Robinson seeks fresh start in system that 'fits like a glove'
There were no tweets, no top schools lists. No recruiting graphics and no commitment video. Not even a decision date.
Shawn Robinson just kind of showed up at Missouri. At least, compared to most college football recruits, that’s what it felt like. There were rumbles that the former TCU quarterback might consider the Tigers after he opted to transfer following his sophomore season. But Robinson never publicized his decision-making process. He never even did an interview. Instead, word that Missouri might be a favorite to land him emerged only when he visited campus in mid December. A few days later, Missouri announced in a release that Robinson had signed a financial aid agreement with the school.
In a way, Robinson’s low-profile recruitment reflects his personality. The son of a high school football coach and a high school women’s basketball coach, Robinson is not exactly a recluse, but new starting quarterback Kelly Bryant said he was shy when he first arrived on campus. His favorite off-field hobby is playing video games.
“I’m not really too much of a rah-rah guy,” Robinson said. “Just staying under the radar and just doing my thing.”
Even more so, his unheralded arrival at Missouri illustrates why both Robinson’s camp and the Missouri staff believe the two are a perfect match. Robinson, who will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules, is already the favorite to start for the Tigers in 2020. He said he wasn’t interested in choosing a school for fan recognition or social media popularity. His decision boiled down to finding a college that fit his skillset, where he could get along with the coaching staff and where he could likely start. Missouri checked all of those boxes.
“We don’t need that media circus, we don’t need that overhype of anything, we don’t need embellishments from different people,” Shawn’s father, Othell Robinson, explained. “All we need is for him to get to school somewhere that fits his style of play, that’s going to get him the most out of his playing career, and that was the mindset behind it.”
When Robinson initially decided to transfer from TCU, such a fit between he and Missouri would have seemed unlikely. For one, the Tiger coaching staff wasn’t necessarily scouring the market for quarterbacks. Missouri had filled its immediate need at the position by landing Bryant two weeks before Robinson’s transfer was announced, and incoming freshman Connor Bazelak had been committed since the summer. But the staff had recruited Robinson out of DeSoto high school in 2016, and when they heard he was back on the market, they expressed interest. Robinson reciprocated the interest, and a visit was arranged. Once he got to Missouri’s campus, head coach Barry Odom said, “he kind of fell in our lap.”
“It’s hard to turn away a quarterback that you think is that level, no matter how many you’ve got on your roster,” Odom said. “If you’ve got a quarterback, you’ve got a chance in every game, and if you don’t then probably not.”
Likewise, when Robinson first decided to change schools, Missouri wasn’t on his radar. He said his knowledge of the Tigers was limited to watching “Chase Daniels” (former quarterback Chase Daniel, who played at Missouri from 2005-2008) and having played alongside current Tiger offensive lineman Hyrin White his senior year at DeSoto. Bryant’s decision to transfer to Missouri instead of the likes of Auburn, Arkansas and Mississippi State caught Robinson’s attention, and when he started examining the Tiger offense last season, led by first-year offensive coordinator Derek Dooley, he was impressed.
“Just saw Kelly went there, and just was like ‘huh, I wonder what they’re doing?’” Robinson said. “Obviously they had a good season last year. I got to talk to coach Dooley to see what they were really about, and everything they were talking about really stood out to me. What they want to build and with their quarterbacks, it’s exactly what I was looking for.”
Othell Robinson was impressed with quarterback Drew Lock’s development last season. He believes the pro-style concepts Dooley taught Lock will help Robinson develop and achieve his ultimate goal of playing in the NFL.
“It’s going to be a little bit more deliberate, more play-action game, more run-dominant, where you see real defenses, not prevent defenses,” Othell said. “And I think the bootleg stuff is going to help the transition because when you’re in pro-style, the bootleg game, play-action game, is part of it. Knowing protections, calling protections, I think all that stuff is important to the development of a quarterback, so you can understand who is free and who is not free. That’s all stuff, if you do it day in and day out, I think you get better at it.”
Robinson isn’t lacking for physical gifts, but he struggled at TCU due to a combination of injuries and interceptions. His senior year of high school, Robinson threw for 3,413 yards and 28 touchdowns and added another 13 touchdowns on the ground while leading DeSoto to a 16-0 record as a senior. The Dallas Morning News named him the 2016 Texas offensive player of the year. Todd Peterman, Robinson’s coach at DeSoto and now the coach at Brewer high school in Fort Worth, said Robinson is a pass-first quarterback, but his mobility gives defenses an added dimension to worry about.
“He’s most definitely a pass-first guy and can pull it down and run it,” Peterman said. “He’s going to have the size and strength where he’s a powerful runner as well, but a true quarterback that, if you need to run him, you’re fine.”
Robinson started one game as a true freshman at TCU, leading the Horned Frogs to a 27-3 win over Texas Tech. He opened the 2018 season as the starter, but eight interceptions compared to nine touchdowns in seven games as a starter. TCU went 3-4 in those games. After a loss to Oklahoma in which Robinson was replaced by backup Michael Collins, he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery.
Peterman said Robinson knows he needs to work on ball security, on sometimes throwing the ball away instead of forcing a dangerous pass. He believes Robinson will be a "perfect fit" for the run-pass option concepts around which Missouri bases its offense. Othell said his son’s injuries — he injured his throwing shoulder freshman year and then tried to play through an injury to his other shoulder last season — played a bigger factor in his struggles than most realized, sapping his confidence and making him hesitant to accept contact.
“A lot of people say, ‘Why he don’t run, why he don’t do this, why he don’t evade sacks?’” Othell said. “Well, it’s hard to do that when you’re dealing with shoulder injuries.”
In part because it will allow him to return to full health for the first time since high school, Robinson believes sitting out this season will be beneficial. He said he’s still rehabbing from the shoulder surgery he underwent in November. In addition, he will have time to master all the small responsibilities that come with quarterbacking a new system. Othell Robinson said Shawn is approaching this season like a redshirt freshman year.
“He didn’t get a true redshirt year, and of course a redshirt year is going to help you develop,” Othell said. “... Just taking time, taking a step back, learning from an older quarterback, learning a new system — whenever you go into a system that’s totally opposite from what you were in, I think you just gotta learn all the nuances of that system.”
For the rest of this season, at least, Robinson will remain under the radar. This is Bryant's year to start and Robinson's to learn from the shadows. Robinson is alright with that. If all goes to plan, the fresh start and offensive system offered at Missouri will have him back in the spotlight soon enough.
“It just fit like a glove,” Othell Robinson said of Shawn’s situation at Missouri. “It’s not one of those things that you’ve got to oversell, over-tweet. … If it fits, it fits.”