How Kenny Robinson learned from mistakes and the XFL and made his way to the Panthers
The play was a disaster from the start.
DC Defenders quarterback Cardale Jones was forced from the pocket, scrambled right and underthrew a pass intended for his running back.
At first glance, the interception by St. Louis BattleHawks safety Kenny Robinson on a pass that probably never should have been made looked routine. Maybe even lucky. But being in the right spot at the right time wasn’t an accident.
“That’s an unbelievable play by Kenny Robinson,” former Panthers tight end and FOX XFL commentator Greg Olsen exclaimed.
And it was. Bent over, falling left toward the sideline and contorting his body to avoid interfering with the receiver, Robinson somehow got his palms under the football a split second before it struck the turf. Of all the plays Robinson made in a five-game XFL season, this was a moment that showed he understood the details necessary to compete in professional football. It wasn’t the only big play he made this spring, but the way in which he got there helped show that success in the NFL could be a reality.
Not one single player in the 2020 NFL draft had a situation like Robinson. To be selected in the draft, players must have been out of high school for at least three years and those with college eligibility remaining can request approval to enter the draft pool.
Robinson, however, wasn’t traditional. His three years after high school graduation weren’t all spent in college. He started his career at West Virginia, finding success there for two seasons, allowing less than 45 percent of passes into his coverage to be completed in 2017-18, according to Pro Football Focus. But his time in Morgantown was cut short.
He was expelled from West Virginia after allowing someone else to do an assignment for him, and was blatantly honest about what had happened in an essay for The Player’s Tribune he wrote intended for NFL general managers considering drafting him, calling himself lazy.
“I felt like me owning up my mistakes was a major part of it. A lot of people who have had problems don’t own up to their mistakes, and I felt like I need to make that a point that I owned up to my mistakes,” Robinson explained. “I know it was a mistake, but I learned from it and that I was moving on and becoming a better person.”
He could have transferred to another school (Alabama and Oklahoma were reportedly interested in him), but he elected to go the XFL route after hearing about the league from his trainer. Transferring to a new school would have meant waiting a year to be eligible to play. And by earning money, he could support his family in Pittsburgh. His mom has battled colon cancer but was recently ruled cancer free and is still recovering from multiple strokes.
The answer, over time, became clear.
“My first intention was to go back to college,” Robinson said. “As time went on and I figured things out, the XFL ended up being the best decision for me and then once I made that decision the XFL benefited me in so many ways, like just preparing you to be a professional. I was a professional football player for the last few months before anyone else could be.”
Introduction
Robinson’s time in the XFL had an expiration date long before the league did. His sights were always on the NFL.
Being selected by the BattleHawks in the fifth-round of the XFL draft provided the good fortune of being placed with coaches and players with significant NFL experience, including defensive backs coach Tim Lewis.
“From Day 1, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the guy that’s 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, that runs 4.5 and is aggressive and smart and tough to play in the NFL,” said Lewis, who was an NFL defensive coach for more than 20 years, including two with the Panthers. “Clearly, somebody that big, strong, fast, smart can play in the NFL if they want to.”
Robinson turned 21 in January, exactly a month before the XFL season began, and was younger than most of his teammates. He also had significantly less football experience. There were things he never learned from his time at West Virginia that he had to pick up about being a professional.
Almost all of the players that took part in the XFL — outside of Robinson — had been in an NFL training camp before. There are expectations for younger players to carry playbooks and pads for veterans and to sing in rookie talent shows. When it came to being a rookie safety, he had to prove he could perform his role on the field.
“(We had to) figure out whether he could actually call the defense and actually operate the scheme and make changes, make checks, make calls and get people lined up and kind of be that quarterback on the field that most free safeties are,” Lewis said. “At first, it was a bit overwhelming for him, going from college right into an NFL system. He had all he could handle. There was not much that he had done in college that would have prepared him for this, that big of a jump that fast.
“No problem for us because we had a guy that played in the NFL for a number of years, Will Hill … he took him under his wing and he recognized that the young kid had all the athletic ability in the world and we just had to bring him along mentally.”
Talk to anyone who spent time with Robinson in the XFL, and Hill’s name will come up. Quickly and often.
Hill spent four years in the NFL from 2012-15 with the Giants and the Ravens after going undrafted. He played in 32 games over that stretch and hopes to get another opportunity in the NFL now that the XFL has filed for bankruptcy.
During his time in the league, Hill learned from the older safeties around him. Veterans such as Antrel Rolle, Kenny Phillips and Ed Reed helped him out because they saw his potential and they knew if anything happened, Hill was the next man up. So they took the time to teach him.
He did the same with Robinson, but to the next level. Starting right from their first introductions.
“When we got to St. Louis, for mini-camp and I was getting on the elevator, he was getting off and (when) you play the same position and you give each other that stare, like, ‘Yeah, I’m winning this job, I don’t know about you,’ ” Hill said. “But after that look, he was like, ‘Man, can you help me?’
“It made me laugh because in this profession, especially at the early stages as far as coming into training camp and things like that, you are really by yourself. You have to learn the ropes and how it is, and everybody’s not going to help you fight for the same position ... (but I thought) that’s going to make me compete even harder, so I’m like, ‘Yeah I can help you.’ ”
From that day, the pair became inseparable. They lived together, their dogs became friends and Hill’s kids and parents became to know and be fond of Robinson.
When Lewis and BattleHawks head coach Jonathan Hayes saw Robinson in practice, they told Hill the rookie looked like a younger version of him. They told him that Robinson, nine years younger, was Hill’s “project.”
“You’re late,” Hill told them. “We’ve already been together.”
Comparisons
Lewis has coached a lot of successful defensive backs. Troy Polamalu, Carnell Lake, Rod Woodson, Desmond Trufant ... the list goes on.
When comparing Robinson to other safeties, Lewis only has the highest of praises. He sees similarities to 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt, who he had a hand in drafting when he was San Francisco’s defensive backs coach in 2015.
Of all the safeties Lewis has watched and coached throughout his career, Robinson is no different than “the really good ones.”
“Sean Taylor was 6-feet tall, 212 pounds and ran 4.52. (Robinson) is 6-foot, 205 and runs 4.55 and he’s very similar, very aggressive, very smart, instinctive,” Lewis said. “He can catch the ball, he tackles. He can bend his knees, he hits people. He can make calls, he sets up defenses. He can be a leader. He works hard. He’s aggressive. He’s tough. I mean, I don’t know of any negative that he has. Everything that this kid’s gonna do is right in front of them. He’s like silly putty. Everything that you’re going to do with him is still to be done.”
Robinson wasn’t the most popular person in the BattleHawks’ defensive backs room partly thanks to his success at a younger age. But Hill told him to ignore the noise.
Lewis took note of Robinson’s textbook tackles, especially in their fourth game against the Seattle Dragons, but it was the interceptions that really stood out. He finished the shortened five-game season with 21 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and two interceptions, including that one in the final game against the Defenders.
What led up to that interception in D.C.?
“I was working with him on man-to-man, the whole time, to see the ball, but see your man. Play your man, see the ball, you got to see both of them at the same time,” Hill said. “He got a pick on that play, he’s running, chasing his man.”
After the play, Robinson said he heard someone screaming his name through all the noise in the aftermath.
It was Hill.
Lessons
During Robinson’s time in the XFL, he learned about what was expected from a professional football player. He learned the things a rookie in the NFL would be eased into or explained. But Hill also played a major role in the lessons that no one had passed on to him. He had to learn some of those the hard way.
He taught him the importance of taking care of the NFL earnings and not giving money away to everyone who asks. Have one person designated who you trust and doesn’t want anything from you. That he should buy a house, not a car, with the money he earns from getting drafted. Build something for the future.
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In the locker room, Hill told the other players not to pick on Robinson or treat him too much like a rookie, because in the XFL, they really all were rookies. But still there was one duty he had to do.
“But the day before the game or the day of the game, (I told him), ‘Kenny, you better bring them doughnuts,’ ” Hill said.
There would be times when Robinson would want to go out at night in St. Louis and Hill would stay home. Eventually, Robinson realized staying home was the smarter choice.
“The thing we all were waiting to see is how (Robinson) handled things once he was away from the facility,” Hayes said. “He gravitated to some of the older guys to help show him the right way to do things and he was great. He really was.”
When it came time for Robinson to get drafted by the NFL, Lewis said his phone was ringing often. Teams wanted to know what Robinson was like on the field and off, and what to expect from him as a player.
Among the coaches who called was Jason Simmons, who played for Lewis with the Steelers and is now the defensive pass game coordinator/secondary coach for the Panthers.
Lewis knew Simmons’ approach and knew Robinson would be a good fit in Carolina. He felt that coaching style was important for Robinson’s success and that he wouldn’t respond well to an aggressive, in-your-face coach.
“You’ve got a good match here, because Jason is a teacher. Jason will teach just like I carefully taught Jason,” Lewis said. “He’s not a yeller, screamer. I probably yelled and screamed at Jason so much I scared him out of that style. He’ll be a great fit for Jason and Jason will do a great job. They’ll respond to one another very well.”
The Panthers drafted him with the 152nd pick, later than he had hoped. But a significant moment nonetheless.
“I was talking with (XFL Commissioner) Oliver Luck before the season, and I specifically asked about Kenny,” ESPN XFL play-by-play announcer Tom Hart said. “After talking with Oliver, I’m convinced that Kenny was going to be a trailblazer. There were going to be more and more of him. I don’t know that the league was going to search out guys who had college football eligibility remaining, but they were certainly going to accept them if they came their way.
“And Kenny was going to be a great test case. A fifth-round pick is nothing to sneeze at. If you finish the (XFL) season, maybe he ends up even better than that. “
Lewis sees Robinson entering a situation similar to what Polamalu went through as a rookie, getting the opportunity to develop as he needed behind starters.
For now, he’ll have to learn remotely. Virtual rookie mini-camp is in the books and there is a question mark about when on-field practicing will begin. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still work to be done. Hill has implored him to spend hours learning his playbook and reinforcing that when his time finally does come to show what he can do on the field, he needs to be ready.
To this day, Hill calls him each morning. He knows that with NFL facilities being shut down, no one is double-checking that Robinson is getting his workouts in. Instead, they work out together over FaceTime, motivating each other.
“I don’t want to miss out on any opportunity, I want him to be better than me. Yes, I did some good things in the NFL, but I only had a four- or five-year career because I didn’t have a person in my ear like I’m trying to be in his now,” Hill said. “I’m trying to get back to get another two years so I can have like a seven-year career. I want (him) to have a 12-year career.
“I want you to be everything that I wasn’t. It doesn’t matter to me that I get any credit or anything for his accomplishments. Him doing the impossible is good enough for me.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
