JEFFREY OKUDAH SET FOR REMATCH WITH HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND AND OPPONENT SHAWN ROBINSON AS OHIO STATE FACES TCU
Jeffrey Okudah knows from experience that playing Shawn Robinson can be a tough test for a football team’s defense.
Okudah and Robinson previously played one another in 2016, when Okudah was a senior at South Grand Prairie High School and Robinson was a senior at DeSoto High School. Robinson’s Eagles got the best of Okudah’s Warriors that day, 37-31, as Robinson threw for 197 yards and a touchdown while running for 108 yards and another touchdown.
Two years later, though, with Okudah now playing cornerback for Ohio State and Robinson now the starting quarterback for TCU, Okudah will have a chance to turn the tables when his Buckeyes play Robinson’s Horned Frogs at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – just a short drive from where each of them grew up – on Saturday night.
Preparing for Robinson, and his ability to make plays with both his arm and his feet, has been a focal point for Ohio State’s defense all week. He’s the first true running threat from the quarterback position that the Buckeyes have faced all year, adding a new challenge for Ohio State’s defense to deal with.
“It changes all the math,” defensive coordinator Greg Schiano said earlier this week. “When the quarterback carries the ball, and can do it well, then the defensive math changes. And what I've noticed … he scrambles, but he scrambles first to throw it down the field. Then, when he decides to go, he’s a really good runner. Very good runner. But it's not where he just tucks it to run right away. So we're going to have to hold coverage when he does start to move out of the pocket, and then be ready once he crosses the line of scrimmage to come up and try to get him down, which is easier said than done. He's a 230-pound man who runs very well.”
While Robinson has been inconsistent in his first two starts this season as a passer, his ability to make plays as a runner has been evident. He’s already rushed for 112 yards and three touchdowns, including an 18-yard touchdown last Friday against SMU, on just 10 carries in the Horned Frogs’ first two games.
The four-star recruit’s running ability was also certainly evident in high school – when he ran for 4,452 yards and 53 touchdowns, along with throwing for 7,646 yards and 75 touchdowns, over three seasons – and no one knows that better than Okudah, who compared his running ability to that of former Louisville quarterback and 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson.
“I think he’s a really elusive runner,” Okudah said. “If you watch his high school tape, you see spin moves, you see jukes in there. It’s kind of like maybe even you could say, a stockier Lamar Jackson kind of player.”
Entire article:
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...h-with-shawn-robinson-as-ohio-state-faces-tcu
