Auburn Mountainview’s first Pac-12 scholarship football player is ready for the challenge.
Gavin Robertson left June 19 for the University of Arizona, where he hopes to make an immediate impact with the Wildcats.
Robertson, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound safety, has not played since he fractured his left fibula while making a tackle during an Oct. 9 game against Lakes.
“I feel like I’m back to 100 percent,” said Robertson, who has been running and lifting weights in preparation for fall camp, which opens Aug. 1 in Tucson, Ariz.
Auburn Mountainview defensive back coach Kent Rodseth, who also guides the Lions’ jumpers during track and field season, said the injury “devastated” Robertson. A healthy Robertson, Rodseth insisted, could have contended for a Class 3A triple jump title.
Robertson used his time wisely away from the field to get faster and stronger. To motivate his player, Rodseth showed Robertson a photo he had taken of the Arizona football team’s posted weightlifting records. He snapped the photo during an April visit to see his daughter, Ali, who competed for Arizona in the long jump.
“We’re just excited to watch Gavin progress onto the next stage of his life and his career,” said Rodseth, adding that Robertson squats more than 400 pounds and power cleans more than 300. “You don’t see those numbers in a kid who can run like him.
“He’ll break the (Arizona) defensive back (weightlifting) record.”
Rodseth praises Robertson’s work ethic. But his patience to persevere through a challenging senior year might have been just as significant. It began during the grueling recruiting process when Robertson fielded offers from Boise State, Eastern Washington, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana and New Mexico, but not Washington or Washington State.
“To be honest, I think they both missed out,” Rodseth said. “He’s an in-state kid who I think will come back to haunt both of those schools.”
The Wildcats host UW on Sept. 24 and play at WSU on Nov. 5. Robertson is looking forward to playing against the Huskies and Cougars.
“I feel like they really didn’t take me seriously,” he said. “They wanted me to come to their camps and stuff, and I was just like, ‘Look at the film and offer me.’ I’m going to be ready to stick it to them.”
But that was not the only obstacle he encountered throughout the recruiting process. After the Wildcats finished 7-6, coach Rich Rodriguez fired defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. And Matt Caponi, who was responsible for recruiting Robertson, left to become the safeties coach at West Virginia.
Shortly before Robertson was scheduled to sign his national letter of intent on Feb. 3, Rodriguez was linked to the coaching opening at South Carolina, which eventually hired Will Muschamp.
Rodriguez then hired Boise State’s Marcel Yates, who had recruited Robertson, to succeed Casteel. For Robertson, it promises to be a good fit. Yates is moving the Wildcats’ base defense from a 3-3-5 to a 4-2-5 alignment.
“Arizona said they liked me because I was a big, physical safety,” Robertson said. “They see me doing that in the future there because they’re trying to make a more physical defense.”
Music man
Robertson says his hard-hitting, on-field persona is a little different from the one he has off the field, where he enjoys dabbling in audio engineering to mix rap music with hs longtime friend, Victor Daggs Jr. He considers seven-time Grammy Award winner Kendrick Lamar an inspiration. Robertson said he might major in music at Arizona.
Robertson has the physical tools to succeed in the Pac-12.
“I think playing at that level will allow him to play to a much higher ceiling,” Rodseth said. “When he tackled people, it was a different kind of sound. I think it scared some people. He’ll be able to do all those things at the college level.”
Robertson, whose father, Gavin Sr., played football at the University of Hawaii, said he is prepared to compete for playing time and is excited to represent Auburn Mountainview in the Pac-12.
“It was a good feeling to be the first at something,” he said, “and do it for the community, schools and my parents.”
