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Rite of passage: Cleveland Browns' Brian Robiskie breaking through a tough rookie summer
by Tony Grossi/Plain Dealer Reporter
Tuesday August 25, 2009
# Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer
Despite growing up with a father who played and coached in the NFL, Brian Robiskie's first professional training camp has been more than he expected. But as the regular season approaches, Robiskie feels like he's gaining traction on and off the field.
BEREA, Ohio -- Even Brian Robiskie -- the most prepared rookie on hand, the most polished receiver in the 2009 draft, the son of an NFL coach and a Browns ballboy for a few seasons -- was thrown off his game a bit in the first Eric Mangini training camp.
And he had the benefit of his father's 26 years experience as an NFL coach with five teams, including the Browns.
Terry Robiskie did what he could to prep his son on what to expect. But it's like learning to swim. You don't know what the water feels like until you jump in.
"Everything he told me [has occurred]," Brian said after a recent marathon practice session. "But there were times I called him and I said, 'Dad, you told me about it but you didn't really tell me about it.' There were a couple of those phone calls. Hearing about is one thing, but going through it is something in itself."
The meetings, the video review sessions, the play installations, coaches screaming at you. And just when your head stops spinning from the mental work, somebody on the field nails you and spins it the other way.
"There's going to be ups and downs," Robiskie said.
The down for him probably was the fourth day of camp when he dropped three passes in a five-play sequence. It could take him a whole season of practices at Ohio State for him to drop three balls. He called his dad that night and said, glumly, "I dropped three today."
"Those are the days that you have to get past and know that there's going to be another day," Robiskie said. "That's the biggest thing with camp -- you know there's going to be another practice, and some days two practices. So you have to get those days behind you.
"Myself and anyone who's had a bad practice, they want to see how you respond the next day. That's something they're looking for. You've got to come out and perform on the days when you don't feel your best. The whole point of camp is to get guys mentally ready as well as physically ready." "Myself and anyone who's had a bad practice, they want to see how you respond the next day," Robiskie said. "That's something they're looking for. You've got to come out and perform on the days when you don't feel your best."
The day of drops coincided with the rise of fellow rookie receiver Mohamed Massaquoi from Georgia. The two were selected in the second round of the draft -- Robiskie 36th overall and Massaquoi 50th. Robiskie is so much familiar to Ohio football fans than Massaquoi, from the Midwest-hated Southeastern Conference, that many just assumed Robiskie would be the one challenging for the vacant No. 2 receiving job.
But as Mangini said, "I think with rookies, sometimes the wall hits them. They don't hit the wall. It's a tough transition."
Rite of passage: Cleveland Browns' Brian Robiskie breaking through a tough rookie summer - cleveland.com
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