GBI Magazine

there than ever before. "He's a smart kid," new linebackers coach Marcus Freeman said during Purdue's spring practices in April. "I think that comes with being a quarterback. You have to know everything as a quarterback. You can tell he translates the things in the classroom to the field. That's what he does naturally. "He's still raw at times because he's only played linebacker for a year and a half. But he does some things really well. He's a naturally athletic young man. I think he's got a bright future. We're going to keep working with him, but he can do some really good things." With Robinson having worked his way into such a big role on Purdue's defense, it's easy to forget that he's still a relative novice. It was only a little more than a year ago that Hope and Co. decided to move him to linebacker three days before the start of the 2012 spring practices. Robinson, who redshirted in 2011, accepted the move, although it came with some contemplation, when he dialed up his dad and older brother Joe to talk it over on a three-way call. He could have decided to transfer. "He had all those BCS schools offering him (out of high school)," Dave Robinson recalled. "I said, 'If you want me to pick the phone up and take a lap, my guess is there'd be quite a few doors swing wide open and several others open and you could consider those options. Do you want me to make those calls and get that base of knowledge for you?' "And he started laughing and says, 'Dad, I knew you were going to say that, but you know what? I really love it over here and have made a lot of life-long friends, classmates, teammates. I like my schoolwork, everything about it. What I told them is that if they want me to be a linebacker, I'm going to go out there and be the best linebacker I can be.' " Sean Robinson couldn't be any happier with the decisions to move positions and to stay. If Purdue asked him tomorrow to switch back to QB — it's not going to — he says he would resist, thinking he's found a home on the defense. Last season, Robinson made his first start at weakside linebacker at Ohio State in Week 7 and only vacated the first team when he suffered an ankle injury before the bowl game, forcing him to the sidelines for Purdue's loss to Oklahoma State on New Year's Day. But he still finished the season with 27 tackles and three pass breakups. But with the year of experience, Purdue feels Robinson, who missed the spring game due to a cervical sprain, can make a big jump in 2013. He's better filled into his body now, after gaining about 30 pounds last summer in making the transformation from quarterback. Robinson, who even sports the shaggy hair and beard of a linebacker now over the clean-cut look of a quarterback, is playing on the strong side, giving him more freedom outside the box to chase down opponents. "I really like Sean," Coach Darrell Hazell said. "I think he's going to be a good player for us. I think he's very instinctive. Coming from the quarterback position, you worry about guys, how physical they'll be, but he's a physical guy." But Robinson has room to improve, too, and with two years of eligibility left, he feels like he has a high ceiling. In his spring-ending meeting with Freeman, the two agreed that gaining speed this summer should be one of the junior's top goals. "I am not slow, but I think if I can develop some speed and get some upper body strength, I don't want to say sky is the limit, but you never know," Robinson said. "I have an advantage playing quarterback and having that leadership role and having to know what everyone does, so now at linebacker you can look around and know everyone's role." It'd be hard to find criticisms of Robinson now, with him putting in so much work over the last year. But more than that, he's endured the bad times, too, that have the potential to make the good that much sweeter. "I really have the utmost respect for him," Dave Robinson said. "I don't think there's a whole lot of high-profile quarterbacks who would be willing to give that (change) a try or take that challenge on. But he did it with no whining and no regrets. "He called me up midway through spring ball (last year). He said, 'You know dad, now that I've had a taste of it, this might sound crazy, but I really think in the big scheme of things, if there's an opportunity for me to play at the next level, this might provide a better chance than the possibility I would have had at quarterback. "He's all in." j Gold & Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 5com

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