Jags’ James Robinson discusses his mindset for Week 1, top attributes and going undrafted
When the Jacksonville Jaguars entered this offseason, many of their fans expected to see running back Leonard Fournette return as a starter in 2020. However, last month the team shockingly waived him, ending his career in Jacksonville before he could even play out his rookie contract.
The move was one that eventually made undrafted rookie James Robinson the Jags’ No. 1 running back for the 2020 season. While some are skeptical about the decision and worried about there being a drop-off, Robinson seemed calm, cool and collected Friday when meeting with the media.
“No, not at all,” Robinson said to the Jacksonville media when asked if he was nervous about Week 1’s game against the Indianapolis Colts. “At the same time, I have ten other guys on the field with me that’s working for the same goal and that’s to win. So, no, I’m not nervous at all.”
While the Jags will have a lot of new faces on the defensive side, there will be a wide array of returning starters on the offensive side, so one could see why Robinson is comfortable with the group around him. Included in that group will be the same starting five offensive linemen from 2019, who the staff is banking on being better due to the lack of changes. For Robinson’s sake, this could be a big plus and could lead to a solid start to his career after an ultra-productive one at Illinois State.
The Jags’ confidence in Robinson has been clear for almost a month now and the same applies to his teammates. In fact, the team’s most experienced running back, Chris Thompson, even went as far as recently saying Robinson has the best vision in the running backs room. Robinson echoed those sentiments Friday when asked about the three best aspects of his game.
“I’d say vision, making the first guy miss and I would say my acceleration through the hole,” he said.
As for his journey into the league, Robinson also discussed how the draft process went for him. After an ultra-productive college career where he garnered 4,444 yards and 44 touchdowns at Illinois State, a solid showing in the Shrine Game, and a good combine, he felt that some team would take him, but ultimately that wasn’t the case.
“Yeah, once I left, I felt like I did pretty well and I would have a good chance of being drafted,” Robinson said about the combine. “Honestly, everyone wants to get drafted, but towards the end, it wasn’t really looking good. So, I was waiting on a team to call and pick me up and the Jaguars did and I’m thankful for that.”
We shared the story of just how the Jags landed Robinson after the draft. In a nutshell, Jags scout Marty Miller was in charge of getting in contact with the undrafted running backs for Doug Marrone and the staff. He was having little luck finding players but his wife, Kerinda, encouraged him to call Robinson who he was certain had been picked up. Sure enough, Robinson was available and ended up signing with the Jags though he said there was interest from the San Francisco 49ers, too.
Now, after a very unique journey, Robinson is about 23 hours from his first start. If he’s successful as the Jags believe he can be, Robinson could be another great underdog story, which is something Jags fans have seen on multiple occasions in recent history.
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