Greg Robinson: A Closer Look at the Auburn OT

By: Justin Partlow

Heading into the 2013 season, there wasn’t a ton of buzz surrounding anything out of the Auburn program, and rightfully so. As the wins started to mount, the buzz surrounded around this LT who was an absolute freak of nature athlete who would maul anyone who was in front of him. As draftniks started to sit down and watch the film, the gasps and audible “oh man” statements began to take shape. After an impressive 2013 season, Greg Robinson, the redshirt-sophomore OT decided to declare for the NFL draft as his stock was at an all time high. With his freak athletic ability, teams will be coveting him in May.

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Technique:

Robinson, while a young player, plays with much better technique than one would expect. The tricky thing with Robinson on film is to differentiate on his technique on run blocking plays, and his technique on passing plays. Robinson does a very good job with his overall hand placement, and doesn’t show any waist bending on film at all. Robinson displays a very powerful punch, and will bully opponents with his natural strength and length. Robinson doesn’t show a ton in pass protection, and that’s mainly due to the scheme that Auburn runs, which is very run heavy. Overall though, Robinson shows the ability to be a good pass blocker, it’s just the game is very unrefined right now and will need work in the NFL.

Run Blocking:

Watching Greg Robinson run block, is quite possibly one of the most fun things to do this year scouting. Robinson is just so physically dominant over his opponent that he will latch on to his defender, and drive him down the field 5-10 yards before the whistle is blown. Robinson doesn’t lunge at his opponent and doesn’t overextend against opponents. What he shows on film is someone who is technically sound, but also plays with one nasty streak and doesn’t want to stop playing any time until that whistle is blown. Robinson as well on film shows someone who plays with proper footwork, as he doesn’t cross any steps and keeps his feet always in control on film. Robinson shows so much potential as an NFL player because of his natural ability to be dominant in the run game.

Pass Blocking:

As mentioned above this will be the hardest part of evaluating Robinson both based on film and then projecting it to the NFL. Robinson on film shows the ability to pass block, but as mentioned before didn’t get the chance to show it as much based on the Auburn offense. When watching Robinson on film he doesn’t show any real waist bending, and shows good proper extension of his arms. What I like the most about Robinson both in his pass protection and run blocking is how impressive his base is. For someone who is only a redshirt-sophomore, Robinson plays with such an impressive base and doesn’t allow him to get rattled and off base which is unusual to see early on. The biggest issue with teams moving forward will come to the question of how should they handle Robinson moving forward. Some teams will see Robinson as a pure LT in the NFL and rightfully so with all of his natural talent and ability. The other main question will come down to; can Robinson be a starting LT? Or will a team take him and move him to RT or even possibly move him to Guard?

Overall:

Robinson shows to be someone who can produce and be a high level player in the NFL. As an evaluator, I would start Robinson at LT from the beginning and see if he can develop the pass blocking more and more. If that doesn’t work out correctly then Robinson can still be a very good RT or a dominant Guard with his natural run blocking ability. Look for Robinson to come off the board in the top 10 picks and be a long term starter in the NFL.