NORMAN — There's been a compelling storyline for Oklahoma as the regular season draws to a close. Seemingly out of nowhere, true freshman running back Xavier Robinson has emerged as a real weapon this season and a huge potential building block for the future.
That's a pretty rare development, and there aren't a ton of comparisons. But Brent Venables thought of one on Tuesday — Quentin Griffin.
The former OU running back didn't play much during his freshman season in 1999, but he emerged late in the year. He played in the final four games of the season, taking 44 carries for 285 yards and three touchdowns (6.5 yards per carry). He eventually played a pivotal role in the Sooners' national championship run in 2000, and finished his OU career with 3,756 yards and 43 touchdowns.
"We couldn’t tackle him," Venables recalled about Griffin. "Nobody recruited Quentin. Not many people recruited Xavier, not at least really highly though-of schools. In this state he was rated maybe the third- or fourth-best player in the state, but I think Iowa State was one of his best offers, committable offers anyway. Xavier might know more than me about that, but Quentin griffin came in here as a backup on his high school team and we couldn’t tackle him on defense in ‘99. We weren’t good at tackling anybody in ‘99, but we certainly couldn’t tackle him.
"Then it took maybe two or three running backs that got hurt and finally Quentin got his opportunity. I know we weren’t very good coaching back then, either, but then he got over there and had a good finish to the year. Then the next thing you know, he becomes, I think when he finished, he was maybe the fifth all-time in rushing yards in the history of Oklahoma, which is pretty good... Finally, because of injuries, he got in, and sometimes that happens."
It looks like that's happening with Robinson, too.
The Oklahoma native was not expected to see the field this season. But injuries to Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk, and less-than-stellar play from Taylor Tatum and Sam Franklin thrusted Robinson into the lineup. He has been a revelation over the last three weeks, turning 33 carries into 192 yards (5.8 yards per carry) and three touchdowns.
He had his breakout game in last Saturday's win over Alabama, taking 18 carries for 131 yards and two scores. It's a big reason why the Sooners finished with a season-best 257 rushing yards against the Crimson Tide. It was a far cry from OU's struggles to run the ball earlier in the season, when they averaged just 77 yards through the first four conference games.
His emergence has come completely out of nowhere. He was the sixth on the depth chart heading into the season after he struggled with weight and fumbling issues during the spring and summer. It also simply took time for Robinson to adjust to the college level.
"At the beginning, I had a hard time getting into the installs and getting the plays down," Robinson said on Monday. "But once you get those plays down, it was really understanding the scheme, how everybody's blocking, everything up front, what the wide receivers are doing. Once you're doing that, you get to know what's going on and that's where you could go. Go out there, get comfortable, start doing your own thing."
Robinson's work ethic is consistently praised by his coaches and teammates. Despite his early struggles, Robinson continued to show up at the facility every morning to get in extra work with OU strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt, and eventually that was noticed by the coaching staff.
"When we went over there and took him off the scout team, he was a little bit upset," Finley said. "Because he felt like he was getting better, he was in a great routine. He didn’t want to come over and be the third team or fourth-team guy, watching everything because he was not going to get as good that way.
"But man, he deserves everything he’s getting. He runs behind his pads. Every time he gets hit, seems like he’s fallen forward for three or four. You have no idea what that does for an offense, an offensive line, a quarterback, just the momentum of everything we’re doing."
Since he was inserted into the lineup, Robinson has brought both elusiveness and a physical nature to his running ability. Griffin's ability to break tackles is also present in Robinson — he's averaging 4.55 yards after contact, which is the 16th-best mark nationally among running backs with at least 30 carries, per Pro Football Focus.
Simply put, Robinson has played too well to keep him off the field. It's even made Venables question why it took so long.
"Better late than never," Venables joked. "And (OU running backs coach DeMarco Murray) finally smartened up. And I’m just having some fun, give me a break... But trust me, I ask the same questions. But anyway, we’re doing our best right now, but it’s great to see him having some success."
It took Robinson nearly the entire season to see the field. Now, he'll be an instrumental part of OU's offense against LSU on Saturday, and he's made himself a factor in OU's running back plans moving forward.
Just like Griffin.
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