New Jersey native Elijah Robinson says that the chance to coach alongside his long-time friend, new Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown, was something that he simply couldn’t pass up.
Robinson, one of the top recruiters around the country, has been serving as the interim head coach and co-defensive coordinator at Southeastern Conference school Texas A&M.
Brown, who was formally introduced as the Orange’s next head coach by SU Athletics this past Monday, confirmed that Robinson will serve as the ‘Cuse defensive coordinator, uniting two close friends who grew up together in Camden, N.J.
Elijah Robinson, per media reports, plans to coach Texas A&M on December 27 when the Aggies face Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston. Then he’ll move on to his new gig leading the Syracuse football defense.
New Syracuse football defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson discusses the Orange.
Earlier this week, Robinson touched on a variety of topics, including the ‘Cuse, during a Texas Bowl teleconference, with those comments coming courtesy of an article by Andrew Hattersley on the 247Sports Web site.
"Regarding his new position with the Orange, Elijah Robinson said in part that “these opportunities don’t come often. And I had an opportunity to come to Syracuse and call the defense. When you become an interim and there’s a search for who can be a head coach, sometimes they say they want more experience. This gives me an opportunity to get that experience, gives me an opportunity to call it and be able to work with a close friend that I grew up with. And again, if it was not for that unique situation, I think I’d still be here. But I had an opportunity to call the defense here and opportunity to do it with a close friend. And that came down to the decision to get that experience to ultimately one day remove the interim tag to be a head coach.”"
Robinson, by the way, went to Penn State. Before joining the Aggies, he held positions at Baylor, Temple and Penn State, according to the Texas A&M athletics department Web site.
Both Elijah Robinson and Brown have deep recruiting ties to New Jersey and throughout the Northeast region, and that should prove huge as it pertains to their recruiting efforts moving forward at Syracuse football.
When I wrote this piece, the industry-generated 247Sports Composite rated Brown No. 1 nationally in its 2024 recruiter rankings, while Robinson checked in at No. 10 around the country.
As I’ve noted in several stories throughout this week, the Orange is expected to have numerous 2024 four-star prospects on the SU campus this coming weekend on official visits, and the ‘Cuse coaching staff has doled out scholarship offers to a variety of highly ranked players in recent days.
What’s more, the floodgates are starting to open up in the NCAA’s transfer portal, with the FBS transfer window beginning on December 4 and ending on January 2 of next year. It will be interesting to see what developments arise for the Orange and the transfer portal, although Robinson made it clear that he “will not encourage” any players to join him at the ‘Cuse.
"He added, “Those guys have to make a decision on their own to get in the portal, but I will not at any point say hey come with me. That’s not the way I do things. … And again, now will guys get in the portal? Yeah. But until that happens, again, I’m not going to try to tell anybody get in the portal and follow me. I’ll be just fine. And again, I asked those kids to come to Texas A&M for the ones I recruited, and they came there for a reason. Okay. For some reason that it doesn’t work out based upon whatever and they get in the portal, then that’s a different story. But I’m not looking to recruit our guys. That’s not who I am.”"
I appreciate and respect these comments from Elijah Robinson. He appears to be a stand-up guy, and I for one am quite excited that he will be serving as the Orange’s defensive coordinator in the future.