SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It’s mid-October and Corey Robinson hasn’t built on his 40-catch 2014 season. A tweaked knee sidelined him for what would’ve been a good opportunity to re-build his confidence against UMass, and his pair of drops against Clemson directly contributed to a two-point loss.
Robinson only has five catches for 60 yards this year, but the 6-foot-4 San Antonio native isn’t concerned he’s stuck in a long-term rut.
“I know I’m a good player,” Robinson said. “My teammates have confidence in me and the coaching staff has confidence in me. I just have to have the confidence myself every single week when you go out there, even when you make a bad catch, run the wrong route, just know it’s a one-time occurrence as opposed to a defining aspect or characteristic of your game.”
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Navy week in the past was an opportunity for Robinson to wax poetic about his family’s roots with the service academy. Robinson’s father, David — the NBA Hall of Famer nicknamed “The Admiral” — attended the Naval Academy, and Robinson considered heading to Annapolis until Notre Dame offered him a scholarship.
Instead, the focus this week has been on Robinson’s slow start and mistakes against Clemson. In rainy, dreadful conditions, he dropped what would’ve been a 49-yard touchdown and had DeShone Kizer’s high throw on a two-point conversion attempt slip through his hands. Had Robinson caught either of those passes, Notre Dame easily could’ve left Death Valley with a win (of course, there were plenty of other offensive, defensive, special teams and coaching mistakes that could’ve changed things, too).
“I didn’t step up when I needed to, and that’s that,” Robinson said. “You can’t blame it on anything. You can’t blame it on the weather. You can’t blame it on the throws. You can’t blame it on anything. As a receiver, my job is to catch. And I did not do that.”
Robinson evenly split catches with Chris Brown last year at Notre Dame’s boundary-side receiver spot, with Brown catching 39 passes to Robinson’s 40. But Brown has carved out an important role in the Irish offense this year, catching 20 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns as opposing defenses have keyed on stopping Will Fuller on the opposite side of the field.
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The athleticism and difficult-to-defend size possessed by Robinson haven’t gone away. Those traits helped him catch eight passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns in a pressure-packed environment against Florida State in 2014. He’s done it before, and he knows he has the support of his teammates and coaches.
Coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday he still has full confidence in Robinson. The challenge for Robinson is having that same confidence in himself.
“I have to just go out there and keep working and don’t lose sight of the overall goal, which is to help this team win,” Robinson said. “I can’t be too much of an individual. I can’t get inside my own head. I’m a receiver on the receiving corps at Notre Dame. I have to understand that whatever I do has to be toward the goal of winning and helping this team be successful.”