LEXINGTON, Ky. — Demarcus Robinson led the Florida Gators in receptions in their season opening game with six but he dropped the ball on Sunday when he missed the team meal Sunday night.
Jim McElwain preaches “freedom of choice not freedom of consequence”, so, to him, Robinson going from a starter to third on the depth chart that subsequent Monday morning was Robinson’s choice, one that he made with his actions.
Despite popular belief that McElwain was trying to send a message to Robinson, that wasn’t his intent. In the infancy stages of building his football program, McElwain was making a statement that no player is above the team and something as small as a team meal won’t be overlooked. McElwain’s message was intended to reach the whole team.
The message, however, was received by Robinson, who had a 12-consccutive games started streak snapped when he wasn’t on the field for the first offensive play of the game against ECU.
“He knew he kind of slacked off a little bit,” sophomore cornerback Jalen Tabor said of Robinson on Saturday night. “You could tell this whole week in practice he was running his routes harder. That’s the D-Rob I know. When he has his head on straight, he’s a top receiver.”
Robinson led the Gators with five receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown. He had another touchdown that was called back by a phantom offensive pass interference call. According to his teammates, Robinson responded all week in practice and that preparation showed when McElwain and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier turned the offense into the Demarcus Robinson showcase.
The message that McElwain sent to his team through Robinson and then again through Kelvin Taylor last Saturday has been well received.
“As indicators go, we’ve had a good week from the get go,” McElwain said on Wednesday. “It started on Monday; guys were focused and have a good sense as to what’s at hand, which is a very, very talented and very good Kentucky team. We’re going on the road into an environment that will be really kind of cool. It’ll be loud, it’ll be fun.”
This will be the first real test for the Florida Gators this season. McElwain knows that the football team that showed up against ECU will get laughed out of Lexington this weekend. That is part of the reason he was so fired up in his post game press conference and on the sideline late in the win over ECU. McElwain’s message of doing the right things both off an on the field had fallen on deaf ears after what? One win over a really bad New Mexico State team? That kind of mental lapse can’t happen when you’re taking on a conference opponent.
Even when the opponent hasn’t beaten you in 28 years.