Robinson puts in the time

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For smaller high schools, it can sometimes be tougher for players to get noticed. While that may not totally be the case for Hayti DT Craig Robinson, it certainly wouldn't be far from the truth either. Robinson plays in Class 1 and while he has the size already to play, he admitted that he got some good advice about what he may need to work on over the next year.

"I've been talking with Purdue, Mizzou, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas State, Vanderbilt, and Stanford," said Robinson. "I've been talking with them about me getting bigger and stronger and getting more endurance. They want me to get in shape better because it's hard in class 1 you have to play on both sides of the ball. I need to show them that I can go all the time and won't get tired."

Robinson said with schools contacting him, it had been a bit of a shock to him over the past few weeks. He said that he had no idea he could ever see the kind of attention in recruiting he had been receiving.

"It's been a little hectic," laughed Robinson. "I've got a lot of coaches that I never thought would call that are calling my coach so I'm getting a lot of game film out there and it's been wild. Other than that, it's been pretty good."

Although he has yet to get his first offer, Robinson remained positive about his future possibilities. He said that one school had success in recruiting at his school and may be the closest to offering him as well.

"Kansas State talked to me about offering," said Robinson. "After they signed one of my teammates last year, they started asking about me. Coach Lattimore was talking to my coach about wanting to offer me if I camped with them."

While the Wildcats might be the closest to offer, Robinson admitted that there was one team he had talked with a few times that may have helped the team move towards the top of the his list. He said that his conversations with one of the coaches had been both good and informative.

"I've been talking with Missouri about whether I'd be an offensive guard or defensive tackle," said Robinson. "We talked a little about how they look at redshirts and how I looked at that whole thing. I've been recruited by Coach Yost. Coach Yost is really cool. He's really laid back but he's a little like some of our coaches down here. He tells you the truth. If he sees something on film, he'll let you know and give you tips. He doesn't sugar coat things and say everything's ok."

Robinson admitted it wasn't just his talks with the Missouri coach that had endeared him to the Tigers. He said he had grown up as a Tiger fan and as he had learned more and more about the school, they had continued to look better and better to him.

"I really like their program," said Robinson. "I love their offense and their defense. Honestly, Missouri's the top pick of all the schools that are looking at me. If they offer, I'm accepting and there's no changing my mind at all. Even if another school had offered me, I think I would still commit to Missouri first if they offered. I know that it's good to commit when you get an offer, you don't want to wait too late."

Part of what he has endeared Robinson to has been his opportunities to visit Missouri and see their new facilities. He said that he had been amazed at what the Tigers had been simply remarkable.

"The facilities are awesome," said Robinson. "They said they were still adding onto it and they're getting new weights. I never thought I'd see a weight room that big, but it's absolutely awesome."

Over the past months, Robinson has been able to visit Missouri on two different occasions. The first time was at Missouri's junior day at the beginning of March. He said the trip was worth the time spent to get there to get a chance to interact with the Tiger coaches and other recruits in his class.

"Getting to junior day at Missouri was very hectic," said Robinson. "There was snow all over the road and I wasn't able to leave until 9:20 at night. Then I had to wait for a few hours in St. Louis. I finally got to Mizzou about 10 minutes before they started. The event was really nice. The only thing I wasn't really excited about was the weight room because I had already seen it. It was really cool meeting all the different recruits and different guys on the team."

Last weekend, Robinson found himself in Columbia again for the Rivals Five Star Acadamy. While it was once again a trek for him to make it to Columbia, he said the trip was worth the effort to show coaches he had what it took.

"I think that attending the events would help me greatly because it shows me that I'm dedicated to getting to college," said Robinson. "It's not easy and I've been working to make sure I can pay for it. I want to do this for myself and it's worth it. My mom's a single mom and she doesn't really know all of this and we really don't really have the means to get up there. It's just tough sometimes."

One person Robinson has talked with quite a bit has been Missouri's All-American safety William Moore. Moore graduated from Hayti a few years back and Robinson has been leaning on Moore for advice as well as an example on how things could work in someone's favor.

"William graduated a few years before me," said Robinson. "We keep in touch quite a bit and he's been awesome about answering my questions. He's keeping me updated about how college is and telling me about the academics. He could have gone pro this year, but he stayed to get his degree and I thought that was a really good thing."

Robinson wasn't sure how recruiting may go from this point, but hoped that he could continue to have a positive outlook on the comings months. However, he was adamant about at least one place he knew he would be camping in the coming months.

"I'm going to be at Missouri's spring game on April 19th," Robinson assured. "I will be at the June 1st Missouri camp. I'm going to look around and find out what other camps there might be to help me out."

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