Remembering what NFL Draft experts said about Demarcus Robinson

Lest he get lost in the shuffle however, we wanted to take a look back at the hype on Demarcus Robinson. If you’ve forgotten, or never knew in the first place, what you’ve missed is a seriously talented athlete for whom the negative headlines provided a smokescreen for his talent. As obviously fast and talented Tyreek Hill is, Robinson was the pick before him for a reason. Dorsey took both back to back, hoping to seriously enhance his offense. Robinson might prove him right after all.

Coming out of high school, Robinson was an ESPN Top 100 recruit to Florida, a nationally known wide receiver from Fort Valley, Georgia, who also garnered offers from Notre Dame, Clemson and basically every SEC team.  Robinson largely played two full seasons for the Gators (and sparingly as a freshman) to finish his career with 105 catches for 1,353 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns.

If those numbers seem less than they should be, there are two good reasons. First, let’s not forget that the Florida offense in recent years has been downright pitiful. Second, you have to be on the field to put up stats, and Robinson had a penchant for being suspended from the team. It began just weeks into his freshman season, in late September, when he was suspended for an unspecified violation of team rules. Two months later, another unspecified violation sat him out the rest of that season. Just like that, his freshman season was gone.

Two years later, Robinson was benched/demoted twice (for instances such as missing a team meal) by head coach Jim McElwain and ultimately suspended for a fourth time in his career during his junior season. This time, he’d met with a marketing official. Four strikes? McElwain reportedly was going to meet with the team’s seniors to help him determine Robinson’s future with the Gators. Then he declared for the draft.