Dyrell Roberts - Football Coach - East Carolina University Athletics

Dyrell Roberts

Title:
Assistant Coach - Wide Receivers
Email:
robertsdyr23@ecu.edu
Phone:
(252) 737-4570

Dyrell Roberts is in his third year as the wide receivers coach at East Carolina, a position he officially began on April 1, 2023.

In year two with ECU, Roberts’ group caught 197 passes for 2,872 yards (14.6 ypc) with 21 touchdowns. Winston Wright Jr. led the team in receptions (54) and receiving touchdowns (8) while ranking third in yards (556) on his way to earning three All-America accolades as a returner/receiver. Anthony Smith, who was a American Conference Honorable Mention selection, led the team in receiving yards (799) hauling down 41 passes and scoring six times. Second-Team All-American Conference performer Chase Sowell caught 34 passes for 678 yards with three scores. Jhari Patterson (32 for 281, 1 TD) and Yannick Smith (25 for 434, 3 TDs) rounded out the receiving corps that helped ECU rank 27th nationally in passing offense (264.0 ypg).

During first year with the Pirates, Roberts mentored a unit that caught 208 passes for 1,967 yards (9.5 ypc) with seven scores, while also working with the special team’s unit. Chase Sowell, a freshman in 2023, led the group in receptions (47) and receiving yards (622), while scoring one touchdown. He set personal bests during his initial campaign with seven catches against Rice and SMU and posted a pair of 100-yard receptions contests versus SMU (120) and Tulsa (105).

Senior Jaylen Johnson caught a team second-best 45 passes for 466 yards and two touchdowns. He hauled in a season-high eight passes against UTSA for 105 yards and signed an undrafted free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers in 2023.

Roberts' appointment to the Pirates' staff extends an eight-year collegiate coaching career, which includes a recent one-year full-time assignment at Eastern Michigan. Helped the Eagles to a 9-4 overall mark that included a 41-27 win over San Jose State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in 2022.

Serving as the pass game coordinator as well as working with the receivers and return units, he mentored three players that earned MAC All-Conference honors in returner Jaylon Jackson (first team) and receivers Hassan Beydoun (third team) and Tanner Knue (third team). Jackson, who returned 22 kickoffs for 571 yards and a touchdown, ranked in the nation's Top 20 in kickoff return touchdowns (second), kickoff return average (18th/24.8) and combined kick return yards (19th).

His receiving corps caught 244 passes for 2,911 yards with 23 touchdowns and registered an 11.93 average standing fourth in the conference. Knue led the squad with 632 receiving yards and nine scores, while standing second in receptions with 45, while Beydoun caught a team-high 49 passes for 473 yards and four touchdowns.

Began the climb through the coaching ranks after transitioning into the coaching profession from a career in law enforcement working two years as a sheriff’s deputy at the Isle of Wight County (Va.) Sheriff’s Office. Prior to his time at EMU, he spent three months at Virginia Tech, his alma mater, working as an offensive analyst.

Before returning to Blacksburg, Va., he coached three seasons at Western Illinois University (2019-22) serving as the wide receivers coach in March 2019, before being promoted to the Pass Game Coordinator in December of 2020. He added the title of Special Teams Coordinator a year later (Dec. 2021).

The Leathernecks’ 2021 fall season’s offense finished first in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) and 10th nationally in passing offense (301.0 ypg) and completion percentage (65.4%), with FCS receptions leader Dennis Houston and Tony Tate rated as the top WR duo in the nation in receptions.

Western Illinois’ 2021 spring season’s offense finished first in the MVFC and 11th nationally in passing offense (293.5 ypg) and second in the league and 13th nationally in completion percentage (64.6%). Meanwhile, the special teams ranked fifth in the MVFC and 27th nationally in kick returns at 21.7 yards per try. Houston was selected as a HERO Sports 2021 Third Team All-American Wide Receiver and earned First Team All-MVFC accolades. He also collected MVFC Second Team All-Academic honors in back-to-back seasons after ranking first in the nation in receptions per game (8.2), 11th at the FCS level in receiving yards per game (92.3), and 14th nationally in receiving yards (1,015) in the 2021 fall season.

Tate grabbed First Team All-MVFC honors as a return specialist while adding second team accolades as wide receiver. During the 2021 spring season, he led the conference in all-purpose yards per game (129.0), was second in kick return (24.5), and ninth in total touchdowns (5). Dallas Daniels was selected Honorable Mention All-MVFC and received MVFC All-Newcomer honors in the 2021 spring season. He ranked fifth in the conference and 33rd in the nation in receptions per game (5.7), and 68th in receiving yards per game (61.3).

A native of Smithfield, Va., Roberts completed two seasons on the football staff at Norfolk State University (2017-18). Wearing multiple hats, he was the program’s wide receivers coach, special team’s coordinator, and co-recruiting coordinator. The Spartans’ 2018 team’s punt return unit ranked first nationally in the FCS with an average of 21.86 yards per return. Roberts helped develop Isaiah Winstead, who ranked second in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in receptions per game (4.9) and fifth in receiving yards (633) before transferring to Toledo.

In his first year on staff, Roberts helped mentor Marcus Taylor, who made the All-MEAC team as a kick returner (second team) and receiver (third team) in 2017. Taylor tied for first in the conference in receptions (5.5) and all-purpose yards (125.6) and was sixth in receiving yards (629) and became the first Spartan in the school’s Division I era to make the all-conference team at more than one position in the same year.

Roberts arrived at NSU after serving as receivers coach at Division II Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., in 2016. During his stint with the Pumas, he helped sophomore Tremel Glasper earn all-conference honors after Glasper caught 64 passes for 936 yards and six touchdowns, which included separate games of 17 receptions (a SJC record) and 218 receiving yards during the 2016 season.

He joined the SJC coaching staff after spending the 2015 season at Division III Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., where he coordinated the team’s passing game, special team’s units, and strength and conditioning program in addition to serving as quarterbacks coach. As special team’s coordinator, one of Roberts’ pupils, Lajay Kelly, led all of Division III with seven blocked kicks. In addition, quarterback Westley Hundley earned honorable mention All-Heartland Athletic Conference (HCAC) honors while leading the Quakers in both passing and rushing yards under Roberts’ tutelage.

Prior to his stint at Earlham College, Roberts spent five months as assistant football coach at ASA College, a junior college located in Brooklyn, N.Y. While at ASA, Roberts coached both the varsity and junior varsity wide receivers while also acting as the co-special teams coordinator and assisting with the team’s strength and conditioning program.

Roberts began his coaching career at his high school alma mater, Smithfield High School, where he served as the assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator for the varsity football team. In all, he developed and coached three players who went on to have professional careers – Dennis Houston (Dallas Cowboys), Justin Smith (Houston Roughnecks) and Marcus Taylor (Montreal Alouettes). he was a 2021 NCAA and NFL Coaches Academy selection.

Roberts, who earned his bachelor’s degree in human development from Virginia Tech in 2012, spent five years as a member of the Hokies’ football program under legendary head coach Frank Beamer. As a Hokie, Roberts was a member of three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship teams (2008, 2010, 2011) and went to bowls all five of his years in Blacksburg, winning the 2008 Orange Bowl, 2009 Chick-fil-A Bowl, and 2012 Russell Athletic Bowl. In 2010, he ranked fourth nationally in kick return average at 31.9 yards per return, which included a 98-yard touchdown return against No.5 Alabama, Sept. 5, 2009.

He left Virginia Tech as its all-time leader in both career kick return yardage (1,577) and kick return average (25.9). Also caught 96 passes for 1,363 yards and six touchdowns as a Hokie.

Roberts and his wife LaTrese have three sons Dyrell, Jr., Major and Chief (born September of 2023).