New Steelers 7th Round Pick Linebacker Mark Robinson “My Instincts Prepare Me”

[Steeler Nation]

With their first pick in the seventh round the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Ole Miss linebacker Mark Robinson. Robinson has had a long road to get to where he is today, but a position switch from running back to linebacker got the Steelers attention.

Steelers.com

“That is part of what we like about him,” said linebacker coach Brian Flores. “There is some upside here. Somebody who hasn’t played the position for a long time. He showed speed, athleticism, toughness, physicality. A lot of things we liked. He is a fun guy to watch on film. I think he has some upside. Anything that is a new position there was a little bit of a learning curve early in the season.”

Robinson started his career at Presbyterian College, followed that up with two seasons at Southeast Missouri, and then he made a hard decision to transfer to Ole Miss where he had to sit out for a season. But Robinson said he was tired of people telling him his dreams of making it to the NFL couldn’t be accomplished by coming from an FCS.

“Somebody could possibly tell me I didn’t play at the highest competition in football and I just didn’t want to let that be the case,” Robinson told SteelerNation.com in an exclusive interview before the draft.

Players switching from offense to defense, or vice versa is often times the biggest decision in a college athletes career. It can turn into the best decision, like the case of TJ Watt. Watt switched from tight end to linebacker after a frustrating start at Wisconsin. But for every case of Watt there is surely multiple misses after a position change that we never hear about because that athletes dreams are over.

Robinson believes the instincts he developed as a runner has helped him in turn be able to sniff out the opposing offense and get downhill fast.

I think for me it’s the instincts, man. I think my instincts prepare me a lot and help me in a situation that I wasn’t expecting to be able to handle the way I did. And just playing ball and enjoying it, and just knowledge of the game, playing offense my whole life. Running back in specific and just going back to the mirror position, that line back. It’s just a lot of things that I pay attention to because I know the techniques of a running back. I tried to master being a running back. So it’s a lot of things that I know that I pay attention to. So I’m a great attention details guy, man.

After sitting out the entire 2020 season, Robinson compiled 91 tackles including 79 over the final nine regular-season games for the Rebels. He also added 5 ½ tackles for loss and three sacks last season. And that was his only season as a linebacker.

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Listen To Steelers LB Mark Robinson Exclusive Interview​

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For Robinson he’s going to need to make an impact on special teams to make the Steelers initial 53 man roster. The Steelers middle linebacker room is a crowded one. He will likely need to beat out former safety Marcus Allen for a roster spot. But he should be able to have a productive year if he makes it onto the Steelers practice squad and is able to learn the defensive side of the ball more. His ability to find the ball carrier is apparent. He just needs to fine tune the rest of his skill set.

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