Profiles In Terpage – A Countdown To The Football Season: Matt Robinson
By petevolk
A recurring series where we will profile every player and coach on Maryland’s roster, counting down to kick-off against Miami. Thanks to OBNUG for the idea.
Today we profile a break-out player from last year who enters the year as a presumptive starter.
Matt Robinson, Sophomore, Strong Safety
Stats:
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 220
Ratings: Three stars by Rivals, two stars and #60 tight end by Scout, three stars and #151 athlete by ESPN.
40-yard dash time: 4.6
High School Stats (senior year): 39 catches for 792 yards and 10 touchdowns, 75 tackles, four sacks, one interception, one fumble recovery for a touchdown and one blocked punt
College Stats (through one season): 28 tackles (17 solo) and two forced fumbles
High School: Atholton High School (Columbia, Md.)
How’d He Get To College Park?
Robinson played for former Maryland offensive lineman Kyle Schmitt, and was a part of a seven-win turnaround in Schmitt’s first season. Along with former Terp teammate Kalvin Seamonson (who left with his dad/former coach Al and was Schmitt’s quarterback at Atholton), Robinson had a great career at Atholton and moved over to College Park. Maryland was the only FBS to offer him a scholarship, but Boston College, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Pittsburgh all expressed interest. This was really an example of location being a factor – Robinson knew Maryland best because of Schmitt and their proximity, and the Terps knew how good Robinson really was for the same reasons.
Robinson was first team All-Met by the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post in 2009, was a consensus all-state selection, and was named the Howard County Times defensive player of the year.
As a side note, Scout has consistently been getting expected positions wrong throughout this series.
Nickname:
Matt “Matty Ice” Robinson
Career Highlight:
Burning his redshirt and playing extremely well in ten games last season.
Career Lowlight:
The lack of offers besides Maryland from FBS schools coming out of high school.
Arbitrary Top Five List:
Last five Maryland All-ACC centers:
1. Edwin Williams
2. Kyle Schmitt
3. Todd Wike
4. Melvin Fowler
5. Melvin Suplee
Dream season:
Robinson builds off his 2010 performance, gaining a reputation as one of the hardest hitting defensive backs in the conference while putting up 70+ tackles, 3+ sacks, and 2+ interceptions.
Nightmare season:
Robinson has a sophomore slump, giving Austin Walker some playing time, while he struggles to adapt to starting time in the ACC without Kenny Tate or Antwine Perez in the secondary to help him.
2011 prospectus:
Matt Robinson was one of the more pleasant surprises in recent memory for the Terrapins. Coming in as a very lightly-recruited and lightly-heralded prospect, the safety impressed Ralph Friedgen, Don Brown, and the rest of the coaching staff from day one, and they seemed to know as soon as he stepped on campus that he was going to play in his first year. After all the success he had last year, the new coaching staff felt comfortable enough to move Kenny Tate to a hybrid STAR position, leaving Robinson with Eric Franklin as the presumptive starters at safety. At 6’3″ and 220, he is the prototypical size for a hard-hitting safety, and that’s exactly the kind of play that he delivers. Just like Tate and Perez were able to play off of each other’s strengths last year, Robinson and Franklin (or even Till) should be able to do that this upcoming season.
Up Next:
Our next player’s brother was one of the top recruits in the country this past year, but chose North Carolina over Miami and Maryland.