Marana High's Dezmen Roebuck went under recruiting radar before joining UW Huskies

SEATTLE — Lathan Ransom spilled a secret.

In February, the Tucsonan stood on a stage at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and answered questions during the NFL Scouting Combine. The 6-foot safety would be selected by Carolina in the fourth round of April’s draft, after totaling 218 tackles in five seasons at Ohio State. Before that, Ransom was regarded as one of the top recruits in the country.

So how would he describe the potential pouring out of his home state?

“I feel like there’s a lot of talent in Arizona, especially my class,” said Ransom, who starred at Salpointe Catholic High School. “You had (Philadelphia Eagles corner) Kelee Ringo. You had Bijan (Robinson). You had me. You had (former UW and USC corner) Jacobe Covington, who’s also in this class.

“I think Arizona has a lot of talent coming out. Dezmen Roebuck, he’s a receiver that just committed to Washington. He’s going to be a dawg. He’s going to be a superstar.”

Dezmen Roebuck? A superstar?

The receiver who was a three-star recruit?

Here’s why Roebuck soared under the recruiting radar, right to Washington.

Ransom saw a superstar at an early age. While participating in 7-on-7 tournaments with the Tucson Turf, Ransom and his teammates made a point to watch Roebuck play.

“He had one-handed catches at a super young age. I was in high school. He had to be in sixth, seventh grade,” Ransom said of Roebuck, who starred on a younger Turf team. “Crazy one-handed catches, crazy moves. To see what he’s doing now, it’s not a big surprise to me.”

Most can’t say the same.

Through 11 games, Roebuck ranks tied for first nationally among true freshmen in receiving touchdowns (six) and third in receiving yards (527). Among true freshman wideouts in Husky history, he’s tied for first in receiving touchdowns and second in receptions (39) and receiving yards. He also made history at Marana High, claiming a state record for career receptions (352) while earning Gatorade State Player of the Year honors as a senior.

Not bad for a 5-11, 180-pounder without the size or speed to woo college coaches.

Not bad for a player ranked as a three-star recruit and the No. 110 receiver in his class by 247Sports.

Not bad for a secret weapon with just four offers — from Washington, Arizona State, UNLV and Portland State.

As for 247Sports’ top receiver in the 2025 class? Oregon’s Dakorien Moore, who could return from injury against UW on Saturday, trails Roebuck in most statistical categories — with 28 catches, 443 receiving yards and four total touchdowns in eight games this fall.

Of UW’s five freshman receivers — Roebuck, Chris Lawson, Marcus Harris, Raiden Vines-Bright and Deji Ajose — Roebuck had the smallest recruiting ranking, but the biggest impact.

Ransom saw the secret.

UW coach Jedd Fisch did, too.

“I thought from the second he walked onto our campus (at Arizona when Fisch was the coach there) as a 7-on-7 player that he was unbelievably elite,” Fisch said Monday, five days before his 8-3 Huskies host No. 5 Oregon. “He was one of those kids where you’d have a 7-on-7 tournament and he’d have five touchdowns in every game he played. He was the guy they found every snap, with his ability to catch the ball.

“It was just very clear to us that this kid’s special. Then it was just a matter of making sure he stayed under the radar.”

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He laughed and rephrased.

“No, it was just a matter of him wanting to come with us.”

Roebuck stayed under the radar for a couple of reasons.

One, because he torched teams in Tucson, not Phoenix. 247Sports recruiting analyst Blair Angulo acknowledged last week: “If he lived in the Phoenix metro area, he would have been more visible. That’s just a reality and an unfortunate circumstance of being a player in Southern Arizona, down in Tucson: there’s just not as much traffic. It’s a fraction from a recruiting standpoint.”

Two, because he’s not a 6-4 beanpole or a burner. Supposedly too slow. Little did they know.

Three, because he didn’t market himself at recruiting camps or on social media, forcing his profile into the pipeline. He didn’t pander to the superficial side of recruiting, hawking Hudl highlights and Top 10 lists. He didn’t spill the secret. He focused on football.

“Dez doesn’t really talk,” Marana coach Phillip Steward said. “He’s real quiet, real kept to himself. He likes to fish in his off time. He’s very laid back.

“So I don’t think a lot of people knew about him, because he didn’t go to a lot of camps. That just wasn’t his thing. He wasn’t really a big trash talker. He didn’t have a phone his freshman and sophomore year, so he wasn’t a big social-media guy. None of that interested him, and that’s what interested me in him.”

Coaches nationally didn’t see what Ransom, Fisch and Steward saw. They didn’t see a 14-year-old freshman who caught everything, who couldn’t wear the gloves Steward loaned him because his hands were already too big. Even then, Steward estimated that “he probably had a 2XL (hand size). I told him he was born to catch the ball.”

They didn’t see a kid who heard he was too slow, so he joined the track team and reached state in the decathlon as a senior. They didn’t see a receiver who refused to lose sprints, because, Steward said, “He just pushed himself at everything.”

They didn’t see the winter workouts before basketball practice.

“During basketball, he’d have practice at 6. We’d get out of school at 3:45,” Steward said. “He would go work out with the football players, in their offseason, and then go to basketball practice at 6. He would just do all the little, extra things.

“I’d ask all the other basketball players, ‘Man, why aren’t you working out?’ ‘We’ve got practice.’ ‘Yeah, but Dez is there working out. Dez is getting ahead of y’all.’ So when the game comes, no wonder Dez had 30 (points). I don’t think the other kids understood that.”

Everyone’s starting to understand now.

So much so, that several Marana players attempted to switch their numbers to 81 — which Roebuck wears at Washington — in the middle of their season. Steward declined their requests.

It’s not the only number that’s off the table.

“His number was 1 in high school, and I retired it, because the work he did … it’s just hard to see another kid doing that,” Steward said. “I don’t think anyone will ever wear 1 here again. As long as I’m here, they’re not wearing the No. 1. I put it in a frame. I got it hung up. I gave him the other jersey.

“Man, what he did here, I don’t believe anybody else is going to do it. He’s one of one, one of a kind.”

He’s one of the best-kept recruiting secrets to hit Seattle.

Against Oregon, that secret will continue to spill.