The Franchise: Jules Tackles Rashad Roberts

(PALM SPRINGS) — Rashad Roberts: The Franchise.

Those words bring respect and reverence to the SoCal Coyotes sidelines, and strike fear into the hearts of defenses throughout the Wild West Football League. They also bring smiles to the faces of children throughout Coachella Valley.

Former College of the Desert receiver Rashad Roberts of Atlanta, Georgia, will join KXPS host Julie Buehler today on ‘Paw Patrol’ to discuss his record-setting season that has carried the 10-2 Coyotes to a second consecutive appearance in a league title game.

The show can be heard live at 12:15 p.m. on AM 1010 or around the globe at www.team1010.com by clicking “listen live.” Buehler will be joined by her co-host Geoff “Why Can’t I Be the Franchise?” Bloom.

The Coyotes play the Las Vegas Trojans Sunday at 7 p.m. for the WWFL Championship. The game is at UNLV’s Rebel Park.

On a Coyote team loaded with offensive weapons, Roberts has been a human-highlight film. Since the Coyotes played their first game in April 2012, Roberts has scored 42 times, mostly from his receiver position, but also as a kickoff and punt returner.

Besides quarterback Nate Lewis, no other Coyote has benefited as much from the team’s Mouse Davis-engineered Run ‘n’ Shoot attack like Number 7: This season, Roberts has electrified crowds with 24 touchdowns, while averaging a whopping 18.6 yards a catch.

And he did it with two different quarterbacks, including two game-winners from Mondo Delgado Jr., who replaced Lewis during his stint in the Arena Football League. During the team’s playoff win over the Cobras, Roberts caught three Nate Lewis touchdowns for 167 yards.

At mid-season, on the road against the Rush in a must-win game, Roberts caught two touchdowns “when every person on the field knew he was getting the ball,” says head coach J. David Miller. “He beat man press, he beat the safety, he beat the 48-mile-per-hour winds, he went up and got the ball, he put us on his back and he did what real professionals do — score, with the entire season on the line, in the face of disaster.”

When Delgado stepped into the giant learning curve of replacing Nate Lewis, “Rashad never complained once,” Miller says. “He stopped practice and made it clear to the whole team that if we didn’t help Mondo grow and get better, none of us were going anywhere. He was one of the veterans who pushed us through some really dark, trying moments this season. He’s the consummate pro. If I had a son, I’d name him Rashad.”

Miller tagged Roberts ‘The Franchise’ the first time he saw Roberts catch a ball at full-speed on the Coyote practice field in 2012, when “he went through the entire defense so fast, it blew their skirts up.”

Rashad’s greatest contribution, however, has been off the field, where he has been The Franchise, too: Roberts has built playgrounds for underprivileged inner-city youth; made peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches for the homeless; raced wheelchairs to raise money for the disabled; walked in and tirelessly signs autographs at every single Coyote game and charity event.

Why is Roberts always the the first to volunteer?

“If I make one kid happy today,” says Roberts, flashing his trademark, mega-watt smile, “all this is worth it. The Coyotes are defending the shield. We do this every day. It’s not what we take from this game. It’s what this game allows us to give back.”

Buehler is also expected to ask Roberts about his pet mouse, which has become a subject of team-wide speculation.