Auburn football co-defensive coordinator Charles Kelly has brought CB Jahquez Robinson with him everywhere he's gone over the past three years -- helping land the Jacksonville native on the Tigers after Robinson followed him from Alabama to Colorado and now the Plains.
Robinson was a bit player for Nick Saban on the 2022 Crimson Tide, only seeing action during blowout wins over Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. While he only doubled his appearances to four in 2023 on Deion Sanders' Buffs, he at least played during close games against USC and UCLA.
On the Tigers, Robinson still figures to be a depth piece. But his previous stops certainly had him in some of the biggest spotlights in the sport. He won't be afraid of the moment when push comes to shove in the event he finds the field.
Auburn football co-DCs Charles Kelly and DJ Durkin complement each other
Hugh Freeze enlisted two defensive coordinators for different, but complementary, reasons.
Kelly is the master of relationships, as Robinson's commitment shows. When Kelly left Alabama, it made the CB "sad" and eventually pushed him to the same program within six months.
“(Kelly) was one of the guys when he left I was sad. That’s who I was always around and always watching game films with and learning the game,” Robinson said in an interview last summer (h/t AL.com).
DJ Durkin is the locker room culture guy that inspires his guys in practice and on gameday to go pedal to the metal. More of the disciplinarian, he'll have more attention to detail schematically as Kelly works his magic on the recruiting trail.
Ron Roberts was labeled as the biggest problem for the program in 2023, so Freeze finding one replacement could've been seen as an improvement.
But Freeze did that idea one better by bringing on Yin and Yang to bring balance to the defense.