The Oklahoman's Super 30: How Ohio State commit Nate Roberts made his mark at Washington

A lot of fond memories come to mind when Nate Roberts reflects on his high school football career at Washington.

The Warriors are coming off two straight undefeated seasons that ended with Class 2A state championship victories against Millwood, and Roberts has been at the center of all of it.

But for Roberts, that first championship win stands out a little more than any other games.

Washington was making its third consecutive championship appearance and hadn’t won a gold ball since 1996.

Roberts helped change that as the star tight end caught a go-ahead 8-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to seal a 17-14 win.

It had been a long time coming, and Washington finally got what it worked for.

“If I could relive that moment, that’d be pretty awesome,” the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Roberts said. “But that was probably my favorite moment, just breaking that curse.”

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Roberts’ high school career has been filled with success, and he hopes to do the same kind of things at the next level.

He’s committed to Ohio State and lands at No. 4 on The Oklahoman’s Super 30 list of the state’s top recruits in the 2025 class.

After receiving his first Division I offer following his freshman season, Roberts quickly became one of the nation’s most sought-after tight end prospects in his class, and he’s lived up to the high expectations.

And after committing to Notre Dame last summer , he decommitted just a couple months after, then pledged to Ohio State in April.

Roberts still has one more year at Washington and will soak it in, although he’s looking forward to joining the Buckeyes.

“(Ohio State tight ends coach) Keenan Bailey did a great job recruiting me,” said Roberts, a four-star recruit and the nation’s seventh-ranked tight end in his class, according to 247Sports Composite.

“Really felt like Ohio State was the place I needed to be. I prayed on it and I knew after about like my fifth or sixth visit, I just felt like there’s no place I’d rather be than Ohio State. They’re always fighting for that national championship every single year and that’s the type of school I want to play for. I want to win that title.”

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Roberts is happy with his decision, but that doesn’t mean the choice was easy.

“Everything went good with Notre Dame and I only wish them the best, but I just felt like I needed to be somewhere else to fully develop myself and fully have the best college experience for me,” Roberts said.

“It was a long process for me I felt like. And Oklahoma did a great job. Only being 15, 20 minutes away from home, it’s tough to say no to them. (OU tight ends coach) Joe Jon Finley, he did a great job. (Head coach Brent) Venables did a great job throughout my process, but I think Ohio State did an even better job out of any of those schools that were in my top or even offered.”

Roberts is a proud Washington Warrior and will go down as one of the best to come out of the school, but he actually isn’t originally from the town.

Instead, Roberts is from Norman, which is about 15 miles north of Washington.

His brother, Jake, was a star tight end at Norman North and is now a senior at OU after previously playing at Baylor and North Texas.

For Nate Roberts, Washington has been a perfect fit.

More: A look at The Oklahoman's 2025 Super 30 high school football recruiting series

“I was planning on going to Norman North, but I mean Washington has always had that rich past and winning,” he said.

“That’s why I really liked Washington a lot is their sports are really good and we wanted to go see a small town and kind of get away from the big city and went out and took a visit, met all the coaches — they were great people. I mean they’ve helped me so much in my recruiting process now and moving from Norman to Washington was the best decision I’ve probably ever made.”

A three-peat is a possibility for Washington heading into the season.

Roberts will be focused on trying to help the Warriors do that, but he’s still receiving interest from colleges despite his commitment to Ohio State.

“I still get phone calls almost every single day from coaches — and texts — but I’ve learned how to just push that back,” Roberts said. “Still be very friendly with everybody, just don’t break any bridges, but I’ve definitely helped myself a lot now, learning, just being in this recruiting process for so long.”

Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis . Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com .

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The Oklahoman’s 2025 Super 30

• Name: Nate Roberts
• School: Washington
• Super 30 ranking: No. 4
• Height: 6-foot-4
• Weight: 235 pounds
• Position: Tight end
• Committed to: Ohio State

The Oklahoman’s 2025 Super 30 feature series

The Oklahoman’s Super 30 feature series will spotlight each high school football player on the Super 30 recruit rankings for the 2025 class through July 21. The series continued Wednesday with No. 4, Washington tight end Nate Roberts. See No. 3 on the list in Thursday’s edition of The Oklahoman. Here are the last five players we’ve featured:

• No. 5: Jaden Nickens, WR, Douglass
• No. 6: Dakotah Terrell, TE, Pocola
• No. 7: Alexander Shieldnight, DE, Wagoner
• No. 8: Broderick Shull, OL, Bixby
• No. 9: Trynae Washington, DB, Carl Albert

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Oklahoman's Super 30: How Ohio State commit Nate Roberts made his mark at Washington