading passer and might win four Blue Maps in his career, he’ll deserve it.
But he’s not the state’s best quarterback in this Year of the Quarterback.
That would be Saraland senior Jamison (Jamo) Roberts, who has been flagellating defenses and playing such ethereal football that one is genuinely astonished when one of his passes strikes the ground or when the Spartans grudgingly punt.
BULLETIN: Roberts has thrown only 29 incomplete passes in the last eight games and Saraland has punted only eight times all year with the starters on the field. Ten of those incompletions came in Thursday night’s 48-34 win over Auburn (the high school, not the university), although Roberts is also the most college-ready quarterback prospect in the state. Oklahoma fans are clamoring to see what Roberts can do given the fact that turnover-prone John Mateer is apparently the best the Sooners can do and will be only a memory in a few more weeks.
Although Mr. Football is usually based on the current season, conventional wisdom says Seaborn should be judged on and rewarded for his unusually long 60-game high school career.
But if the career standard is used, Roberts stands atop a mountain of numbers. If one considers 2026 only, Roberts has more touchdown passes and a higher quarterback rating than not only Seaborn but all the other top quarterbacks in the state and he’s done it without a receiver the magnitude of Ryan Coleman-Williams and Deshawn Spencer.
Roberts even set school records in two of his worst games this season. He made up for five incompletions against Blount by throwing for seven touchdowns. He followed with six incompletions against Spanish Fort but made his 21 completions count for 444 yards — or a quarter of a mile.
Most valuable to his team
Through the end of the regular season, Roberts’ career is statistically superior to all the other top quarterbacks in the state — St. Michael’s Gunner Rivers, Central-Phenix City’s Bobby Coleman, Benjamin Russell’s Kingston Preyear and Auburn’s Cason Myers.
Roberts has the best winning percentage as a starter (.923), the best career completion percentage (.735), the highest career quarterback rating by far (147.4), the best career interception ratio (1 in every 79 attempts) and the most career yards per snap (10.4) of everyone except Coleman (11.0).
Perhaps the question isn’t if Roberts is better than Seaborn but who is more important to their team.
“I’d say Jamison,” said a coach who is not in either camp but is familiar with both. “That’s not to say that you take Trent out and Thompson is not as good. He’s got a better defense. He’s got more weapons around him. Thompson is so good, it’s like how good is Trent? Because the people around him are all elite. Jamison is on more of a traditional high school football team. It’s a good high school football team and he’s got weapons but not to the extent that Thompson has.”
Roberts says he’s having more fun than ever playing football, which is understandable given the speed of the high school game is now no match for his interpretive genius at reading defenses.
Like all great quarterbacks, he lives in the future and sends the ball on its unfettered way on Friday night while the defense still seems to be climbing out of bed that morning.
Only in a 34-24 loss to Gulf Shores in which the Spartans upchucked a 24-14 lead — “It definitely felt like we were on autopilot,” Roberts said — did he show signs of flesh and bone, throwing 17 (17!) incompletions, as many as he had in the next seven games combined. The next week, a 59-9 win over Theodore restored order to his universe and his voice, as he proclaimed it would go hard for anyone on the team who brushed aside the little details or took winning for granted.
“It was emphasis, emphasis, emphasis and if people don’t get it, I’m going to drill it into their head,” Roberts said.
Getting off the ground
But Roberts (6-3, 205) isn’t even rated among the top 10 quarterback prospects nationally in the 2027 class by 247Sports and other recruiting services.
Rivers (6-4, 230), who has committed to North Carolina State, where his father may be headed as the coach, is ranked No. 4 nationally by 247Sports but has been injured most of the season; Seaborn (6-1, 193), who has committed to Alabama, is considered a top-shelf pocket passer and ranked No. 7 by ESPN; Roberts is anywhere from No. 16 to 19.
But Roberts is rated the No. 6 dual-threat quarterback nationally by ESPN — much higher than anyone else in Alabama — and in today’s college game, a dual-threat quarterback is more helpful to reach the pinnacle of success. No one among the state’s elite quarterbacks can match him in career rushing yardage. Defenses needn’t account for Seaborn or Rivers in the running game but they must for Roberts.
Roberts ran for three touchdowns against Auburn, a good sign the Spartans can run the ball against a quality defense, which has been a weakness in the last three state championship games.
His 20-of-30, 265-yard passing performance against the Tigers would be considered utopian by most quarterbacks but Roberts appeared subdued afterward.
“I wouldn’t say I’m satisfied,” he said. “There’s a couple of things I could have done better.”
True, his 102.8 quarterback rating against Auburn was his lowest since the Gulf Shores loss (100.0). He threw 10 incompletions but only one was broken up.
The Tigers played more man coverage than expected, thus getting more pressure on Roberts, who admitted he took a beating. But after a rough first quarter — when he was sacked twice, facemasked, had a touchdown bomb dropped, threw the ball away to avoid another mauling and had a pass deflected at the line of scrimmage — Roberts sorted out the protections and got into a more familiar rhythm. He was sacked only once more, then responded on the next play, a second-and-29, by throwing a 49-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Turner.
Lifts those around him
Roberts’ quarterback rating is even better than legendary former Saraland quarterback K.J. Lacey, now at Texas, who was the 2024 Mr. Football and had the benefit of throwing to two-time Mr. Football Coleman-Williams for two years. Lacey’s career QBR was 130.9.
When Roberts succeeded Lacey as the Spartans’ starting quarterback, he saw no need for a break-in period, delivering a memorable line when asked about the differences between himself and his predecessor, who at the time was the No. 2 all-time passer in Alabama High School Athletic Association history.
“I’m taller,” Roberts said with aplomb.
Roberts has welded his considerable mental capacity to his considerable physical skills. He rarely makes a mistake, throws accurate vortexes to all parts of the field and avoids sacks with his elusiveness.
Roberts takes a professorial approach to preparation; even his leisure hours are spent watching game films. He writes down defensive tendencies in a notebook he studies insatiably.
“He studies it like a test every week,” his father Lawrence said. “I have walked in his room and he’ll be looking at film on his phone.”
Not all great quarterbacks win championships and not all championship quarterbacks are great if they merely manage the surrounding talent. The finest ones lift everyone around them.
The playoffs will not only determine the state champions but likely who wins Mr. Football. If Roberts hoists a Blue Map, it will enhance his chances of holding the Mr. Football plaque a few weeks later. Even if he doesn’t win the equivalent of the high school Heisman, it can still be said that he ranks among the most accomplished quarterbacks ever to take the field in the Heart of Dixie.
(Deep South Media Editor Jimmy Wigfield has been awarded the Best Local Sports Column by the Alabama Press Association for three straight years.)
