Category Archives: Adrian Robinson

05.17.15
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TU Football Family Heartbroken

Arob with two of the best Temple football video ever, OVO (Scott Hartkorn) and Fran Duffy.

Arob with two of the best Temple football video guys ever, OVO (Scott Hartkorn) and Fran Duffy.

Of all the unbearable things that there are in life, I cannot imagine the pain of a parent having to bury a child but that’s what Adrian Robinson Sr. will have to do for Adrian Robinson Jr. in the next few days.

The Temple football family has lost another icon, a good man and friend in ARob, and it is hard to come to grips with that today for all of us who have had the pleasure of knowing him.

One of the benefits of doing something like this is that people who I otherwise would never meet come up to me out of the blue and say hello.

ARob beating Fiesta Bowl-bound UConn all by himself.

ARob beating Fiesta Bowl-bound UConn all by himself.

The blue happened after Adrian Robinson’s spectacular freshman year at Temple and while I was walking back to the parking lot at halftime of that year’s Cherry and White Game. Back then, Robinson was my favorite Owl on the defensive side of the ball because of the relentless way he played the game. The Franchise (Bernard Pierce) was my favorite offensive Owl. Wearing my game-worn Temple football jersey—this one with Papreps on the back—I heard a booming voice.

“PAPREPS!”

I looked for where the sound was coming from and it was from a very large man, who I later would learn was amicable, jovial and gentle.

“PAPREPS, I’m Adrian Robinson’s dad and I want to thank you for all of the good things you’ve written about Adrian.”

That led to a short walk, a long talk and a game day friendship that has lasted almost eight years now. They were there at every home game and most road games and I was right there with them almost every time.

Adrian Robinson Sr.

Adrian Robinson Sr.

That day Adrian Robinson welcomed me into his family at tailgates and games and we talked about everything from Adrian to Averee to life in general and football in particular.  I told Adrian I thought his son was playing out of position at Temple—I thought he should have been an OLB, not a DE—but I understood why Al Golden had to play him there. Adrian and Averee would stop by the tailgates afterward and it was just a great time.

One story in particular that Adrian told hit home. He said that during his first day as a Denver Bronco the first player to come over to his locker stuck out his hand.

“Hello, I’m Peyton,” Peyton Manning said, “welcome to the team.”

Wow. Adrian was shaking his head in disbelief when he told the story. How many of us will ever have a chance to tell a story like that?

I will never forget the photo of Adrian crying on the field after the UCLA loss, the cry of a man who put everything he had into making a win happen that night. I will never forget him ripping the ball out of Jordan Todman’s hands and scoring a touchdown that was more Temple Made than any touchdown I have ever seen. That determination and sheer will in that play won that game for Temple.

Thank you, Nadia Harvin, for passing along this important information.

Thank you, Nadia Harvin, for passing along this important information.

Adrian was taking classes at Temple and recently signed to play in the CFL, hopefully following in the footsteps of another former Owl, Henry Burris, who became a star there.

Now this, another loss in the Temple family to join too many departures in the last year. Whatever happened isn’t as important as that he will never, ever be forgotten.

Related:

Robinson Stole the Ball:

https://templefootballforever.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/penn-state-week-robinson-stole-the-ball/

Owl Outlook’s Great Interview with Adrian Robinson:

http://templefootballforever.blogspot.com/2010/08/owl-outlooks-great-interview-with.html

Adrian’s Memorial Fund:

http://www.gofundme.com/uskbr6p

Alex Joseph”s tribute to his teammate (extremely well-done and heartfelt, IMHO):

04.28.12
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Bernard Pierce to Ravens!

Final BE draft standings:
(2012 schools only)
Cincinnati 4
*Temple 3
UConn 1
Rutgers 1
Syracuse 1
USF 0
Pitt 0
Louisville 0
*Pierce (Ravens), Rodriguez (Bears) and Whitehead (Lions) help Owls tie single-season record for most players drafted (1987). Derek Dennis (Carolina), Pat Boyle (Lions), Morkeith Brown (Bucs), Stephen Johnson (Saints), Rod Streater (Oakland), Kevin Kroboth (Eagles), Adrian Robinson (Steelers) and Wayne Tribue (Broncos) sign FA contracts.

As far as I’m concerned, the Ravens got the steal of the draft in the third round when they selected Bernard Pierce.
Baltimore made a trade to move up seven spots to get Pierce.
Pierce was the Pennsylvania state champion in the 100-meter dash as a high school kid four years ago and he runs even faster with the football in his hands.
He’s got great vision, a sick burst to the outside, terrific moves in the open field and has the ability to punish tacklers and fall forward for an extra five yards at the end of every play. He’s a  much better receiver than people give him credit for (remember, he had Chester Stewart throwing him the ball for much of his three years at Temple). Largely because of Pierce, the Owls ran an offense that eschewed the pass for a power running game.
Ravens play Eagles in game two.
If Pierce starts, I’m not betting on the Eagles that day.

08.31.11
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The Eve of (Villanova’s) Destruction

Once again, we’ll let the Lovely Laura be your guide on what to expect tomorrow.

Long before midnight tomorrow night, we’ll find out if Steve Addazio can coach.
Despite what many of my Florida Gator friends tell me, I suspect he can. The sign of a great CEO is his knack for surrounding himself with top upper-level management.
Already, for whatever flaws Addazio might have had as an OC, he appears to have this CEO thing down.
What makes me confident is that the guy has surrounded himself with coordinators who might be the two best in college football, regardless of the level.

Chuck Heater was the defensive coordinator at Utah when it went 11-0.
Yeah, Freakin’ Utah.
He was the co-defensive coordinator at Florida (with Teryl Austin) over  the past couple of years at Florida.
Don’t let the “co” title confuse you.
“I call Chuck Heater Mother Theresa,” Florida head coach Urban Meyer said last season. “He’s worked miracles with our defense.”
That kind of endorsement is good enough for me.
Loeffler was the quarterbacks’ coach at Michigan for Tom Brady and at Florida for Tim Tebow.
That’s all I needed to hear.
I think he can, and probably will, put this offense in a better position to succeed than Matt Rhule has done.
Addazio, by even his detractors’ accounts, is a motivator second to none and an accomplished offensive line coach.
I like what this equation can do for Temple’s football team this year.
Addazio’s motivation + Loeffler’s playcalling/QB developmental skills + Heater’s fire-eaters = big-time success for the Owls.
Offensively, I look for Bernard Pierce, “datboy Nard”, to run wild over this team. Remember, in the first year, as a true freshman, Pierce gained 66 yards on six carries against the Wildcats despite being cleared by the NCAA to play only a couple days before kickoff. Last year, in the joke move of all joke moves, Al Golden helped Villanova out by alternating Pierce with Matty Brown on every other series.

Adrian Robinson: Three sacks.

Defensively, I look for Adrian Robinson to get three sacks and for guys like Kadeem Custis and Morkeith Brown to be spending more time in Villanova’s backfield than the Wildcat quarterbacks and running backs.
We won’t have to wait until the second or third game to find out if Temple has the right people in charge.
We’ll know by 11 p.m. tomorrow night.
My gut tells me a 55-3 Temple win. My head tells me more like 35-14. The score will probably end up somewhere in between.
Anything less than 35-14 and we’re not in as good a shape as I thought.
Don’t worry.
The Eve of (Villanova’s) Destruction is at hand.

09.19.10
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Penn State week: Robinson stole the ball


“You know I’m going to take that ball from you the next time you see me,” Adrian Robinson appears to be telling his cousin, Penn State’s Curtis Drake.

“I saw the ball and it was loose, I ripped it out and it was Murder-She-Wrote from there.”
_ Adrian Robinson.

I don’t have access to Harry Donahue’s call of the play of the game Saturday vs. UConn, but if Chick Hearn was calling the game, it might go something like this (apologies to John Havlichek):
“Adrian Robinson stole the ball. Robinson stole the ball. Game over.”
Well, the game wasn’t over then be it might as well have been.
Adrian Robinson has been making big plays all of his life. Defensive players of the year make defensive plays of the year and Robinson’s strip of Jordan Todman might have been just that.
“I saw the ball and it was loose, I ripped it out and it was Murder-She-Wrote from there,” Robinson said.
It was a great non-call from the officials because Todman was fighting for extra yardage. How many times have you seen guys fighting for extra yardage break out of piles like that and score? I’ve seen it a lot. (How about Navy two years ago?)
Much to the credit of the UConn fans, nobody was calling for that play to be blown dead.
They were too busy killing their own team in general and their fine coach, Randy Edsall, in particular.
How is it that the Friday BEFORE the Temple game these same fans were saying Temple’s got no chance, Temple’s no good and the Huskies might be better than the 1966 Michigan State Spartans.
Then the day AFTER the Temple game, UConn stinks in their eyes.
Can’t have it both ways.
I guess they confused Temple with Texas Southern.
Edsall gave Temple no credit, but the UConn players were unanimous in their praise of the way the Temple kids played and hit.
The kids on the field know. They know.
The adults on message boards not so much.
The implosion on Boneyard.com, the UConn message board, is about as impressive as the explosion caused by the Enola Gay in 1945.
It’s a nuclear-type jaun, as my friend, Jay “Chief” Cooke, used to say.
Yet  it’s also an over nuclear reaction if you ask me.
All week long, I got responses to my messages on the Bonehead, err, I mean Boneyard, board asking me to come over and “apologize for my Temple lunacy” at about 3:30 on Saturday afternoon.
My response was simple.
“I hope you do the same, apologize for your disrespect of Temple, but I don’t think you have the class to do so.”
Just like the Big East ref/touchdown flag prediction, I was right.
The same guy who called me out for my “Temple lunacy” never apologized for his “UConn lunacy.”
A little perspective is in order.
For three years with each MAC foe falling to Temple for the first time, I’d go over to the vanquished foe’s message board.
The reaction is the same and can be summed up in one sentence.
“I can’t believe we lost to Temple.”
Gradually, they’ve gotten used to it.
UConn will, too.
Good Temple football is here to stay. Get used to it.
Al Golden promised when he arrived on North Broad Street that he was “building a house of brick, not straw.”
That means IF he leaves, it will be in good hands. Whether those hands belong to Mark D’Onofrio or Bruce Arians, Golden has proven one thing.
You can win at Temple. The Owls have now won a school-record eight home games in a row.
Last year, they beat an Army team that beat Vanderbilt and a Navy team that crushed Missouri and beat Notre Dame.
This year, they beat a UConn team with a relatively recent win over South Carolina.
If he can finish that fancy porch he’s putting in by Saturday, the house might be so nice Golden could take a long look at it and said, “Heck, I want to live here.”
Let’s hope so.
“We’re finally a Division I program now,”  he said on Saturday.
There’s a lot of wringing of hands on the UConn board these days but I think that’s premature.
The Big East is so bad I wouldn’t be surprised if UConn ran the table the rest of the way.
In fact, I hope they do.
I hope Temple beats Penn State next week (Temple is significantly better than Kent State) and I hope UConn and Penn State (and, of course, Temple) run the table after that.
Then maybe our friends at UConn will finally develop the same kind of perspective it took the MAC awhile to accept.