From the Backfield to the Sidelines: Denard Robinson Embracing Role As Jaguars Assistant
Denard Robinson has been a part of a lot of football games at TIAA Bank Field during his life. But in 2020, his vantage point looks a good bit different.
It wasn’t long ago that Robinson was taking the college football world by storm as ‘Shoelace’, the electric dual-threat Michigan quarterback. It was even more recently that Robinson was toting carries for the Jacksonville Jaguars as a running back and member of the first draft class of general manager Dave Caldwell’s tenure.
Now, Robinson is making his way in the football world in a different manner. He has traded in his unlaced cleats and helmet for a whistle and a clipboard. Instead of fighting on the field each Sunday to help Jacksonville find a win, the former Jaguars running back now tries to help them find wins in another way -- as an offensive quality control coach, aiding the offensive roster in countless areas.
“Man, it is so awesome. It is awesome to just be back around in the facilities,” Robinson told JaguarReport.
“Some of the coaches are still here that were here when I was here. We got a couple of players that were here when I was here. So it is kind of cool to be back around and just be around the game. It is always awesome to be around football. I just love football; I love being around it. I love coaching it. I love learning it.”
That love for football exudes from Robinson with ease as he talks about the game that has made up his life. It is the same love for the game that has kept him around the sport years after his NFL career drew to a close.
A fifth-round pick in 2013, Robinson spent four seasons with the Jaguars (2013-2016), rushing for 1,041 yards and five touchdowns. Robinson then spent time in the Alliance of American Football with the Atlanta Legends before the league disbanded.
It was after this that Robinson got into coaching. His playing days may have been behind him, but he knew he wanted to be around the game in some fashion. For him, turning to coaching after he hung up his shoulder pads was always a natural next step.
“It has always been something I wanted to do,” Robinson explained. “I always wanted to get into coaching. I knew after I was done playing football I wanted to get into coaching because I wanted to stay around the game. I loved it so much and I feel like I wanted to always pass down the wisdom that I learned from the game, and you know, continue to be around the game.
“There is no sport like football. It is the ultimate sport.”
Robinson’s first coaching gig came in Jacksonville … but not with the Jaguars. He became a part of the fraternity of football coaches by joining Jacksonville University and head coach Ian Shields. The former Jaguar was now a Dolphin, hired as an offensive analyst.
Unfortunately, Robinson's first gig was short-lived as Jacksonville University discontinued its football program in December 2019. Less than half a year after joining the staff, Robinson experienced his first movement on the coaching carousel.
Robinson wouldn’t be a coaching free agent for long, though. The Jaguars announced on June 12 that Robinson would be joining the staff for the 2020 season, along with another former Jaguar in Tony Gilbert (assistant linebackers coach).
For the first time since 2016, Robinson would be a part of the Jaguars franchise. And for the first time, it wouldn’t be as an offensive weapon.
“Man, I have to thank God for that -- and thank Doug Marrone and Marcus Pollard, those guys, and Dave Caldwell and Shad [Khan] for giving me this opportunity to be able to come back into this room,” Robinson said.
Robinson’s enthusiasm for coaching, football, and the Jaguars in general, is obvious. He was always known as a player with an uplifting personality, endeared by Jacksonville’s coaching staff when he was a member of the roster.
Now, Robinson is using many of the same skills he learned with the Jaguars and the Wolverines to better himself as a coach -- and to better the Jaguars in the process.
Many coaches are former players like Robinson, but Robinson was one just a few years ago. It isn’t hard for him to remember what it is like as a player and what a player likely needs to hear from a coach. As Robinson would explain, he understands completely that sometimes athletes need patience, and sometimes they need something a little tougher.
This, of course, doesn’t even detail the knowledge Robinson is able to pass down when it comes to techniques and playing multiple positions. In his Jaguars career, Robinson caught passes, ran the ball, blocked, returned kicks, and, yes, even passed the ball. These are all traits the former quarterback/running back possessed as a player and are areas he is trying to help the Jaguars improve in today.
“So all those different things, you know, that kind of like helped me out becoming a coach. Being able to have patience, being able to talk to people, and being able to be a leader,” Robinson said.
“As a quarterback, you have to be a leader. You have to learn how to make somebody want to play for you, learn how to make somebody want to, you know, run through a wall for you.”
Robinson’s knowledge of multiple positions and roles on both offense and special teams is a big part of what makes him such a valuable asset as a coach. His playing career was defined by his explosiveness and his versatility, so it is no surprise to see him branch out into multiple different roles as an offensive assistant.
As Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said last week, Robinson’s experience at so many different positions is just one of the things that makes him a good young coach, though there is much more to him than just that.
"He asks a lot of good questions. I think he’s a guy that wants to do well in this profession, wants to work his way up, which I know that we all appreciate. I think he has a really good understanding," Marrone said.
"He’s played quarterback, he’s run the ball, he’s played receiver, he’s played multiple things, he’s read coverages, so he has a good foundation right now that just needs to grow in the schematics world and I think he will. I think he handles himself well. He’s a hard worker. He’s here early in the morning. I think he’ll have a long career and I’m excited for him. He’ll be coaching well after I am, I know that.”
But as much value as Robinson has brought to Marrone's staff as one of his lieutenants, Marrone and the rest of Jacksonville's veteran offensive coaching staff have brought similar value to Robinson's life and career.
At 30-years-old, Robinson is among the youngest coaches on Marrone's staff. When you stack up his experience to the decades of experience that each of Marrone, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, receivers coach Keenan McCardell, running backs coach Terry Robiskie, tight ends coach Ron Middleton and offensive line coach George Warhop, it is a bit jarring.
Robinson was once a young and promising rookie surrounded by veterans in the locker room. Now he is once again a young and promising rookie of sorts, being surrounded by a veteran coaching staff that he says has been invaluable to his transition to coaching.
"You be around those guys and you are going to learn a little something," Robinson said.
Whether it is learning from Marrone how to manage or build a team, or learning from Robiskie when to push a player and when to comfort him, Robinson says he has already learned a lot as a coach during his short tenure with the Jaguars.
Marrone seems to think Robinson will one day be one of the older coaches in the room, much like he is now. For Robinson, this sounds ideal.
"So it is kind of cool just to see all the things that these guys are doing and how they are doing it, and with a young team how they are making them mature and fight like this," Robinson said.
"It is a blessing to be around those guys that have been around it forever. I want to be one of those guys one day to somebody young like me. I want to be in the game like those guys."
What is next for Denard Robinson? Just the last eight years alone have seen him go from star quarterback to NFL running back to college coach to NFL assistant. For Robinson, quick ascension and success is far from a foreign concept.
He puts the work in, he loves the game, and he knows how to connect with those around him. Put all of this together, and the respect Robinson gets from Doug Marrone is logical -- as is Marrone's opinion that Robinson will be coaching football for a long time.
But until then, Robinson is committed to working daily at his craft, just as he used to attempt to improve himself in the weight room and on the field for the Jaguars.
Now, years later, Robinson is once again turning to Jacksonville and the Jaguars to better himself, stay connected to the game he loves, and hopefully win some football games along the way.
"I am going to take it one day at a time. My goal is to be the best person I can be right now and try to focus on what I am doing now," Robinson said.
"I have goals; my goal is to try to move up the ladder. Start being a running back, quarteback coach, whatever. But right now I am just focused on what I am doing right now and continuing to build on that, build what I am doing now and try to be the best guy I can be right now for the Jaguars. Whenever an opportunity comes, hopefully I will be ready. And I am being around some great coaches, so I feel like they will have me prepared and ready for what’s next. "
