Injury, poor showing against Miami didn't keep FSU's Dominic Robinson down for long.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published December 31, 2003
MIAMI BEACH - Florida State junior receiver Dominic Robinson remembers having it virtually in his hands.
And just like that, it slipped away.
Thank goodness.
As an impressionable youngster, Robinson almost followed the lead of his male cousins with whom he hung out; young men themselves who seemingly had been in perpetual and escalating trouble.
"I was right on the corner; I was unbelievably close," he said in the days leading up to Thursday's Orange Bowl against intrastate rival Miami. "Had I stayed out with them a little longer, made one other decision, that could have been it for me."
There was talk of a robbery and from there, membership in one of the many Los Angeles-area gangs, prison or something far worse would not have been much of a leap.
He took a different step.
He held onto his dream of playing college football.
Seven years later, three of those cousins have been in jail. Another cousin is fortunate to be alive after being stabbed in the chest. That harrowing reminder of what could have been helps explain Robinson's resiliency.
He's overcome a string of disappointments in the past 13 months, beginning with the dismissal of his close friend, Adrian McPherson, a hamstring injury that limited his time at the start of the season, then a critical dropped pass against Miami on Oct.11. Even coach Bobby Bowden figured it was "one of those years" for Robinson.
But while filling in for injured star Craphonso Thorpe against Florida on Nov.29, Robinson had 102 yards on five catches (both career highs) and his first touchdown. Most important, it was his 24-yard reception on a fourth and 14 in the waning moments that set up the winning touchdown.
"To this day," said Robinson, 20, "I look back and say, "I can't believe where I'm at now."'
Robinson, who made the switch from cornerback to receiver last season, seemed poised for a breakout year after an eye-catching spring. But he returned for fall two-a-days with a hamstring injury and fell behind Thorpe and touted redshirt freshman Chris Davis.
Then came the Miami game.
With the Seminoles down 22-0 early in the third quarter, Robinson got away from star safety Sean Taylor on a deep route and Chris Rix threw one of his best passes of the day to him. Robinson dropped it near the goal line.
"That's where me and him kind of lost a lot of confidence," offensive coordinator/receivers coach Jeff Bowden said.
Robinson clung to the belief that dropping one pass doesn't mean you drop passes plural.
He just needed the chance to demonstrate that. But during the next five games, he had three catches.
"I wouldn't say his confidence (sagged), but you could definitely tell he wasn't happy with himself," Thorpe said. "But he came back."
The 6-foot-1, 199-pound Robinson continued to embrace what he had at FSU and continued to show his trademark confidence, exuberance for the game and tireless work ethic.
"Throughout the season, he'd tell me, "Don't give up on me; keep giving me the ball,"' Rix said. "I'd slap him in the head and say, "I've never given up on you; I've always had confidence in you.' ... You don't lose confidence in someone who works his butt off every day."
When Thorpe broke a leg in the overtime win against N.C. State, Robinson earned the starting job at flanker for the regular-season finale in Gainesville and had another chance to show he could be a clutch receiver.
Down 34-31, the Seminoles faced fourth and 14 from their 24. From the coaching box, Jeff Bowden signalled in the play, a simple square-in pattern for the flanker.
Robinson had just run deep and normally would have come out for the next play, but he waved Davis off. He didn't know the call and it didn't matter. He wanted to be in the game at that moment.
"That's what any coach would want, a guy who wants to be there on fourth and 14," Jeff Bowden said.
Rix threw to a spot that he expected Robinson to reach and initially feared the ball would sail high. Perhaps it would have had Robinson not run farther than the he was supposed to, but he wanted to make sure he had the first down once he made the catch.
He did.
Rix followed by hitting P.K. Sam with a 52-yard touchdown to pull off a dramatic 38-34 win. But most agree Robinson's catch was the catalyst and a good omen for the Orange Bowl.
"He's paid his dues and he's proving that he's a playmaker," Rix said. "I'm going to be depending on him in the Miami game and I know he'll be ready."
Jeff Bowden, with renewed confidence in Robinson, said he has reminded him of the one that got away against the 'Canes in October and that the New Year's Day game is a chance to "re-prove" himself.
Miami cornerback Antrel Rolle might have provided more motivation when he said that regardless of what Robinson did against the Gators, "I don't think he's going to have the chance to do that against us."
Not that Robinson needs any bulletin-board material.
He knows only too well what's out there for him to grab and hold onto.
"The opportunity that I'm given to come out here every day is something that I don't take for granted," Robinson said. "There's other places I could be."
