Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson bucked drafting trends by getting selected in the top 10 — that’s just not supposed to happen for RBs. He went No. 8 in the 2023 NFL Draft, finishing just shy of a 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards. Despite the eight total touchdowns, somewhere, a Falcons fan is criticizing former head coach Arthur Smith for not fully unleashing the talented ball carrier.
Before the Falcons drafted Robinson, where did the talented playmaker go to college? What was his college career like?
Bijan Robinson’s College Football Career
5’11”, 215 pounds, a 37″ vertical jump, and a 4.46 40-yard dash were just a few measurables that enticed Atlanta to draft Robinson out of the University of Texas.
As a senior in high school, Robinson rewrote the record book in the state of Arizona. He finished with a mind-boggling 7,036 rushing yards and 114 TDs in his high school career, leading to an Arizona Gatorade National Player of the Year honor. The five-star recruiting status led to all sorts of schools salivating over his potential. Ultimately, he went to the school with some of the most decorated RBs ever to play college football: Texas.
There isn’t anything Bijan Robinson couldn’t do on the football field at Texas⚡️⚡️. In 2022 he won the Doak Walker Award 🔥 pic.twitter.com/W1rDXx1zWJ
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) January 26, 2024
It wouldn’t be long before Robinson turned heads in Austin.
Posting a ridiculous 8.2 yards per carry as a freshman, he galloped for 703 yards and 4 TDs, and he caught 15 balls for 196 yards and two more TDs. The talent was obvious — Longhorns fans were on the precipice of flashing the horns a lot for this young man.
His sophomore season saw the gaudy YPC diminish, but that was it. 1,127 rushing yards and 11 TDs on the ground, plus 26 receptions for 295 yards and 4 TDs led to a first-team Big-12 honor.
If you didn’t know who Robinson was by his junior season, he became a household name for a reason. Reminiscent of Ricky Williams’ dominance at Texas, Robinson put up video game numbers. 1,580 yards and 18 TDs on the ground in addition to the 314 receiving yards and two more visits to the end zone.
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Those numbers led to another first-team Big-12 selection, the Doak Walker award, and a unanimous All-American. So many elite qualities led to Robinson shattering the glass ceiling on modern day RBs, becoming a top-10 draft pick (No. 8) along the way.