ORLANDO, FLORIDA- Receiver James Robinson (6-3, 196, Lakeland, FL. High) drew the most attention at Under Armour check-in on Tuesday and rightfully so – he’s one of the top receivers in the country.
Robinson also created his own headline on Tuesday when he announced his remaining official visits that will take place in January.
“I got Florida first in January on the 13th to the 15th,” Robinson said. “Alabama on the, what is it January 20th to the 22nd. And Ole Miss on the last weekend of January.”
This will be Robinson’s first visit to Gainesville since last summer and when he takes the official visit with his parents he knows what he wants to see.
“Really see how they treat,” Robinson said on what he’s looking forward to during the visit. “Not just me, but the kids that are already there and I just want to take something good from it. Not things that I see that’s bad.”
The Gators have always been a team talked about with Robinson but he says the Gators really just picked up recruiting him.
“Yeah they picked up a lot with me,” he said of Florida’s recruitment of him. If not every day 5 times a day, it’s every other day. Just really try to build a relationship and make me feel like a priority and family.”
Florida’s on and off recruiting of Robinson is something that he admits is playing a little bit of role in his recruitment.
“Yeah, I think so. It’s like a girl not texting you for a while,” Robinson said on if Florida not recruiting him for a while hurt them. “When you start something, you can’t just stop in the middle of it. You’ve got to finish it, don’t you?”
Receivers coach Kerry Dixon and defensive backs coach and area recruiter Torrian Gray did explain to Robinson why the Gators weren’t recruiting him hard all along.
“I mean really just, what it was, they were saying they were going after 3 other guys,” Robinson on why Florida didn’t recruit him. “ Jerry Jeudy, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and there was one other, I can’t remember.”
Now that the Gators are trying to fix the relationship and communication with Robinson he says the coaches are coming at him a lot with one big message.
“I can come in and start, playing on the outside, because they don’t have anyone my size,” Robinson said on what Florida is telling him. “It’s like 5 coaches off the coaching staff. You’ve got coach [Kerry] Dixon, [Drew] Hughes, coach [Torrian] Gray, coach [Jim] McElwain. You’ve got a lot of them talking to me.”
Gray has been the coach recruiting Robinson the most but he admits that building a relationship with his future potential position coach Kerry Dixon is something he wants to do.
“Yeah yeah, yes sir,” Robinson said on Torrian Gray being the coach he’s closest to and now talking to Kerry Dixon. “Yes sir, because he’s going to be the one who’s coaching me, so I really want to get a good vibe with my recruiting coach but at the same time I want a good relationship with the coach that’s going to be coaching me every day.”
Florida went in-home with Robinson and his family during the recruiting period in December and the receiver said the family loved the visit.
“I mean, my parents love them, my grandparents love them,” Robinson said on how his family liked Florida’s visit. “It’s really just up to me. If it was their choice, they would pick Florida.”
The Gators coaches aren’t the only ones recruiting Robinson as a current receiver commit is also working on Robinson and he expects it to continue this week in Orlando.
“This past summer, we were battling, I was playing cornerback, he was at receiver,” Robinson said on Daquon Green recruiting him. Every time we met up, every Sunday, ‘hey bro, you need to come to Florida with me’. Last year we were here, same place, ‘Bro you might as well come to Florida’. He tries not to throw it in there, either it’s him or his dad.”
Heading into his January official visits, Robinson says four schools are standing out and he has a decision date in mind.
“The top four schools are Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Florida, and Alabama,” Robinson said. “I’ll announce on signing day.”
When it comes time to decide Robinson says he knows what will help him make his final decision.
“Really just family, I’m big on family. My family’s big on family,” Robinson said. “They want to know I’m safe, I’m home.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Robinson seems like he’s ok with Florida now the communication has been fixed and the Gators have a great shot at landing the big time receiver.