NEW PALESTINE — During a practice this football season, the New Palestine coaching staff decided to insert an onside kick into their playbook.
Dragons coach Kyle Ralph knew a guy who he thought might work out, someone who seemed to be pretty good at just about everything.
It’s not like Eric Roudebush didn’t have enough to do at practice. He already pretty much did everything on a daily basis. But alas, he was about to add another skill to his repertoire.
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“We had a practice and I kind of jokingly said, ‘Let’s have Roudebush try it. He does so many things well. Let’s just see if he’s any good at onside kicks,’” Ralph said.
He was.
The coach told his staff to keep working on what they were doing — he’d work with Roudebush himself. He took the junior aside and started working on onside kicks.
It only took a few. After three or four kicks, Roudebush was kicking “perfect, beautiful” onside kicks, his coach said.
That surprised pretty much nobody.
“Eric and I get along really well. He’s got a great, wonderful personality,” Ralph said. “I always tell him, I give him such a hard time, like, ‘You know, I’m so glad we have you, because you’re just above average at everything. You’re not great at anything; you’re just good at a lot of stuff.’ He always kind of smiles, laughs, but I always give him such a hard time about that.”
Roudebush takes the ribbing as motivation. He likes being able to do it all, and he wants to excel at all of it.
“Kind of the on-field stuff, when he’s saying the ‘above average’ stuff, it’s just kind of like, well, I want to be way more above average. I want to be the best,” Roudebush said. “What motivates me the most of stuff he says is in the weight room. It’s hard getting in there all the time with the other sports that I play. But when he says stuff to me about the weight room, it’s something that I want to get better at, it’s something I want to develop as a player so I can be more successful in the sports that I play.”
The list of things Roudebush is pretty good at is extensive. He plays baseball and basketball to go along with football.
On the football field, he does it all. Roudebush was a starting wide receiver and punter. He was the Dragons onside kick specialist. He was the backup quarterback.
He played the Dragon and Buck positions on defense. Against option teams, he was a standup outside linebacker. He was on the hands team for onside kick returns.
You might not have heard his name often, but he was pretty much everywhere.
“He had more things to know and do this year than anybody on our team,” Ralph said. “I’ll just stay with the theme. Maybe none of them looked outstanding enough where you’re blown away and you’re like, ‘My god, who is number five out there?’ But he just did everything really good, and he had a great season and I’m super proud of him.”
Not-so-typical practice
Practices are anything but typical for the New Palestine junior.
At a normal practice, Roudebush would start off with the quarterbacks. As the team’s backup QB, he had to be ready to go in at any moment.
He had to be prepared, comfortable and confident at the position. He had to be able to execute the same reads and checks that starter Zach Neligh did. That’s no easy task.
Then, he would move to wide receiver, one of his main positions.
“You can’t just shun that and give him all these quarterback reps. He’s got to be synced up with Zach throwing the ball to him on the routes,” Ralph said. “There’s got to be a rapport there. He’s got to be able to run the routes, know what the coverage is. He’s got to get his catches, the repetitions there, or else you’ve got dropped balls.”
He’d work on route drills, and when the team came together, he’d catch passes from Neligh, then run back to take his spot at quarterback. Four throws later, it was back to his receiver position. Repeat as necessary.
Once that was done, he might have to go over to special teams to work on his punting, or kick coverage, or the onside kicking.
Don’t forget about defense. He still had to get over to that side, too, to work on drills in multiple defensive positions.
To say he was constantly on the move is an understatement.
“At least your legs were loose,” Neligh said with a laugh.
“Oh, yeah. They were real loose,” Roudebush replied.
It was a challenge to both the player and his coaches. For the coaches, they would have to communicate well among one another, figuring out who needs what each day and where the focus should be, what needed to be worked on most. That would change where Roudebush might head, from drill to drill.
For the player himself, it was a challenge both mentally and physically.
“One, he’s very smart, very intelligent, so he can retain all that information,” Ralph said. “Two, he really has a desire to be a very good player, and that is really important. And then three, he’s super coachable. If you don’t have those three things, you can’t get away with that stuff. The intelligence alone to handle all those assignments is very difficult.”
The challenge of playing all the positions, getting to help the team in countless ways, was worth the mental and physical toll to Roudebush.
No question about it.
“I just love being a part of just everything,” Roudebush said. “Playing multiple sports, doing everything in those sports, it’s just something that I enjoy doing. People ask me why I do it, why I play so many positions, why I play three sports. Does it take a toll on your body? I mean, it does, but it’s just worth it in the end. I love being out there with the guys.”
Never far away
With all of the roles Roudebush played, he was literally all over the football field.
Despite that, there was one person he just never could seem to get away from — Coach Ralph.
With all of the coaches involved in the Dragons program, with all the different position coaches, Ralph was one of the coaches for just about every position Roudebush played this year.
“You’ve obviously got me being tough on him because he’s a quarterback,” Ralph said. “I’m tough on him when he’s a receiver. He’s our punter, I work with the punter. He pretty much can’t escape me. I coach the defensive backs. You’re dealing with me all day.”
Ralph said that Roudebush has an outstanding work ethic and does a great job putting in the time and effort in the weight room, too. He has a great attitude toward everything, and has set a standard of unselfishness and doing whatever it takes to win.
That helps everyone deal with the sometimes difficult situation of splitting time all over the field.
It isn’t just Ralph who can be tough on Roudebush, though. While the junior couldn’t seem to get away from the head coach, he also has plenty of other position coaches to work with on a daily basis.
They didn’t go easy on him because of his massive workload.
“I think they kind of got on me a little bit more. Coach (Jeremy) Large would get on me about quarterback, because I need to excel at that. If something was to happen to Zach, I need to be ready in that spot,” Roudebush said. “Coach Wes (Anderson) would get on me about wide receiver. Coach Ralph about pretty much everything. They coached me just a little bit harder because they want me to be better at those things.
“I need to be in-tune to the game plan about every single little thing — know where to punt it, know what route to run, know where to throw it, and on defense, know what I’m doing on that side of the ball, too.”
All over again
At this point, there’s no telling where Roudebush will play next season for the Dragons. He has a basketball season to get through first, and then a baseball season.
One thing is a given, though. Wherever he plays, he will make an impact. He quietly had some big games this year — his coach singled out the Center Grove and Michigan City games, where Roudebush had big catches in the former and huge downfield blocks in the latter — and there is more to come.
“A guy that does so much, how can he not be important? We’ll lean on him as a senior,” Ralph said.
He could be the Dragons new starting quarterback if things go one way. He could still be a receiver and punter if they go another. Maybe he does everything he did this year and then adds some more responsibilities.
That’d be just fine with Roudebush. He has big goals for next year. He’ll do whatever it takes to achieve them.
“That’d be awesome if I could still do everything, because that’s what I like to do. The main goal is just to get a state title again, go back-to-back,” Roudebush said. “If that’s me playing receiver, then I’ll play there, maybe we’ll get the win. If that’s me playing quarterback, then I need to lead the team and become a leader like how Zach was this year. That’s what we’re going to lack a little bit, and I need to get better at that leadership role, no matter where it is. If I have to move to defense to help out the team, whatever it is, it’s win the conference, win a sectional, win regional, semistate and then state. That’s the main goals.”
He’s thankful to his parents for always pushing him, believing in him and helping him become the best player and man that he can be. He said he couldn’t be doing what he does without them.
He’s thankful to his coaches and teammates for motivating him and believing in him, letting him be a part of so many aspects of the New Palestine football team.
His coaches are thankful to have a player like Roudebush, with such a varied skill set. You might not have heard his name a lot throughout the 2018 season — the Dragons didn’t pass much and certainly didn’t punt a lot — but he played a big role in bringing a state championship back to New Palestine.
He was the ultimate team player on an incredible team.
“Without a kid like that, we’re not as successful as we are,” Ralph said. “Someone who is willing to sacrifice the headlines, the statistics, and do literally everything that it takes to make our football team go. He’s one of those unsung heroes that made this season what it was.”