USC target Duce Robinson intends to play college football and baseball, if he chooses college route
USC is still firmly in the mix to win the Duce Robinson sweepstakes - although there's a pretty significant catch.
The 5-star tight end is down to Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, Texas and USC, but he isn't expected to make his college choice any time soon because he may not even play college football. Robinson is also an elite baseball prospect and in a National Signing Day interview with ESPN, he said he hopes to make his college decision "before [summer] move-in day and then just seeing where the [MLB] draft will take us from there."
“As of right now, the plan is fluid,” Robinson added.
Baseball America describes Robinson, an outfielder, as "extremely intriguing but also a much-less known commodity than much of the rest of the high school draft class."
There's a chance that Robinson, the 123rd-ranked player in the 2023 MLB Draft class, gets picked in July if he's still wavering on playing college football, and then will have to make a decision on whether to turn pro.
In the ESPN interview, Robinson said that he plans to play both football and baseball in college if he chooses that route.
"On the baseball side of it, I want to make sure that the coaches work well together," he said. "That I’m going to be able to be developed in both sports to my full potential.”
Last July, USC hired new baseball coach Andy Stankiewicz from Grand Canyon University in Arizona. The Trojans baseball program is historically the greatest of all-time with twice as many national titles as any other college baseball program, but the team has fallen on hard times making just one NCAA regional in the last 17 years.
When he was hired, Stankiewicz told the LA Times: “What I see at USC is opportunity. Obviously there are challenges, but I look at an opportunity for us to do something really special.”
Adding Robinson would certainly qualify as "something really special."
The MLB Draft is set for July 9 to July 11. If Robinson stays true to "seeing where the [MLB] draft will take us from there," like he said on Signing Day, then his college football recruitment still has a long way to go.
