Tim Prister
IrishIllustrated.com Senior Editor
Trevor Robinson
Offensive guard
Omaha (NE) Elkhorn
Ht: 6-foot-6 (Event)
Wt: 304 lbs
Forty: 5.2 secs
Bench max: 355 pounds
Bench reps: 22
Squat max: 480 pounds
Vertical: 28 inches
Shuttle: 4.67 secs
GPA: 3.92
ACT: 28
Rivals.com Rating: 5.9
Position Ranking: 3
Rivals.com Rivals100 2008 (97)
Rivals.com offensive guards 2008 (3)
Rivals.com Nebraska Top 10 2008 (2)
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It doesn't take a whole lot of football knowledge to recognize what a special prospect 6-foot-6, 305-pound Trevor Robinson from Omaha, Neb., has become.
The former Nebraska commitment, who re-opened his recruitment during the season to once again include Notre Dame and Michigan, is a quality athlete inside a big person's body. His feet and agility are that of a tight end-turned-lineman, but his raw power and nasty temperament when it comes to blocking a defensive lineman is pure offensive lineman, and a big reason why he is considered one of the nation's top catches.
Thursday, Robinson is expected to receive a visit from Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis, which comes on the heels of Robinson's visit to Notre Dame last weekend for the 87th football banquet. Robinson was one of 13 recruits on hand last weekend, but he was a bit different than the others. He was the only one of the group who had not already verbally committed to the Irish.
Does Weis' visit Thursday indicate that the Irish finally are on the verge of closing the deal with Robinson? Not necessarily. Robinson has been one of the most elusive catches in the country, and there remains nearly two months before national signing day.
Yet considering he visited Notre Dame last weekend with a bunch of previously-committed players, and that Weis has timed his trip to the nation's heartland this week, the moment the Irish have been waiting for with Robinson may finally be arriving.
Of course, leaving Nebraska when the Cornhuskers are intent on keeping their homegrown talent in-state is never easy. Robinson's head coach, Mark Wortman, recently discussed with Irish Illustrated's Pete Sampson the "emotional pull" that Nebraska prospects feel from the Cornhuskers, particularly when the stately Tom Osborne comes calling, as he did recently.
Nebraska stabilized the program when it named Bo Pelini as the new head coach. The Cornhuskers probably couldn't have picked a better, more passionate person to represent the program than Pelini, the well-traveled defensive coordinator who aspired to become the Cornhuskers' head coach a few years back after filling in as interim head coach following the firing of Frank Solich.
And yet, Robinson obviously feels a gravitational pull to South Bend as well. He visited the Irish the weekend of Notre Dame's loss to USC when wide receiver Michael Floyd and running back Jonas Gray committed. Whatever Robinson decides, it obviously won't be an easy decision for him to make, otherwise he would have made it by now.
• Robinson the road grater/athlete: When you think of aesthetic football players, one normally considers a skill-position athlete, one who glides around the football field with ease and runs by opponents as if they're stuck in neutral.
I would put Robinson in that category because he is such a special athlete playing one of the most physical positions on the football field. Watch this kid run in the open field and you see some of the same athletic ability displayed by sleeker athletes, only this comes in a much larger package.
An offensive tackle/defensive lineman his senior season at Elkhorn High School, Robinson is projected as a guard in college. Why guard? Because when you see Robinson in the open field, you quickly categorize him as the prototypical pulling guard.
Robinson moves extremely well in space, and when he reaches a defender in that space, he has a low base, he's athletic, and he maintains excellent balance while staying engaged in his block. Once Robinson locks up with a defender, whether it is amidst the hand-to-hand combat of interior line play or in the open field, he is hard to shake. He latches onto the defender, leans on the defender, and then manhandles that defender.
Robinson is power personified on straight one-on-one run blocking. He starts from a low base and has no difficulty staying low despite his 6-foot-6 frame. This kid was born to play offensive line. He has an excellent forward thrust and plays with a brutish mentality that displays his desire to finish the job.
Could he play tackle? Yes, right tackle, but I don't believe that would be a maximization of his skill set. Because he is so strong (355-pound bench press, 480-pound squat), he has a bit of a tendency to over rely upon his strength as a pass blocker. He needs to focus on moving his feet better while setting up as a pass blocker. In fact, you can hear the coaches at the Nike camp tape imploring him to move his feet more. At guard, that's important, but not as important as it is at tackle. This is an area he'll want to work on when he gets to the collegiate level.
But this is an outstanding prospect with the perfect frame/body to be an All-American college offensive lineman. He has the tools. His is the type of frame/body that ends up playing the game on Sundays. He also comes off as a very mature young man who knows what he wants on the gridiron and is intent on accomplishing his goals.
• In conclusion: This is quite a battle for the Irish. One wonders if a 9-3 season, not a 3-9 season, would have been the deciding factor with Robinson, especially since the Cornhuskers were in such upheaval in '07.
Perhaps one of the advantages of recruiting a Nebraska prospect in 2007 was that Robinson likely heard all the negativity that surrounded the Nebraska program this season.
The Irish are in a prime position to land Robinson with Weis visiting today. The Notre Dame head coach is a persuasive man, and if anyone can lock up Robinson with an in-home visit, it's Weis, who thrives in one-on-one situations.
With Braxston Cave, Lane Clelland, Mike Golic and Joseph Fauria (a tight end/offensive tackle prospect) already in the fold, the Irish won't "starve" on the offensive line if they don't land Robinson. But he truly is one of the top offensive line prospects in the country and probably the finest football prospect still on Notre Dame's board.
The Irish were shy on victories on the gridiron this fall. Weis could use a big win in Omaha Thursday.