The reason Safety Kenny Robinson Jr. isn’t at the NFL Combine? Because he’s currently playing

Scouts don’t have to hunt down old game tape of former West Virginia safety Kenny Robinson Jr. But he won’t be around for team interviews at the Scouting Combine or pro days.

The reason?

Robinson is a safety for the XFL’s St. Louis BattleHawks.

After earning All Big 12 First Team honors as a sophomore, Robinson (6-3, 191) entered his name into the transfer portal. However, instead of transferring to another school, Robinson decided to test the XFL waters, where he now plays for the St. Louis team. You can read more about his journey to the XFL here.

Kenny Robinson, a prospect in this year's NFL draft with a pick of Matt McGloin — he was rendered academically ineligible at WVU and needed to earn some money to help his mother, diagnosed with cancer, so chose to play in the XFL instead of sitting a year in transfer pic.twitter.com/BwQFfG7zFq

— Arif Hasan, hates turkey

Prior to that, Robinson had 123 tackles. 4 tackles for loss, 7 interceptions and 7 pass breakups in two years (20 starts). His 4 INTs as a sophomore tied him for the second-most in the Big 12 that year.

St. Louis then drafted Robinson with the 39th overall pick in the XFL draft.

So while Robinson hasn’t taken the traditional route to the NFL, he’s nonetheless caught the attention of scouts and draft analysts alike.

From The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, who ranked Robinson as his 10th-best safety in his latest rankings:

“Overall, Robinson’s play recognition and run support skills show room for improvement, but he is an aggressive ballhawk with athletic range and should be the first XFL player to be drafted in the NFL Draft.”