At a special news conference on Wednesday, Feb. 3, Norristown senior Anthony Robey signed a letter of intent to accept a football scholarship to Temple University
Anthony Robey – Temple University (Football)
Major: Business Management
Final list of colleges: Temple, Connecticut, Villanova, Temple, Purdue
Reasons for selecting Temple: “They have a great academic school. I’m going to school for business, and they have one of the top business schools.
“Their football program is on the rise, and I wanted to stay close to home for my family. My family also agreed with it.
“It was a pretty easy decision. I visited Temple with my family, and we made the decision. A week after that I was going to go up to Connecticut with my dad, but we ended up not going because I had decided on Temple”
When did the reality of playing college football become a reality?
“I always wanted to play college football since I was young playing with the Conshohocken Bears. I’m just thankful – I thank God I’m going on to the next level. It’s very exciting. Not too many people get to do this.”
Was there anyone who played a significant role in your development?
“My family and coach Mike (Pearson) with the Conshohocken Bears. He was the one started really getting me into football because before that I liked running track, but he saw I was fast.”
In March of 2009, Anthony Robey had the fastest time in the 40 of the close to 700 participants at the Philadelphia Nike Combine with a time of 4.33. How did that impact the recruiting process?
“Pretty much after that combine, more schools started looking at me,” Robey said.
“That’s what started it all,” Norristown coach E.J. Smith said. “We were trying to keep Anthony a secret, to be honest with you. We didn’t want anybody to know what we had. I remember we went down there, and the place started buzzing after he ran the (4.3). I was working in another area, and a coach came over and said, ‘Some kid from Norristown just posted a 4.3 in the 40.’ He didn’t realize I was the coach of Norristown, and I said, ‘Well, the secret’s out now.’”
Norristown coach E.J. Smith says: “Actually, he’s just a great person. We watched him grow from his freshman year to his senior year, and as a staff, we’re very proud of him. We knew we had something special with him going from his freshman year to his sophomore year. He’s the type of kid who’s a pleasure to coach. He’s very respectful, and he works hard at getting better as a football player.
“He knows he’s naturally blessed with speed, but also his work ethic – he works hard at it, and he’s a great student-athlete. A lot of high school athletes don’t understand you have to do it in both places – the classroom and the football field, and he manages to do both.
“I have gotten to know (Temple) coach Golden (Al) Golden and coach (Matt) Ruhle over the past couple of years. They have done a great job of reaching out to the programs in our area, giving us an opportunity to go down there for their one-day camps. They hold quite a few coaching clinics, and I’ve attended a couple of them. I’m very happy that he’s going to a program like Temple.”
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