This lively Boise State safety and potential team leader isn’t afraid to ‘dish it out’
Boise State safety Rodney Robinson calls football his “safe space.”
“This is where I can be myself,” Robinson told reporters last August. “I have a lot of fun playing this game. ... I love it with all my heart.”
Robinson is also loud — wide receiver Latrell Caples joked last season that he never stops talking — and the redshirt junior has a chance to use his voice, actions and personality in a leadership role for the Broncos this year as they retool their secondary.
A large part of that stems from his personality. Robinson doesn’t mind breaking out a few dance moves in practice, and he isn’t shy about trading words with a teammate or an opponent.
“I don’t just take it,” he said. “I dish it out, too.”
Boise State safeties coach Kane Ioane said he can’t remember seeing Robinson without a smile on his face. He also said the diminutive safety plays the game like he’s 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds.
On a good day, Robinson is 5-8 and 185.
“He has no fear when he’s flying down into the box to stop the run,” Ioane said. “He’ll blow somebody up with a big hit, and he’s smiling and having fun the whole time.”
Robinson is never going to be the most physically imposing player on the field, but Cajon High School football coach Nick Rogers said that won’t stop him from believing he’s the best player.
“He was a leader of our defense, even at a young age,” Rogers told the Idaho Statesman. “We started seeing that out of him as a sophomore, and by his junior year, he was the unquestioned leader.”
Robinson wasn’t just a leader in the locker room. He also put his words into action, leading the team with 120 tackles as a junior and 80 tackles and four interceptions as a senior.
“You could just tell he was different,” Rogers said. “His IQ is off the charts, he has a motor that never stops and he has this ability to rally guys around him.”
A changing Boise State defense
Safety JL Skinner, nickel Tyreque Jones and cornerback Caleb Biggers are all gone from the secondary. Linebacker Ezekiel Noa and defensive tackle Scott Matlock also have departed.
What’s left is a void best filled by a player who knows when it’s time to get down to business and how to lighten the mood in even the most stressful situations.
Robinson has already shown he can get it done on the field. He started 13 games last season, finishing No. 5 on the team with 48 tackles and No. 2 with three interceptions. He snagged the first interception of his college career in the first of his three starts in 2021.
He said he knows how to provide levity, too, and find the glass-half-full approach.
“You’re not going to be down around me,” Robinson said. “It’s always going to be a good time when I’m around.”
Robinson is one of several young defensive backs poised to step into starting roles this year.
Alexander Teubner is one of the favorites to replace Skinner at safety. Cornerback Jaylen Clark has a chance to nail down a starting spot, and Seyi Oladipo looks like he’s next in line at nickel.
Robinson is the veteran of the group, which he said isn’t lacking in ball hawks.
“I look around the DB room and I see a lot of guys who are playmakers, and a lot of guys who are hungry,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of things to improve on, but the guys in the room make it easy because they want it as much as me.”
Robinson’s Boise State career almost didn’t happen.
As the first semester of his senior year in high school was coming to a close, Robinson had his sights set on San Diego State. The Aztecs had offered him a scholarship that summer, and a long list of players from Cajon have played there, including Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontea Kazee.
Robinson was set to sign with the Aztecs until Boise State offered him a scholarship the day before early signing day in 2019. He was left with a potentially life-altering choice to make, and he didn’t have much time to make it.
He talked it over with his dad, and sat with his mother and older brother weighing his options into the wee hours of the morning, he said. In the end, Robinson said he signed with the program he felt more familiar with.
He had plenty of history with San Diego State, but he knew former Boise State running back Alexander Mattison, who is also from San Bernardino. He’d trained with Jones in high school and played against wide receiver Billy Bowens.
Robinson talked to all of them about Boise State, and he said they all described the program the same way — as a family.
“I’m big on family, and I know I made the right decision,” said Robinson, who signed with the Broncos before he ever visited campus.
