Jovon Robinson went from being Auburn’s leading returning rusher to Auburn’s newest castoff on Wednesday, as he was dismissed by the Tigers after missing their first practice of fall camp. He also isn’t taking that dismissal quietly.
Dismissed Auburn RB Jovon Robinson says he was ‘stereotyped and disrespected’ by coaches
Auburn’s latest departure speaks out.
Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
In a blistering series of quotes from Thursday, Robinson tells AL.com that he felt “stereotyped and disrespected,” that he thinks he was a victim of an overreaction to Auburn’s inconsistent discipline of former receiver D’haquille (Duke) Williams, and that there “never was a real relationship” between him and Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn.
“Everything about (the) Auburn coaching staff is not what it seems,” Robinson wrote in a message to AL.com. “Just because I don’t walk around with (a) fake smile, they feel like they (can) say or try to force anything.
“I was stereotyped and disrespected. The football players are not happy with this.”
Robinson also disputed an ESPN report that said he was dismissed for frequently missing class and “continued inattention to detail in everything,” saying “it’s nothing about me missing class or not paying attention” and denying he had been in any altercation or failed a drug test.
But this is the second straight year in which Auburn has dismissed one of its most talented players, with Robinson following Williams out the door on the Plains — and even if Robinson’s rap sheet is more like what ESPN says it is than what the player claims, it’s probably not as long and certainly isn’t as public as Williams’ list of transgressions.
Williams was suspended for undisclosed reasons for Auburn’s bowl game in 2014, right around the time a picture of Williams with a black eye hit social media. He would be suspended again for Auburn’s opener, and only played in five games in the fall before he was dismissed — shortly prior to a report that Williams punched four people in a “rampage” at an Auburn bar.
Though reporting on the incident later retreated from “rampage,” the Williams saga was one of the defining arcs of Auburn’s forgettable 2015 season, in which the Tigers began the season ranked No. 6 and No. 7 in the two major polls, then went 7-6, never collecting more than two straight wins.
It’s possible that Malzahn tossing out a talented headache is the right move, something that even Robinson concedes. After all, Williams’ dismissal was welcomed by Auburn players in 2015, and Robinson’s has been hailed by at least offensive lineman Austin Golson ("No one player is going to be able to take down our team").
“I don’t want to go back and forth,” Robinson said. “If he feel(s) like the team is better without me maybe it wasn’t meant to be.”
Malzahn has been teetering close to the hot seat in Auburn, though, and the Tigers have had tumultuous rides with all three of their head coaches under athletic director Jay Jacobs — Tommy Tuberville, Gene Chizik, and Malzahn. Dismissing a player so gifted that SB Nation’s Bud Elliott wondered whether he would be the best back in the 2015 class if he were not a JUCO prospect is a bold move, one that Auburn fans won’t soon forget.
And that player proclaiming that his former coaching staff is “not what it seems” feels like something that might be used as a rallying cry for the end of the Malzahn era, should things slip sideways on the Tigers again.
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