Brian Robinson with UK coaches Vince Marrow, Mark Stoops and Brad White. (UK Athletics Photo)
Basketball has completely overwhelmed the news cycle when it comes to the University of Kentucky the last few weeks but remember the name Brian Robinson.
The 6-5, 275-pound freshman defensive lineman from Youngstown, Ohio, had an impressive spring practice and was one of the few defensive linemen who was not limited by injuries during the drills.
Kentucky recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow, a Youngstown native, has known Robinson’s father for about 20 years and known the UK freshman for almost 10 years. Marrow’s brother, Raymond, once coached Brian Robinson when he was younger.
“He just looks like a SEC football player,” Marrow said when Robinson signed with Kentucky. “When he was on a visit here we had some parents who thought he was a former player playing in the NFL and he was only 17 years old.”
He was a unanimous four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 14 edge rusher nationally by ESPN. He had 49 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, six sacks, one interceptions, one fumble recovery and one blocked field goal in only seven games his senior season.
He had a lot of big-time offers and picked UK over Auburn, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State and Tennessee.
“You have got to love his makeup. Forget the player. Just how he carries himself,” Marrow said during spring practice. “Probably one of the best bodies I have ever seen on a 17-, 18- or even a 24-year-old in a long time.”
Marrow said Robinson is a workout warrior with only about six percent body fat.
“There is nobody that looks like him coming out of high school,” Marrow said. “I would not bet against him having a big impact next season. He’s one of those guys who could really be special.”
4 Responses
Marrow with the support of Stoops & White continue to raise their level of recruiting – in this case topping UGA, Michigan, AUB, TN & more.
Now if Stoops can finally hire a real and very good dedicated Special Teams coach who does not run off a star KY HS kicker from impressive Boyle County by never giving him a chance to replace inconsistent Wilson who punted many bad punts at critical times in games, then UK won’t have to waste the great recruiting by leaving great players in the bench.
I agree. Wilson was a terrible punter last year and Smith should have at least got to play in 4 games so as not to lose his redshirt. I love Stoops, but imo, that was a terrible decision. I had heard that he looked good in practice. Makes no sense whatsoever.
I agree, I would love to see someone dedicated to Special teams. I am just wondering how you know how good the Boyle Co kid is? Ik ow he was very good on HS, that doesn’t always translate, we never saw him in practice, unless you’re one of the asst coaches.
He is going to be a great one if we can keep him. We have a good track record of keeping the players that produce. So lets just hope he sees the field this year. I can’t believe how many players hit the portal after spring practice. None of them really contributed over the last year or 2 but what used to be the norm isn’t anymore. Porter and especially Cottrell surprised me by leaving. Its crazy to not even give it at least a one year try. Who knows I heard they were buried on the depth chart and both came because they were promised playing time. But who really knows.? I think we are going after more speedy receivers than possession receivers.