A year ago this fall, Saraland found out just how deep its quarterback room really was. When starter KJ Lacey went down with an injury during a win over Spanish Fort in 2024 — on his way to being named the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Mr. Football for that season — the Spartans didn’t miss a beat. Sophomore Jamison Roberts stepped in and guided Saraland through Class 6A, Region 1 wins over McGill-Toolen and Baldwin County, with a bye week mixed in, before Lacey was healthy enough to return.
Roberts made the most of his audition. In his brief stretch running the offense that season, he completed 71 percent of his passes for 492 yards and eight touchdowns without throwing a single interception.
When Lacey moved on to sign with the University of Texas, the starting job became Roberts’ full time, and he built on that early promise in a big way. Last season he helped push Saraland to a 13-1 record and a fourth consecutive appearance in the Class 6A championship game, completing 219 of 300 passes for 3,370 yards and 37 touchdowns while adding 641 rushing yards and 21 more scores on the ground. Altogether, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior-to-be accounted for 4,011 yards of total offense and 58 touchdowns.
Now Roberts is back under center for his senior year, a verbal commitment to Oklahoma already in hand since December and a resume that has erased any lingering comparisons to his predecessor.
“He backed up KJ, and everybody asked, ‘Was he in the shadow or was he the next guy?’ Everybody compared him to KJ, but I think with what he’s done last year and going into his senior year, he is his own guy,” Saraland head coach Jeff Kelly said. “He’s been a great leader for us, and I think we’re going to go as he goes. He’s going to lead us this year, and I think he’s going to have a big year. And then I look forward to being a huge fan and watching him develop as he gets older at Oklahoma.”
Saraland enters the season as one of the favorites in Class 5A, having been shifted down from 6A after the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s realignment separated public and private schools for postseason purposes and trimmed the number of public-school classifications from seven to six. The Spartans won the 6A crown in 2022 and have reached the title game in each of the past three seasons, including 2025. Getting back to a championship game — with a different outcome this time — is squarely on Roberts’ mind.
“Obviously, just maintain the success that we’ve had over the past years,” Roberts said. “Win a state championship.”
He’s also chasing an individual honor with local precedent: Mr. Football. Ryan Williams claimed the award in 2022 and 2023, and Lacey followed in 2024. Roberts himself was a finalist for the ASWA’s Class 6A Back of the Year last season.
“I’m just a smarter, more calm and collected player,” Roberts said, describing how he’s changed since his emergency starts as a sophomore. “Even though it may have seemed like I was calm and collected from the jump, it’s always a little bit of nerves when you’re first getting in there. But I feel like the experience factor that I have now, it’s just taught me a lot in my game. … We have a lot of young guys this year, but I feel like with the right pieces that we have, I feel like we can go a long way.”
Kelly has watched that growth unfold since Roberts arrived on campus, and he’s counting on it now that the Spartans have to replace several key contributors from last year’s roster.
“As a ninth-grader, when he came in and KJ was a junior, we were really good on offense, really talented,” Kelly said. “He really studied the game. He studied in meetings and he was always a guy who prepared like he was the starter. He did that for two years. And we told him there’s going to come a time when you’ve got to come in and lead the team.
“And as a sophomore, there was a three-game stretch where he had to lead us through region games. I said, this is what you’ve been preparing for, and he stepped in and played well and we didn’t miss a beat. That’s when I knew this kid’s special. The athletic stuff is a given. That’s easy to see. But his ability to prepare, his ability to be coached, his ability to stay hungry and improve is going to serve him well as he continues to grow in football.”
As a dual-threat quarterback, Roberts gives Saraland a wide range of ways to attack defenses. He also has the benefit of playing for Kelly, a former star quarterback at Southern Miss who has sent numerous players on to college football and has built one winning offense after another since taking over the program in 2011. Saraland has won at least 10 games in each of the past eight seasons and has reached double-digit wins 10 times in Kelly’s 15 seasons at the helm.
Roberts said it’s a thrill to run an offense that has averaged 634.7 points a season over the past four years, but starting at quarterback for a program like Saraland also comes with constant attention.
“You’ve just got to take it step by step,” Roberts said. “Just don’t let your head get too big, obviously. That’s why I’m grateful for my family. They keep me down to earth, especially my parents. They never let me — I mean, they give me my flowers when I need them, but they also tell me what I need to work on and they keep me humble. So, I’m really proud to have them.
“I would say just being a leader, Saraland’s a very small town. Everybody knows who you are, especially in my position. I’m a quarterback, I’m going to the next level, so everybody knows what car I drive, where I live. They know me, so it’s really just about keeping your image and keeping the right image and doing the right things and things of that nature.”
Kelly said that Roberts’ approach and attitude have mattered just as much as his physical tools, particularly the way he handled waiting behind Lacey before finally getting his shot.
“I think if you approach it with the idea that, hey, I’ve got somebody outstanding that I can watch and learn from and pick things up from, if you approach it the right way, I think it can be a huge advantage. And that’s what he did,” Kelly said of Roberts learning from serving as Lacey’s backup. “We talk to him all the time. Sometimes we’re not where we want to be. You may not be starting, but if you work while you wait, then when you get your opportunity you’ll be ready. And he’s been a great example.
“He could have played anywhere in the area as a ninth- or a 10th-grader, but he chose to be developed, to be coached, to learn. And it paid off in a huge way for him. And he’s been a great player and leader for our team.”
With expectations high for both himself and his team, Roberts said his focus this fall is on savoring every bit of his final season in a Saraland uniform.
“That’s always a thought. Everybody I’ve talked to is talking about, like, you’ll never get these years back again, that it’s the funnest years of your life playing football, especially your senior year,” Roberts said. “What you don’t have to do is make it a business. So, I’m really just enjoying it with my guys, the guys I’ve been playing with since ninth grade, and having one final ride with them. That’s all I’m looking forward to.”