In the excitement of honoring the Saban family and wanting get back versus South Florida, a very significant aspect was missed from last week.
Quandarrius “Que” Robinson played with a heavy heart. The veteran edge rusher lost his father and took time to spend with his family in Birmingham (Ala.) earlier in the week. Robinson’s father was a marquee encouragement for him at Jackson-Olin High School and throughout his life. It would have been understood if he chose to not play; however, Robinson loves the Crimson Tide’s program and embraced the new coaching staff. He returned later in the week to be with his teammates and coaches.
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The 6-foot-5, 231-pounder honored his dad on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium by flying around and making plays.
He finished with seven total tackles — tying him for fourth on the defense — a tackle for loss and a sack. Robinson guided an Alabama defense that allowed just two conversions (18 attempts) on third down. The Tide stopped South Florida on both its fourth down attempts, creating turnovers on downs. Robinson has two sacks (team-high) and two tackles for loss in two games.
Kane Wommack, Alabama’s defensive coordinator, was proud of Robinson’s strength and mental toughness.
“It is such a difficult thing to go through to lose a family member,” Wommack said.
“I can’t think of a young man that has handled that better personally and with his teammates. He is a great son and was very supportive for his family in spending time with them. He also did a tremendous job of doing the extra things needed to prepare for a game. Our condolences go out to him and his family, but just so proud of who he is as a young man, the leader he is for our team, his teammates really surrounded him well. He played very well for the second week in a row.”
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said he told Robinson how proud he was of him after the game.
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“He’s played a couple of really good games here,” DeBoer said. “I thought about it a couple of times as I’m watching him fly around, and I think there was a couple of emotional times he went through. He is just a special guy all around. Just being around him as a person, he loves this program. He is a guy that everyone looks to being consistent and for him to get back here, he wanted to be back here in the latter half of the week to be with his team. It shows his commitment to want to be here.”
Even in losing someone special, Robinson is all about Alabama football.
Crimson Tide fans want to continue seeing him excel.
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Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
