Robinson receiving praise

By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — The way Harlan Robinson plays safety and wide receiver for the James Wood High School football team, you’d think he’s been playing those positions his entire life.

“Nooooo,” said Robinson, who started playing tackle football when he was 9. “I used to be chubby. I used to be a center.”

Robinson was hopeful he’d emulate the rest of his family and slim down when he got older. He has, and one of the Colonels’ fastest players not only resembles his family in appearance but also in athletic excellence.

Several of Robinson’s relatives have played football for James Wood — including one current teammate, sophomore running back Aaron Clark — and former James Wood wrestling coach Jaye Copp has regaled coach Mike Bolin with stories about them.

Copp told Bolin “they were all good football players, and they all came to play,” and the 2009 Colonels are the latest to benefit from Football Family Robinson. Harlan Robinson leads James Wood in solo tackles with 16 (he has 28 total tackles), and on offense he’s been a demon in the red zone. Five of his eight catches have gone for touchdowns, with none of those scores going for more than 14 yards.

“He really desires to get better every day,” Bolin said. “We kind of stress that a lot. If you want to get better at something, don’t waste a day. He really buys into that and really works hard. He’s one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever been around.”

It’s easy now that Robinson is doing what he loves.

The 6-foot, 173-pound player spent his first two years at James Wood as a defensive end. Though Robinson’s aggressiveness on the junior varsity team caught Bolin’s attention, the position didn’t suit Robinson.

Before his junior season, Robinson asked Colonels defensive coordinator Tim Combs if he could play safety. Combs and Bolin both thought he had the potential, but he began the year at cornerback.

After three games, James Wood’s coaching staff could no longer deny the obvious.

“We knew he was fast enough and aggressive to play back there, and he’s not afraid to go up and make the tackle,” Bolin said. “It’s not that he wasn’t fast as a sophomore, I just think we didn’t notice his speed. You’re kind of boxed in at defensive end. You don’t get to display the sprinter aspect of it.”

Robinson, who occasionally ran on James Wood’s 400-meter relay team in the spring, said the chance to make an impact with his speed was just one of the reasons he was attracted to safety.

“There’s more on you,” Robinson said. “It’s kind of like wrestling, because there’s a lot of one-on-one situations. If you make a mistake, it’s all you, and if you make a good play, it’s all you too. And it’s nice to to help the corners and help them out with what’s going on.”

Robinson developed just as the Colonels hoped over the course of last season. Bolin fondly recalls Robinson’s momentum-swinging interception in last year’s victory over Sherando, the Colonels’ first over the Warriors since 1993.

James Wood took a 10-7 lead into the half, but then watched Sherando take the kickoff and drive to the Colonels’ 31. Robinson picked off a Ross Metheny pass at the 7, and the Colonels turned that turnover into a 93-yard touchdown drive.

“It took him four or five games to get comfortable where he was at, and it kind of culminated with that game against Sherando,” Bolin said. “He’s fundamentally sound and plays the position the way it’s supposed to be played.”

Robinson’s savvy presence has been vital to a team that lost both starting cornerbacks and several other key defensive players from last year. Robinson said he simply feels more comfortable now, and that’s helped corners Zach Lloyd and Tripp Lewis feel similarly.

“The safety should be your leader, and he’s helped them out,” Combs said. “He’s like a coach out there.”

“I’ve just told them to not think about things too much,” Robinson said of the new starters. “That’s what I did last year the first few games. Just have faith in the defense.”

Robinson had trouble applying that advice to himself when it came to playing wide receiver, however.

Though Bolin said the Colonels probably underused him in 2008 — when Robinson made just one catch the entire season — the team knew he’d have to play a much bigger role this year. So when Robinson became frustrated with himself after a couple of early drops, quarterback Trae Tinsman was quick to react.

“Some balls he wouldn’t catch, and he’d just get on himself hard,” Tinsman said. “I just talked to him and told him to calm down. He’s stopped thinking about his hands, and he’s just catching the ball and doing an excellent job.”

Robinson has played a huge role thus far, one that could be even more prominent down the road. With Robinson already having caught touchdown passes of 14, 10, 8, 7, and 5 yards, opposing defenses that choose to stack the box in the red zone to stop Brock Lockhart (962 yards, nine touchdowns) will do so at their own risk.

“People know that [Robinson’s] a threat in the red zone, and that opens up the running game,” Tinsman said. “He knows all the routes real well and I know he’s going to be in the right spots.”

Robinson said the closer he gets to the end zone, the hungrier he gets for the ball.

“I just feel really confident,” he said. “If I’m in the end zone, I just want the ball and I don’t want to drop it.

“I just love making that clutch catch, whether it’s for a first down or a touchdown. It’s a great feeling.”

Bolin said Robinson’s play thus far is a big reason the Colonels are so much more dangerous on offense this year. In the Colonels’ lone district loss last season against Handley, James Wood registered just 40 rushing yards and forced Tinsman into throwing four interceptions.

“I think, in the past, a lot of schools knew if they could take away our running game, they knew our passing game was more simple than it was this year, and they could stop us,” Bolin said. “But that’s not the case anymore. If the running game’s getting shut down, we know we can go four-wide and Trae’s going to find them. Our play-action passing game’s been pretty effective this year, and it allows Harlan and Matt Copley to get open.”

When Robinson does — usually for those touchdowns — he doesn’t have to look hard to find a familiar face celebrating in the stands. Robinson typically has 10 to 15 relatives show up for games.

“I had a teammate one time say, ‘Look up there, you pretty much have your own section of fans,’” Robinson said. “My family’s so supportive.”

And they’re just one contingent of his supporters.

“He’s a good person and a hard worker, and anything you ask him to do, he’ll do,” Combs said. “I can’t say enough good things about him.”

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