Pressure and expectations follow assistant coaches of Alabama football.
Nick Saban instills a lot of confidence in his assistants, allowing them to call the shots on things. Alabama lost a few on-field coaches during the offseason, including Bill O’Brien, Pete Golding, and Charles Kelly. It hired Tommy Rees, Kevin Steele, and Robert Bala, but someone with a year of experience under his belt will be tasked with major responsibilities in spring practice.
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Travaris Robinson, 41, has double-duty coaching cornerbacks and safeties. The departure of Kelly to Colorado has the Miami (Fla.) native doing double dipping for Saban. On Monday, Saban told reporters Robinson is responsible for the whole defensive secondary. He and Steele will walk around and observe, but Saban trusts the teacher and developer that Robinson is.
“Travaris Robinson is a really good coach,” Saban said. “He has been a defensive coordinator before, so I think he is very capable. Kevin Steele is going to walk around. We have an inside linebackers coach, an outside linebackers coach, a defensive line coach, and a secondary coach. Then, you have me walking around, and I don’t know what I contribute, but I’ll be out there walking around doing something. They are trying to find something I can do, but I will try to do something. That is how we are organized.”
Robinson coached defensive backs at Western Kentucky (2008), Texas Tech (2010), Florida (2011-14), Auburn (2015), South Carolina (2016-20), and Miami (2021). He specifically worked with cornerbacks at Southern Mississippi (2009) and Alabama last season. Robinson also has experience as a defensive coordinator at South Carolina. He helped Kool-Aid McKinstry become a lockdown defender in 2022 with a team-high 15 pass breakups. It will be interesting to see how he has the secondary attacking wide receivers and making plays. Robinson, an Auburn alumnus, was a defensive back for the Tigers.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
