Football: Robertson hoping for a call on signing day

MINDEN -- Heading into the school year, Douglas High's Parker Robertson was one of the most highly sought-after football recruits in Northern Nevada.

Heading into National Signing Day Wednesday, the 6-4, 275-pound offensive lineman is just hoping for a phone call.

"It's slowed down," Robertson said. "It kind of surprised me at first. It's strange, I won't hear from some schools for a couple weeks and then I'll get a handwritten letter from UCLA and then a letter from Michigan.

"I've been talking to Southern Oregon and Willamette and a couple of other smaller schools on a weekly bases. But a lot of school I'd been hearing from a lot have kind of died off."

The reasons for the dropoff are anyone's guess, whether it be an exceptionally deep class nationwide or that pesky knee injury back in October.

Robertson went down five games into the season against Galena with an injury to his knee, but he missed just two weeks and was back for the league-title showdown against Manogue. He finished the year with first-team all-region and all-league honors. His solid performance in the classroom has led to a number of academic scholarship offers as well.

"I don't know if it was the injury or what, because that is fine now," Robertson said. "I honestly don't know why, but unless I have a message on my cell phone right now, nothing is happening for me Wednesday."

It's not for lack of credentials. Several national recruiting sites have given Robertson solid ratings heading into the signing period. Rivals.com ranks him as the 29th best athlete in the state at any position and Scout.com rates him as a "two-star" recruit, along with ranking him the 11th best player in the state, the highest-rated lineman and the 104th offensive guard in the country.

"Rivals and Scout have been very nice," Robertson said. "I thought I came off looking pretty good."

Utah State jumped on board recently, calling to ask for film, and Oregon State, Cal, Colorado State, Boise State, Stanford and UNLV are among several others that have been keeping moderate interest.

For now, though, it appears as if Robertson will continue to play the waiting game.

"At this point, I'm hoping for a situation where a school is counting on some guys that might drop off the map at the last minute," he said. "Hopefully, I'll be there for them."

Through all of it, Robertson said he is just glad for the opportunity to be considered.

"Sometimes it gets kind of frustrating but mostly I'm just happy to be going through the process," he said. "A lot of kids get to go through this, but not every kid. I'm just glad I got to be a part of it. It's definitely something I'll remember and something I'm happy to have had the opportunity to get through."

Regardless of Wednesday's outcome, Robertson said he will play somewhere next year. All that's left is to determine where.